As our Koloist friend and artist Lie Fhung said when she saw the previous post about this Kolo Cortina Lux photo album hack by Steve Light:

Whoa!

A couple days ago we saw this Kolo Cortina Lux photo album soaking in a tub of tea. Today Steve brings us up to date on his project:

So it's been a couple days and now the album is almost dry.

I've done this with paper before -- soaked it in tea to make it look aged and worn -- so I knew that if I left tea leaves directly on the pages of the album, it would leave behind some great spots on the pages, so I’ve been sure to do that. I haven't researched how to do this kind of thing, I've just experimented with it a lot on my own.

I put paper towels between each page so that the pages wouldn't stick together as they dried… I'm not sure that actually would have happened with a Kolo, but I didn't want to take any chances.

Several times over the last couple of days I used a blow dryer on the pages… drying one page at a time… about 30 seconds on each page and a little longer on the album covers. It feels dry, but then when I check on the album a little later, it feels damp again, so I blow dry it again and wait a bit longer.

It’s a lot to put a photo album through, which is why I used the Kolo Cortina Lux photo album. I use these as my sketchbooks, and I thought it would work great for this project. The paper is perfect -- strong and beautiful – so I knew it would hold up to what I wanted to put it through. Plus it kinda has an old look… timeless…

I like the way it’s turning out! It’s looking antique and worn and a bit warped. Perfect! I’m getting so excited about drawing in this. I’ve got an old-timey theme in mind that’s going to be really fun.

Stay tuned!

If you've not yet done this, treat yourself to some examples of pure creativity, courtesy of the imagination and talent of children's book author/illustrator/toymaker Steve Light at www.stevelightart.com .

- Ugo