In the following guest post, Mary Green provides tips for creating ephemera books:
Like a lot of artists, I'm drawn to old paper and ephemera as raw material. I particularly like to use text, maps, or illustrations as background materials in my pieces. In old and damaged books, there are often great pages which can be partially salvaged. I started creating ephemera books as a way to collect and store the beautiful partial pages.
I sort rescued pages by size and match them to spare book covers. A variety of pages are mixed together, including different paper weight, illustrations, graphics, and great fonts. The covers and pages each get 3 holes punched and 1" binder rings hold everything together.
I like to include an envelope or pocket page to store small ephemera for embellishments. There might be old game cards, postcards, labels, Victorian scrap and more.
I use the books myself and offer them to other artists. We might paint and collage on the pages; remove pages for separate projects, or add pages of original art to the books. I know some keep their book intact and enjoy the papers as they are.
No matter the use, it's nice to repurpose the left over pages, covers, and small ephemera. And the books look pretty on the shelf!
Link to ephemera books currently for sale on Etsy.
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