Convert discarded, old encyclopeadias into Hogwarts style spellbooks!
Very cheap and pretty quick to do,
all you need is and old book some easily avaliable supplies
and a fair ammount of patience!
There are two VERY important disclaimers to note at this point,
the first is that this is really and adults only project
(or adult supervision STRONGLY recommended!)
as you'll need to use a very sharp scalpel to cut the new title into the cover of the book.
The second point is to be careful what book you use!
The olny reason one could bear to de-face these books
is because they had been left in the damp and rain for months
so they were ruined prior to altering.
In short be VERY careful that you're not going to destroy
a first edition copy of "Peter Pan" or "The Count of Monte Cristo"
Find your book title, a list of invented books
from Harry Potter is listed at the bottom of this blog post.
Of course it would be even better to invent your own...try using a latin online dictionary.
Then type the title into Word and then Photoshop and played with the fonts and styles until the text looked appropriate. The style of this book on the "Advanced Potion Making" book pictured on the cover of the adult version of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince"
Once your happy with the way the title looks,
print it out and tape it to the cover of your old book.
OK, this is the tricky bit.
You have to cut through the printout and into the first layer of the book's cover.
You are aiming to remove the top layer of the cover where the letters are,
so that the title looks as it it's been stamped into the cover.
First thing to do its put a new blade onto your scalpel.
As soon as you feel the blade becoming blunt, change it,
a blunt blade only makes the process harder and more dangerous!
Put some music on and get comfortable.
Cut round the outlines of all the letters in your title.
Take your time and be patient! This is not something you can rush,
the more careful you are the more successful the outcome,
and the less likely you'll slice through your finger.
Once you've cut all the letters out from the printout,
remove it and your cover should look like the pic below.
The title cut into the cover of your book.
Now your ready to peel away the top layer of the cover where you've cut the letters.
Carefully use your scalpel to lift up the cut sections.
You may need to finish some cuts at this stage,
if they don't meet at the corners for example.
Now apply some gold leaf.
The first stage of this process is to paint a layer of leafing "size"
into the letters of the title.
"Size" is a water based glue,
similar to PVA but it stays "open"
which means it doesn't completely dry.
Use a small brush to carefully paint the size into the letter depressions you have just finished.
Try to keep the size into the holes you have cut,
but don't worry too much if it overflows, you can fix that later.
Do the whole title and wait until it's "dry".
It will be tacky if you touch it but it won't come off on your finger.
Now apply sections of gold leaf over the letters.
Use a scalpel and a fairly stiff brush for this process.
The scalpel to remove the leaf from the backing paper,
then the brush to push the leaf into the letter's edges.
The leaf should stick nicely to the "open" size.
Cover each letter with a section of leaf.
Once all the leaf is in place, you can begin to reveal the title again.
Use the brush to clear away any of the leaf that is not glued in place by the size.
This should leave you with just the title covered with gold leaf.
The edges will be a bit messy because of the size overflowing the letters edges in places.
All you have to do to clear this up is scrape your scalpel blade over the edges
of the letters to clear them of unwanted gold.
The second pic below is of the cleaned up title.
At this stage, you can stop being careful!
You can go as far as you want at this stage,
either keep the book looking fairly tidy,
or you can really go to town and make it look like hundereds of
careless Hogwarts students have trashed it over the years.
You can start weathering by ripping up the cover on the corners of the book,
as well as bending the corners up to add some creases.
Then scraped an old metal ruler over the cover and edges of the book to
remove the top layer of paint and reveal the weave of the cover.
Then use a combination of water and PVA glue,
combined with sawdust to really dirty up the book.
Use a stiff brush to really work the grime and dirt into the creases and cracks.
The important thing to remember here is to not let it completely dry at this stage!
Use an old cloth to wipe away the excess grime to leave a nice aged thin layer of dust and watermarks.
Liquid stains are particularly appropriate for Potions books,
use coffee dregs or watered down paints to make "potion" spills.
Once you have cleared away most of the grime,
you may find that the gold lettering still looks a little new.
If this is the case you can use a dark wood stain to dull it slightly.
Paint the stain over the cover, then wipe it off immediatly, it should darken the cover and the title,
but not by much.
The last thing to do is to wax the cover.
This is the final touch that really makes the book look used.
Use a regular furniture style wax and work it into the cover with an old cloth.
Let it dry, then buff it with another cloth.
This gives the impression of sleevs polishing the book
while it's been under the arm of hundereds of Hogwarts sudents.
This pic above shows the cover prior to the waxing.
This last pic below show the cover after the waxing.
PDF available but they do charge for the sevice.
Hope it has inspired you to create a fantastical book!!
Love & light
Tace
oxo
Below is a rather long list of books invented for the Harry Potter story -
Are you ready? :0)
- books mentioned in the Harry Potter series.
History
- Historical magic
- An Anthology of Eighteenth Century Charms
- A Guide to Medieval Sorcery
- Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes
- Historical magical people
- Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century
- Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy
- Notable Magical Names of Our Time
- The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts
- The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore by Rita Skeeter
- Armando Dippet: Master or Moron? by Rita Skeeter
- Historical magical things, places and events
- Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century
- Hogwarts, A History, by Chroniclus Punnet]
- Modern Magical History
- Other
- Prefects Who Gained Power
Hogwarts textbooks
- Arithmancy
- Book of Numerology
- Numerology and Grammatica
- Care of Magical Creatures
- Charms
- Standard Book of Spells (Grades One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and presumably Seven) by Miranda Goshawk
- Quintessence: A Quest
- Defence Against the Dark Arts
- Confronting the Faceless
- The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
- Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard
- Gilderoy Lockhart's works
- Break with a Banshee
- Gadding with Ghouls
- Holidays with Hags
- Magical Me
- Travels with Trolls
- Voyages with Vampires
- Wandering with Werewolves
- Year with the Yeti
- Divination
- The Dream Oracle by Inigo Imago
- Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky
- Death Omens: What to Do When You Know the Worst is Coming
- Broken Balls: When Fortune Turns Foul
- Predicting the Unpredictable: Insulate Yourself against Shocks"
- Herbology
- One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
- Encyclopædia of Toadstools
- Magical Mediterranean Water Plants and their Properties
- Flesh-eating Trees of the World
- History of Magic
- Muggle Studies
- Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles
- Potions
- Advanced Potion Making by Libatius Borage
- Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
- Asiatic Anti-Venoms
- Moste Potente Potions
- Study of Ancient Runes
- Transfiguration
- A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
- Intermediate Transfiguration
- Guide to Advanced Transfiguration
Magical creatures
- Dragons
- Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit
- Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland
- Dreadful Denizens of the Deep
- From Egg to Inferno: a Dragon-Keeper's Guide
- Men Who Love Dragons Too Much
- Other magical creatures
- Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology
- Fowl or Foul? A Study of Hippogriff Brutality
- Why I Didn't Die When the Augerey Cried by Gulliver Pokeby (Little Red Books, 1824)
- Hairy Snout, Human Heart by an anonymous author (Whizz Hard Books, 1975)
Magic
- Dark Arts
- Magick Moste Evile
- Secrets of the Darkest Art
- Defence Against the Dark Arts
- A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions
- The Dark Arts Outsmarted
- Self-Defensive Spellwork
- Jinxes for the Jinxed
- Practical Defensive Magic Its Use Against the Dark Arts
- Magical cooking and housecare
- Charm Your Own Cheese
- Enchantment in Baking
- Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests
- One-Minute Feasts—It's Magic
- Magical healthcare
- Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions
- The Healer's Helpmate
- Magical how-to
- Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions
- Where There's a Wand, There's a Way
- Magical theory
- Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
- New Theory of Numerology
- Numerology and Grammatica
- Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms
- Other magical
- Important Modern Magical Discoveries
- The Invisible Book of Invisibility
- Powers You Never Knew You Had and What to Do With Them Now You've Wised Up
- A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry
- An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe
- A Study into the Possibility of Reversing the Actual and Metaphysical Effects of Natural Death, with Particular Regard to the Reintegration of Essence and Matter
Spellbooks
- General spells
- Achievements in Charming
- Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed
- Spells for fun and profit
- Madcap Magic for Wacky Warlocks
- Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts
- Curses and Counter-Curses by Professor Vindictus Viridian
Sports and games
- Quidditch
Transportation
- Handbook of Do-It-Yourself-Broomcare
- Which Broomstick?
Other books
