How to cover a papier mache book box

I had a very boring Kraft papier mache book box that I keep my unmounted alphabet stamps in. It's so boring, I decided to do something with it! Then I thought it might be a good idea to share....

Boring plain Kraft papier mache box

I prepped the box inside and out with burgundy acrylic paint. I lined it with Khadi paper (heavily textured, handmade) in a strong pink which I overstamped with more burgundy paint and my toys: hand carved wooden blocks from Colouricious.

Heavily textured Khadi handmade paper

The paint was applied to the block with a sponge brush, and you can see the very simple repeat pattern: from the left, just stamped from top to bottom. 2nd from left, pattern dropped half a repeat down, 3rd from left starting at the top again, etc. Due to the heavy texture of the paper, the pattern didn't stamp perfectly - enhancing the handmade effect. (If you want a perfect repeat, use smooth paper).

I sprayed the hinges for my other book green, using the inside of this box to keep the spray away from the table, sorry! If you want to see the book, scroll down to the post before this one.

The box is painted inside and out, the small piece is the left side lining paper and the larger ones are for the top and inside the box part - all in one piece, sides and bottom.

Side paper glued in. You'll notice a slight overlap at the bottom - making sure there are no gaps. I used ordinary PVA gle (white glue, dries clear).

The inside of the finished box. You'll note I didn't glue paper over the hinge as this is a tight-fitting lid.

A heavy application of gesso on the stamp and more repeat patterning

The outside of the box - a different stamp. I used gesso (again, applied with a sponge brush).

I didn't like the gesso - too stark. So I overstamped with Lumiere's Crimson (pearlised deep red) using the first block (the one I stamped on the paper for the inside of the box).

I did two rows of stamping, then blended in with a soft cloth before the acrylic was completely dry. This blended the paint a little, but still left a very dimensional broken texture.

Finished!

The finished book. Possibly still a little too floral on the cover for my taste, so I'll probably go ahead with some collage at some point. Or maybe it needs some text. Or not. I'll see how I feel in a day or so.

Showing the fastening and 'page edges' detail

Detail of the 'pages' I drew in with a dark grey Copic market. I overdrew with an opaque white pen (Ranger). The fastening is a piece of Grungeboard, cut to size and the corners rounded, then painted and stamped to match. I made two holes right at the top and applied eyelets (too thick to crunch, so I cheated with two sets applied from top and bottom to meet in the middle, with an application of Diamond Glaze glue and a whack with a hammer).

This meant there was a little too much movement of the Grungeboard just at the fore edge, so I made another hole and added two more eyelets in the same way (you can see there's an overhanging lip, so that's where I made the hole). To finish the fastening, I punched a large hole at the end of the Grungboard, and a small hole in the side of the box - then screwed in a hitch fastener. The Grungeboard hooks over beautifully.

Why bother? I carry the box (and contents) to classes, so this stops everything falling out. Nice, neat and secure - and now a lot more interesting to look at.