I bought a lovely bookcase quite some time ago simply because I liked the look of it even though it wasn’t modern, the usual style I worked in for the Newport. When I started the Heritage project, it found a new home. But, I’ve made only a handful of books and those are in Baxter Pointe Villa. For the Heritage, I wanted a mix of antique and newer books – a collection built over time. I printed and cut 130 book covers with the plan to fill them with balsa wood inserts.
There ended up being a few duplicates in the 130 since there were a few books I wanted to be sure I made (I liked the covers) so I made duplicates in case I messed up my first attempt. As you can see, I made it through 30 of them in one day. Yes, there is one duplicate in there – a two volume set. Ha ha!
A few came from Carrie at A Lavender Dilly but most are just found online images. If I can’t find a full image of the spine and back for a cover I especially like, I sometimes make up the spine and back in PhotoShop. I like my books to be complete, even if the backs don’t show in most settings. I also paint my edges in an array of yellows and tans for variety in case I use any for tabletop displays.
I have lined my past book covers with heavier drawing paper, but this is harder to work with. So, for the sake of ease and time involved, I used only the paper printout over the balsa for this grouping. Here are two shelves of the bookcase with my 30 books in place.
As I was finishing up the books for the bookcase, I was thinking about what to use on the top shelf. I could have put a stack of larger books on their sides, but that seemed almost too cluttered. I ended up buying a matched set of orange acrylic turned items from CW Lubin Wood Turning, two vases and a bowl. They were advertised as quarter scale or half scale items, but I often find those smaller scale items look wonderful in full scale scenes.
I arranged the two shorter items on either side of the taller vase to make the most of the space on the top shelf. Getting these in there was interesting. My normally dainty hands became giant paws inside that shelf and tweezers were no help since the pieces are so smooth. I finally managed to get them to stick to the shelf with some mini hold wax and pressed them down for a good bond. I think they’ll be there forever as long as the wax holds! :D
After a few more days of book building, the bookcase has been filled with books! :D
There are 79 in total, arranged in random order.
They range in thickness from 1/64″ to 3/16″ and from 1/2″ to 3/4″ in height. I think the variation in sizes, colors and design gives them that extra push toward realism.
To make sure they sit prominently on the shelf, I added some scrap balsa wood to the shelves. The pieces are held in place with mini hold wax in case I ever want to rearrange the shelves and remove the wood supports.
Update: I finished up another batch of books for the house, sixteen more for the collection.
I even included some coffee table books on lace making, birds and the Great Barrier Reef. :D
