Sketchbook project - I finally started!

Are you participating in the Sketchbook Project? Check it out at http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject.
I received mine ages ago, but it has just been sitting there staring back at me. I guess I've been intimidated by all the bare empty pages.

A day or two ago, Janelle, at http://stuckinthemudpottery.blogspot.com/ posted a "sneak peak" of her sketchbook, and I realized I couldn't put it off any longer, since it is due in about 2 weeks!

My theme is "Science Project Gone Wrong" and I want it to look like the journal of a mad scientist for whom chemistry has taken a terrible turn. So the images should be of bubbling, fizzing, oozing goo with unexpected things imbedded in the ooze.

I began with the cover, which was a lot of fun - I added a bunch of texture, and rubbed on all sorts of paints to make it look like maybe it has been affected by chemical spills and more.

Then, I began glueing together every 2 pages inside (they are very thin and there's too many pages to deal with anyhow), and gluing on scientific scribbles, graphs, and lab notes that the high school chemistry and earth science teachers gave me from their recycle boxes.



And then the fun REALLY began, because I took a candle and burned the edges of some pages, and some holes in others. I controlled the burn with a dunk bowl of water for emergencies.


Now I'm ready to actually draw, paint, and collage some images into the pages. Since I've already "destroyed" the book with all the torn, burned and glued pages, I no longer feel like I can ruin it!

I'd better get to bed soon, because tomorrow morning I'm heading off on a blogger adventure. I'll tell you about it when I return.