Crafty Romance

Bitchin' Blog Posts

by SB Sarah | by SB Sarah | May 27, 2010 | Thursday at 3:11 pm | 43 Comments

I’m always fascinated by what folks do with romance novel covers on Etsy. If you have a giant pile of romances laying about the house (like sloths!) and you don’t know what to do with them (and really, who does know what to do with slothful romances?) here’s some Etsy-approved ideas for craftmaking.

Only the best covers can become pendants. But if it’s a woman’s backside, is it really gay? And if a gay tree falls in the woods, is there wood?

You can also make greetings cards out of them, though it’s always better if you (ahem) refrain from referring to them as “sleazy romance novels.” Sleazy. Wow. Haven’t heard that one deployed in awhile.

But if you’ve got a ton, and I mean a TON of romances you want to display and not nearly enough bookshelves to lovingly place each one face-out on the shelf for maximum admiration, how about…furniture?

Get your Mod Podge and Get Crazy: side tables and coffee tables everywhere are absolutely screaming for this treatment.

I have to say, that’s kind of awesome and I’d totally podge the dickens out of a bedstand with romance covers—but not as a coffee table. All the cardstock edges would make the surface uneven, and what if there’s a glass of wine on the coffee table?

So, what crafty things have you seen done or wish you could do with books that you’re not going to read but have wonderful cover art?

Filed: Covers Gone Wild! (Non-Snoop Dogg Edition), General Bitching

Tagged: romance, etsy, covers, awesome, art

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Jenyfer Matthews said on 05.27.10 at 03:19 PM • [link]

I love the tables and imagine that the sealant on top would make the top fairly even. So cool what people think to do with book covers!
AgTigress said on 05.27.10 at 03:21 PM • [link]

All the cardstock edges would make the surface uneven, and what if there’s a glass of wine on the coffee table?

Not when they are covered with multiple layers of polyurethan varnish, as we are told they are. That would smooth out the irregularities nicely. Of course there will be a glass of wine on the coffee-table, but I don’t think it will fall over. The owner of the coffee-table might, though.
And I don’t see why the gay stories shouldn’t be gay in the modern sense, if the reader happened to be female…
:-)
AgTigress said on 05.27.10 at 03:22 PM • [link]

‘Polyurethane’. Don’t know what happened to the final ‘e’.
Beki said on 05.27.10 at 03:35 PM • [link]

I have a sister-in-law who is educated beyond all reason who refers to romance novels as sleazy. Or sometimes as porn. Which is annoying since she *knows* I write and long to be published in romance.

The funny thing is, if it were any other type of covers, she’d do these projects in a heartbeat!
Andee said on 05.27.10 at 03:36 PM • [link]

I love the thought of doing some kind of craft with romance novel covers. As a wedding planner, I’m always looking for great themes. They would make great table identifications for your reception…you could incorporate them into wedding scrapbooks and all kinds of wedding or bridal shower decor.
Miranda said on 05.27.10 at 03:46 PM • [link]

I’ve seen some links to birdhouses made with old books… but my favorite is to use them as art around the house, framed up real nice and easy to interchange for a different tone.
AgTigress said on 05.27.10 at 04:15 PM • [link]

I have a sister-in-law who is educated beyond all reason who refers to romance novels as sleazy. Or sometimes as porn.

Hmm. She may be ‘educated beyond all reason’, but she is clearly not at all scholarly in her correct and precise use of language. And her manners evidently need some work, too, if she is casually insulting you with those incorrectly-defined adjectives for romance novels. Just shows that education doesn’t always ‘take’.
Susan said on 05.27.10 at 04:29 PM • [link]

But if it’s a woman’s backside, is it really gay?

It can be lesbian!
Mary Lamb said on 05.27.10 at 04:36 PM • [link]

These are great! Can’t wait to get a house of my own with a room of my own and decorate with the wonderful coffee tables and end tables!
Silver James said on 05.27.10 at 04:40 PM • [link]

I’ve seen handbags made with covers. They were awesome! I thought about contracting the designer to make me one with my cover but then saw the price. Ouch. Still very cool! Maybe I should figure out how to be crafty and make my own.
Lauren D said on 05.27.10 at 05:02 PM • [link]

Oh man, I have 3-4 huge storage bins literally stuffed full of cheesetastic clinch covers I started collecting a few years ago to make purses out of. I never got the sewing machine I needed to do it, and I don’t really want to make purses anymore anyways. So now I have hundreds of mullets and rainbows and rearing stallions and no clue what to do with them. I do have a bedside table in desperate need of some jazzing up though, so I think I found my new summer project!
Dawn said on 05.27.10 at 05:03 PM • [link]

I love the tables. I think I’m going to try making one of those for my writing room.
Ellie said on 05.27.10 at 05:10 PM • [link]

If you guys want to do the tables…the tables listed in the etsy sale can be found at walmart. I know that the end table is less than 20.00 (because I have the same one on my sun porch), but I’m sure that round ones can be found at hobby lobby or michael’s. I think they’d make a really cute side table for a reading area/nook/room.
Kristina said on 05.27.10 at 06:14 PM • [link]

Ohhhh I have the most boring little side table at home that is just screaming for some quality time with me and a bottle of Mod Podge. Of which I have plenty along with some new sponge brushes. YES!! My long weekend is starting to look very good.
Lynne Connolly said on 05.27.10 at 06:31 PM • [link]

In the UK, a new outlet has opened, the Literary Gift Company. I want that literary duck.
http://www.theliterarygiftcompany.com/accessories-28-c.asp
Ros said on 05.27.10 at 09:00 PM • [link]

Lynne, thanks for the link! That’s all my Christmas and birthday presents sorted for the next year or two.

And I totally want heart-shaped confetti from M&B novels if ever I get married!!
RebeccaJ said on 05.27.10 at 09:26 PM • [link]

Ahhh, memories. For some reason, my mother used to flip out BIG TIME if she ever caught us reading those comic book romances. Makes me laugh to this day because I have idea why they bugged her so much. I understood her motivation for banning Jesus Christ Superstar I got, but this? LOL! Too funny.
Bibliophile said on 05.27.10 at 10:55 PM • [link]

My current project involves hunting down Barbara Cartland novels with Francis Marshall covers to make into bookmarks. I would love to have a collection of pristine cover art framed and hung like family photos on my walls, and not just romances, but any kind of great cover art. However, since I trade books on BookMooch, I hesitate to tear the covers off any book, so there is a bit of a conflict.
Sue said on 05.27.10 at 11:13 PM • [link]

OK - I’m showing my age, but when I saw this, I had to suggest laquered lunchboxes - cut out your favorite pictures, glue them onto metal lunchboxes ( if they still make them - kids still have them), and then laquer over your creation - very fashionable ( once upon a time!)
Tina C. said on 05.27.10 at 11:16 PM • [link]

Bibliophile wrote:
However, since I trade books on BookMooch, I hesitate to tear the covers off any book, so there is a bit of a conflict.

You could take the ones you want to a print shop and tell them that you want a copy of the cover, in color, on cardstock, because you don’t want to destroy the book. If anyone could do that for you, they should be able to.

Beki said:
I have a sister-in-law who is educated beyond all reason who refers to romance novels as sleazy. Or sometimes as porn. Which is annoying since she *knows* I write and long to be published in romance.

I’m “educated beyond all reason”, especially considering what I do for a living and how much I get paid to do it, and I would never be so rude as to say that to someone that I didn’t know, let alone a relative, even if I believed it to be true. (Which, given both my reading tastes and the fact that I’m here, I obviously don’t.) That she has said that to you once, let alone multiple times, knowing that you write romance, strikes me as passive-aggressively hostile. Have you ever confronted her on it?
Anna Shah Hoque said on 05.27.10 at 11:32 PM • [link]

Omigosh…those pendents are just too adorable for words! I also love the table…I’ve always wanted to post book covers collage on my closet doors. Hmm…I just might pull out swag book covers that I’ve gotten in the past and start the project…we’ll see. *must go rummaging in my closet now*
Brooks*belle said on 05.28.10 at 12:08 AM • [link]

You know how in WWII they printed maps on the silk lining of aviator jackets? Well I can TOTALLY see a women’s trench coat lined with fabric printed with a collage of romance novel covers. Wear only that and a pair of high heels and you’re all set for seduction! Or just wear it on normal days and feel flirty and naughty. :D

If only I had the talent and technology!
Kristin said on 05.28.10 at 12:48 AM • [link]

I have to say, I kind of like those tables.

And, I love Brooks*belle’s idea.
Beki said on 05.28.10 at 01:27 AM • [link]

@TinaC—Do I confront her on it? We argue about it from time to time for sport. I’m not one to hold back my feelings on the matter. She’s one of those people who cannot read a book with a plot, but WILL spend weeks plodding through War & Peace to be able to say she did. I love her as she’s my sister (in-law) but yeah, the passive aggressive thing hits that nail squarely on the head. (rolls eyes) What else can I do? one day I’ll be published “in my field” and she will not be. And I will certainly, in the most ladylike of manners, gloat.

I’m eyeballing those tables at Wal-mart now for this project. Just imagine all the Sweet Valley High book covers done for a kitchy teen room!
Shaina said on 05.28.10 at 01:36 AM • [link]

i always had this crazy idea of making an “art car” out of pages of old cheesy harlequins. meaning, get a car and then cover it with pages (possibly with awesome sentences highlighted), lacquer over it, get a funky license plate, and show it off! i’m sure the covers could go on the car too…maybe on the rearview mirrors? accents? lol.

dunno if my dream will ever come true (probably not) but i can sure dream…

secondary to that, i wanted to do my bedframe in the same fashion, but my parents (who paid for it) said no way. it’s just a plain unfinished wood frame from ikea, just BEGGING for decoration, but alas.
Miranda said on 05.28.10 at 02:15 AM • [link]

I haven’t done this, but you could scan in the picture, and use a needlework transfer program to make a cross-stitch pattern.

I’ve taken a couple of pendant making classes using the Amazing Glaze resin. You can do all kinds of collages and even go 3-d with beads or found objects!
orangehands said on 05.28.10 at 03:04 AM • [link]

This reminds me of the bag they gave out at RWA last year; I love that thing.

I have a question that I’m sure someone here can answer: Is it legal to sell these items? Because aren’t book covers copyrighted, and can’t you not use someone else’s product on your product and then sell it?
Kwana said on 05.28.10 at 04:03 AM • [link]

I love the night table idea. Just wonderful. I’d totally do that too.
Suze said on 05.28.10 at 04:48 AM • [link]

I once watched a decorating competition show, where the decorating teams had to do a room in somebody’s house based on an interview.

This one team got a couple who LOVED to read, and they had to re-do the sitting room, where the couple kept all their books.

So they got rid of the tons of shelves stacked with books (so tacky!) and replaced them with less shelving, filled the new shelves with decorating tchotchkes, and—because the couple loved books so much—went and got some “old” leather-bound books from some second hand store, cut off the spines, and glued the spines to the uprights on the shelves.

That way, they explained, the couple could enjoy the look of books without having them take up all that valuable shelf space.

I still boggle over that one. Can you imagine?
KristieJ said on 05.28.10 at 04:50 AM • [link]

Wow!!! Those coffee and end tables give me a great idea!! I have all kinds of cover flats I’ve been collecting and not doing anything with. I have an old set of end tables and a coffee table that are just sitting in the basement doing nothing really but I’m a pack rat. I should decoupage them with my cover flats and when I get my ‘library’ back, they would make a perfect accent!!!!!!!
Cakes said on 05.28.10 at 07:05 AM • [link]

I keep meaning to make these wallets…maybe it’s time
http://hello-refabulous.blogspot.com/2009/01/make-your-own-paperback-wallet.html
Ros said on 05.28.10 at 09:23 AM • [link]

@Orangehands, there may be problems with copyright if you make copies of the image or text for your products. But if you use the ACTUAL covers, then you haven’t reproduced anything and you should be fine to sell them in whatever shape or form you like.
Deb said on 05.28.10 at 01:32 PM • [link]

Back in the day (i.e., the 1970s), I used to clip images I liked from magazines (especially Vogue—even though I’m not a fashionista—far from it—they have always had a wonderful and wide variety of photos, sketches, wild ads, etc.) and decoupage them to old cigar boxes (I have no idea where I got the cigar boxes, but at one time I had scores of them). I always thought I’d love to do something with the old crime/pulp covers. Perhaps it’s time to pull out the glue again!
Maria D. said on 05.28.10 at 01:43 PM • [link]

I liked the tables and the way to get around any possible uneven edges is to place a thin layer of glass on top of the table so that you can put glasses and other things on top. My bff has done tables like that with ceramic tiles, broken dishes- whatever you like to look at. I like them because it’s a way to repurpose things. Usually it’s a really ugly table that gets repainted and freshened up and then th broken tiles or whatever get used too.
meganb said on 05.28.10 at 06:20 PM • [link]

OK - I’m showing my age, but when I saw this, I had to suggest laquered lunchboxes - cut out your favorite pictures, glue them onto metal lunchboxes ( if they still make them - kids still have them), and then laquer over your creation - very fashionable ( once upon a time!)

I know I’ve seen plain metal lunch boxes somewhere. Probably the same place I will find the modge podge and the craft glue I need….

But, how are the purses made? Are the covers encased in vinyl then sewn together, or what? I might have to look into this.
meganb said on 05.28.10 at 06:33 PM • [link]

OK, ignore the earlier question about how the purses are made, I figured it out from Cakes’ wallet link.

@Orangehands—Ros is probably right, but if you are only using it for your own purposes and not to sell, you can probably get away with anything.

What I remember from this discussion at art school is that if you “repurpose” someone else’s image, it can only be a part of it, or the image can only be a part of the larger work. So, a paperback purse might be made up of multiple covers and be safe in terms of litigation. But it might not.

Also, copyright law for text is that after 50 years it’s public domain, which is how Google gets away with posting whole books online. This might extend to cover art?

No one should take my word for any of this, though. What the hell do I know? I have a degree in art history.
Elle Robb said on 05.28.10 at 07:52 PM • [link]

I’ve deco’d boxes - photo boxes, storage boxes, that sort of thing, with scraps of paper. Hadn’t thought about doing it w/ book covers, but what a great idea!
Angelia Sparrow said on 05.28.10 at 10:22 PM • [link]

One tip: ModPodge makes inkjet (color or B&W) copies run.
Found this out the hard way on my altar.

Three legged tables can be had for about $5 at your Garden Ridge store.
Francesca said on 05.28.10 at 11:36 PM • [link]

http://www.etsy.com/listing/42409911/hardy-boys-arctic-patrol-mystery-bag?ref=em

not romances but beautiful bags regardless from bookshelvesofdoom
orangehands said on 05.29.10 at 09:48 PM • [link]

Ros & meganb: Thanks! I’ve just always been curious because it seems like people ca get in trouble but then Etsy is such a huge site and has plenty of items like that (though not necessarily romance covers.)
heathero said on 05.31.10 at 12:36 AM • [link]

I took a couple of old skool romance covers (mullet and all) and glued them to a light switch plates (cheap plastic ones I bought at Lowes). I put a coat of polyurethane on top and gave them as gifts one year to my other romance-reading friends.
Maddy said on 07.14.10 at 08:09 AM • [link]

So it’s your faults so many of the covers are missing from the trashy romances I pick up at the library free table! I knew something was up.

My friend and I realized those books would be good for laughs, so we’ve started collecting them. In a few short months I have acquired, for free, an appalling number of them—and the covers are the best part. Being second-plus-hand books that the library receives from people ditching the ones they don’t want may account for the missing covers, but I’d like to think they were deliberately removed…
Maddy said on 07.14.10 at 08:47 AM • [link]

*frowns* That wasn’t worded right at all. It makes it sound like I think they’re all trashy… which I don’t. Frankly, I adore romance novels—the good, the bad, and the ugly, and have indeed been collecting and reading them maniacally. It helps that I’m something of a bibliophile. The aforementioned friend is still skeptical, but the first few let me pleasantly surprised (I will admit to having thought them trashy at first, and some of the older ones WERE a bit questionable), and the rest left me utterly hooked.

Sorry about that—no disrespect or insult was intended. I always speak—and type, apparently—before thinking.