Gelli plate to the rescue! Turning an old book cover into abstract art

I'm obsessed with finding cool vintage books and giving them new life as tablet cases. But I've come to realize, not all book covers can be saved.

Like this Trixie Belden cover. Way back when I made this case, the image on the front blinded me to the sad state of the binding. This case would never last!

In fact, all it took was a little tug and the spine split in two.

But I couldn't toss Trixie into the trash. Not without trying to save her! First I repaired the spine using white book tape.

Next, a few coats of white gesso. Sorry, Trixie!

I used bubble wrap on the Gelli plate to create a yellow and orange background.

I added a teal design using a homemade spiral stencil.

As a final detail, I outlined the swirls using a white paint pen.

I'm happy with the result. Now the question is, should this be a tablet case or the cover for a blank book ? Stay tuned!

Update: It's a tablet case! See how it turned out here.