The Twisted Tale Of The Television Tome

The incredibly talented Dave Lowe has a great post on the massive prop tome he created for the Nickelodeon show "BrainSurge". It's a shining example of a visually impressive item created with simple, low cost materials.

The book had to be very large, but still very easy to lift and handle, so I made it from scratch with lightweight foamcore board. It's painted and finished using the same paper towel and Mod Podge method from my creepy old book how-to. Although it looks 500 pages thick, there are only 50 or 60 glued in sheets of thin drawing pad paper. I crumpled each page and loosely made flat again, so the book never really closes completely and has the illusion of thickness and weight. The pages were aged with brushed on coffee. The natural warping of the paper after drying also helps the illusion.