Crystal Lacquer Embellished Book Covers

Hi everyone!
Dale here, with my final DT project.  THANK YOU to Sakura Hobby Craft, Terri Sproul and the whole DT for a LOVELY experience.

As I have stated before, I enjoy shopping at thrift stores.  When I see old unloved books, I usually bring the real sad ones home.  I can use the pages for collage, or art journaling or make into paper fabric.
The book covers sometimes are falling off and that is where this week's project originated.

A set of book covers (sorry forgot to take photos right at the start) that I gessoed, then added all kinds of chipboard or textural embellishments with gel medium. I let them dry completely then gessoed the whole cover again.

This is where the FUN of 3D Crystal Lacquer and all the Terri Sproul Mixers comes in.

I put a blob of 3D Crystal lacquer onto my palette in 6 areas, then added the Mixers and mixed well. I, then, painted the areas on the book covers that I wanted with the bright colours.

Any leftover mixed 3D Crystal Lacquer/Mixer I painted on all the other areas, then used a baby wipe to rub off so it was a faded look.  Then, I cover the whole front and back covers with a layer of 3D Crystal Lacquer.

The coating of 3D Crystal lacquer made the covers more durable I think.
I added a hairband with a brad to the back cover, then used duct tape to make a centre binding (2 layers) before gluing thick scrapbook paper to the inside covers.

 I had a few sewn pages left from another journal, so I added plain copy paper (2 signatures) inside the 3 already sewn up pages and took them to the sewing machine. I set the stitch length longer than normal so it wouldn't tear the pages and slowly sewed thru all the layers.  Because of the duct tape, you will have to toss the needle after as the glue builds up on the needle.
To the front cover, I tied one of the bezel fobs to the hairband.

Now is a great time to try a project like this or one you like it, because you can get 20% off your entire purchase at Sakura Hobby Craft for the month ofAugust.  Just enter aug08 at checkout!

More Glass Tile Pendants!

I made more really easy pendants!

To make a pendant like these, you need one of Sakura's glass tiles and matching bezel cup, Crystal Lacquer and an image that fits the tile.

The glass tiles are available in rectangular, square and circular shapes.

There are bezel cups to match.  There are also bails you can glue right onto the glass tiles. 

I made two pendants.  They both use scrapbook paper.  One is heavy cardstock paper from Graphic 45.  The other is thin paper from Sandylion.  They both worked well!


You could use almost any paper, and I think fabric would work fine, too.  I think this would be great with a map featuring your hometown or some of your favorite text. 
I sealed the images with Mod Podge.

You could trace the shape of the glass tile onto your paper and cut the paper to fit, but it’s really easy to just adhere the glass tile to the paper with Crystal Lacquer and then trim it when it starts to set up.  Crystal Lacquer comes in a bottle with a small dispenser tip that is perfect for squeezing out small amounts.  I lightly coated the back of my glass tiles with Crystal Lacquer.  I didn’t spread the Crystal Lacquer all the way to the edges of the tiles, because it sort of gets squished out when you put it down on the paper.  After coating the tiles, I placed them where I wanted them on the paper.  The tile wants to slide around on the Crystal Lacquer, so you’ll want to hold it in place for a moment while it settles.

Once the Crystal Lacquer started to set up, I trimmed the paper with scissors.

Then I coated the back of the paper lightly with Crystal Lacquer and set the tiles down into the bezel cups.  I used a wet paper towel to wipe away a little Crystal Lacquer that got squished out.

And that was it!  All I had to do then was put the pendants on chains.  Sakura offers ball chain in several finishes.  I added a brass chain for the brass finish bezel cup.

I live in a really dry place, and I could make these in the morning to wear the same evening, but in other places, you’ll want to let the Crystal Lacquer dry for at least a day or so.

Just think!  You can make this pendant with absolutely any image you want!  I hope you will try it.  Now is the perfect time, because for the month of July, you can get 20% off your total purchase from Sakura by entering coupon code Summer07 at checkout!