Need a stress-reliever camouflaged as an art project? You can relax and make some nice looking book covers with 4-ply museum board and acrylic inks. But first, take up your mallet! Hit metal objects into the soft board until you feel satisfied. A version of the distressed covers showing simulated wood is on page 216 of Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms. I show this technique to my college students right after midterms. You can purchase a mallet at your local hardware store. If you don't see one, ask. I discovered that although they only cost a couple of dollars, they were locked inside a glass case: the most stolen item in the store.
Materials: mallet, metal objects, knife, brush,
acrylic paints (regular or liquid, but not inks: I used
black, red, and silver), 4-ply museum board, torn paper
(and a piece of paper towel, not shown)
With the mallet, pound different objects into the board
and make a variety of marks.
Use the knife to cut a large random shape.
Dig into the corner and begin to
peel away one of the layers of the board.
Peel up the shape.
Your raw distressed board.
Brush on the red and black paints randomly.
Paint the front, back and all four edges of the board.
Using the wet paint as an adhesive, brush the printed paper
into the shape/depression you made with the knife.
You can leave it like this.
Or you can add more color.
When the previous paints are dry, brush silver paint over them.
Wipe it away with a paper towel in some spots.
Looks a bit ghostly, a bit urban now.
Get metallic and add rivets, if you like.
(This is a different board.)
You can also make nicks in the edges.
The three holes on the left could be used
as sewing stations for any Coptic Binding (pages 174-183).