Last (but not least!) fantasy tip in page

Recyled white mesh, National Geographic images, thread, hand painted paper, XL paperclips, foil snowflakes, lunch wrap.

The last of the reciprocal tip in pages that I have been making.
The front page illustrates the following verse that I found in a children's book about Maori tales and legends.

Behold,
a cold south wind blows across the land
as the stranger leaves-
never to return to that valley.
From far away a thin, plaintive wail rides the wind
to places high and low.
A lone patupaiarehe fades away,
becoming lighter than cobwebs,
dissapearing into thin air.

patuapaiarehe- white skinned fairy folk that come out at night.

A bit of paint helped to turn a bronze statue into the patuapaiarehe or so I think!

Back page
Pockets and tags. The tags have the above verse written in the back and appropriate images on the front.

I havn't done a fantasy theme before but I have had fun thinking outside the square and trying to find topics that I wanted to spend time on. Each page has taken 3-4 hours to make, with the exception of the mermaid who's scales alone took around an hour to cut and glue into place. I think they are worth it though:)

2 more Fantasy Tip in pages..

Recycled lace, recycled magazine and book images, paint, thread, digital camera component.

(Front pages- top photo)

Page 1- Memaid.

Although this page took a lot of time cutting and gluing all of her scales I think it was worth the effort! I found this image of the lady laying down in a magazine and decided that she needed a tail...really, I am not sure why she never had one originally:)

The lace flower is from a net curtain and the moon and shells from childrens books.

Page 2- The Quest for Immortality

I found the cape wearing, shield bearing horseman in a childrens book and knew straight away I would use him. Took me a while to think of a theme as I am trying to avoid any direct links to magic, wizards etc. The little square at the top right corner is from a digital camera that my son took apart.

The back of that page has an image of a young female apache indian performing a ceremony in a Teepee...it seemed to be made for the page!

I have to say I am really happy with these pages...I got my book back from Spain yesterday and it's absolutely beautiful. Stunning!!

Will post pics soon:)

Finished tip in pages

Front and Back

Magazine and book images, found key and trinket, painted paper, paper doily, lunch wrap, stencil letters, thread, dream catcher.

I'm never absolutely sure until they are packed up and mailed if my pages are 100 % finished or not, I may find something that just has to be added between now and then! I think I am finished!
You may have noticed a few changes to the 'dream keepers house' page...and you would be right in thinking it was the front page last I posted lol!
After doing the page I realised I needed to leave a binding margin of around 1 inch! That meant I had to choose between loosing part of everything on the far left or turning the front into the back so that the binding holes would be under the dream keeper writing... I hadn't done a back yet so I just flipped it over and did the front last.

The main image on the front is from the exploration book I scored free at the 2nd hand shop a while ago. Before it was added I used recycled sewing pattern paper to collage the back page. It served several purposes- it masked the thread used on the other side, it strengthened the paper and it gave me a thicker surface to paint.
I placed a paper doily on some standard photocopy paper and painted over
it to make a pattern (like a stencil) and glued that on...the silver dots were created using a cigarette filter as a stamp. I used wax paper (lunch wrap, tracing paper- same thing) to stencil letters onto and the dream catcher made it's way over from the other page too.

The (new) back page had a coat of very watered down silver blue paint which gave it no extra colour just a slight sheen of glitter and the thread I hand sewed onto the page merged the straight lines that I mentioned last time. The key is from an old kids money box and the padlock trinket was sent to me from an artist in America. Quite often mailings of books, atc's etc etc include other little bits in the parcel- a bit of an unspoken courtesy that I've noticed a lot of Artist's seem to pay each other. Everyone loves a surprise! I am pleased with the effect the thread had on the page, it's changed the whole look of it and was so simple to do.

Mick Mathers a new visitor to this blog recently left a very interesting explanation of how 'tip in's got there name in the comment section. Thanks for the info Mick!
Thanks also to Bobbie for encouraging me to keep trying to upload multiple photo's to my posts..as you can see there's been some success!

If your in the mood for a bit of digital artwork why not go and check out these 2 talented artists?

Tip in Page for AB

The dream keepers house.
Tip in page for fantasy themed altered book.

Paper doilie, magazine images, book images, paint and recycled dream catcher pendant.

This is the front of my tip in and it's not quite finished, I have to do the reverse side before I can add some thread to this side. I think that will take away the hard edges that are bothering me at the moment! I will also add some sort of thread or beading to the dream catcher too. I found the dream catcher (broken) in the 50c basket at the 2nd hand shop.
Fantasy is not usually the realm I would choose to work in but this page isn't actually going to be mine. It will on it's way to Spain in the next few weeks along with a few others I am making as 'thank yous' to some lovely artists who have been working in my 'bohemian' themed AB. I have no idea why they are called 'tip in's!'
Tip in's are basically pages that are made from paper or card and created as per the creating artist's style. The page is then sent to another artist who has the altered book it has been made for. That artist then chooses how to add them to the book..binding them, using pockets, gluing them in etc. It's a great way of doing collaborative art and it's cheaper/safer to post a page and not a parcel so quite a good option if the trade is an international one. The only real down fall that I think they have is that you don't get to see the whole book. It's awesome sitting down with a cuppa and exploring someones AB when they arrive in the mail! There's always things to discover and inspire you and you feel more connected to the project. That said they are equally enjoyable to make and receive!

Thank you for all the comments on my AB pages below. This art form is seriously addictive! I have (shock horror! Surprise!) answered the questions that were asked! Have a great week ahead y'all!