For months now, I've been wanting to make my own altered Halloween book or spell book cover like the ones I've seen on the Seeing Things blog. Here are a few examples of what I'd like to try:
Halloween Altered Book
Apothecary Encyclopedia
I knew I would need a hardcover book, so I'd planned to visit Dollar Tree and pick one up there. As it turned out, I got to save a few bucks by taking some home from the dump. Someone had left entire sets of World Book encyclopedias from the 1960s-70s there! They were all clean and brand new. These books looked like they had never been used! It was tempting to take them all, because I'm into history. Also, I liked paging through encyclopedias in my pre-internet school days. Are encyclopedias even made anymore? I was probably part of the last generation to turn to an encyclopedia for information.
I decided to take the two smallest ones, which ended up being from 1961. I also grabbed a 1970 encyclopedia yearbook. At first when I saw the word "yearbook" I thought it was someone's high school yearbook. I would have definitely grabbed a vintage high school yearbook. I had no idea that there were even encyclopedia yearbooks! It detailed everything that happened in 1969, from politics to entertainment. You can learn so much about history just by paging through old encyclopedias.
The encyclopedia yearbook was like a time capsule. There was a psychedelic illustration to go with each chapter:
The education illustration sadly has more emphasis on guns and gas masks than kids studying. That and a mysterious groovy man lounging in the foreground. Interestingly enough, my brain connected the guns in the education illustration with the recent school shootings. Times have changed in so many ways. School violence seems much more random and purposeless than political now.
There were psychedelic illustrations in the beginning of each "focus" chapter, which included the sciences, space program, politics, and the economy.
Familiar characters showed up:
...and of course there was a lot of this guy:
I could also tell how important the space program was by the amount of room it took up in the book.
If encyclopedias are being printed today, I doubt there is much about the U.S. space program in them. I know there wouldn't be as much about Communism in today's encyclopedias as what I saw in this 1970 yearbook!
The G and J-K encyclopedias were from 1961. Those were as specific to their years as the 1970 yearbook was. They were full of how-to tips, which surprised me. These encyclopedias seemed geared toward kids and teens. Maybe they were from a school collection? I couldn't see any school name printed on them.
This encyclopedia even gave instructions on how to make a kite:
I knew I'd struck comedy gold when I saw this page:
I couldn't believe I was seeing grooming tips in an encyclopedia. They went on and on from how to care for fingernails to cleaning feet! There was even a chart on the hairstyles women should choose for their facial shape. As if there was only one hairstyle allowed for each face shape!
There you go girls! I hope you like the one hairstyle alloted to your face. It was funny to see beauty tips I'd associate with a Seventeen magazine in an encyclopedia.
There was even a "Daily Grooming Checklist" with questions a person should ask themselves before leaving the house each day:
1. Did I take a bath or shower?
2. Have I brushed my teeth?
3. Is my hair trimmed, neatly combed, and clean and shining?
4. Are my hands and fingernails clean, smooth, and attractive?
5. Are my shoes polished and in good repair?
6. Is my outfit attractive and suitable for what I am going to do today?
Not that the ideas on this checklist aren't good, I was just surprised to see them listed. I wonder at what point encyclopedias stopped offering personal maintenance advice?
Well, now that I've paged through the books, I'll have to decide what to do with them. It's tempting to go back to the dump and drag away all the rest, but I won't do that. I'll keep you guys up-to-date as I design my Halloween book covers, and I'll leave you with my favorite TV dumpster diving moment:
...and no, I'm not tempted to take that much stuff! Although that skeleton was kind of aww-worthy.
Halloween Altered Book
Apothecary Encyclopedia
I knew I would need a hardcover book, so I'd planned to visit Dollar Tree and pick one up there. As it turned out, I got to save a few bucks by taking some home from the dump. Someone had left entire sets of World Book encyclopedias from the 1960s-70s there! They were all clean and brand new. These books looked like they had never been used! It was tempting to take them all, because I'm into history. Also, I liked paging through encyclopedias in my pre-internet school days. Are encyclopedias even made anymore? I was probably part of the last generation to turn to an encyclopedia for information.
I decided to take the two smallest ones, which ended up being from 1961. I also grabbed a 1970 encyclopedia yearbook. At first when I saw the word "yearbook" I thought it was someone's high school yearbook. I would have definitely grabbed a vintage high school yearbook. I had no idea that there were even encyclopedia yearbooks! It detailed everything that happened in 1969, from politics to entertainment. You can learn so much about history just by paging through old encyclopedias.
The encyclopedia yearbook was like a time capsule. There was a psychedelic illustration to go with each chapter:
The education illustration sadly has more emphasis on guns and gas masks than kids studying. That and a mysterious groovy man lounging in the foreground. Interestingly enough, my brain connected the guns in the education illustration with the recent school shootings. Times have changed in so many ways. School violence seems much more random and purposeless than political now.
There were psychedelic illustrations in the beginning of each "focus" chapter, which included the sciences, space program, politics, and the economy.
Familiar characters showed up:
...and of course there was a lot of this guy:
I could also tell how important the space program was by the amount of room it took up in the book.
If encyclopedias are being printed today, I doubt there is much about the U.S. space program in them. I know there wouldn't be as much about Communism in today's encyclopedias as what I saw in this 1970 yearbook!
The G and J-K encyclopedias were from 1961. Those were as specific to their years as the 1970 yearbook was. They were full of how-to tips, which surprised me. These encyclopedias seemed geared toward kids and teens. Maybe they were from a school collection? I couldn't see any school name printed on them.
This encyclopedia even gave instructions on how to make a kite:
I knew I'd struck comedy gold when I saw this page:
 |
| Be sure to click on this one to enlarge it for a few laughs. |
I couldn't believe I was seeing grooming tips in an encyclopedia. They went on and on from how to care for fingernails to cleaning feet! There was even a chart on the hairstyles women should choose for their facial shape. As if there was only one hairstyle allowed for each face shape!
There you go girls! I hope you like the one hairstyle alloted to your face. It was funny to see beauty tips I'd associate with a Seventeen magazine in an encyclopedia.
There was even a "Daily Grooming Checklist" with questions a person should ask themselves before leaving the house each day:
1. Did I take a bath or shower?
2. Have I brushed my teeth?
3. Is my hair trimmed, neatly combed, and clean and shining?
4. Are my hands and fingernails clean, smooth, and attractive?
5. Are my shoes polished and in good repair?
6. Is my outfit attractive and suitable for what I am going to do today?
Not that the ideas on this checklist aren't good, I was just surprised to see them listed. I wonder at what point encyclopedias stopped offering personal maintenance advice?
Well, now that I've paged through the books, I'll have to decide what to do with them. It's tempting to go back to the dump and drag away all the rest, but I won't do that. I'll keep you guys up-to-date as I design my Halloween book covers, and I'll leave you with my favorite TV dumpster diving moment:
...and no, I'm not tempted to take that much stuff! Although that skeleton was kind of aww-worthy.
