Altered Coaster Book

This month's challenge on the GAS (Group for Altered Art Swaps) over on Flickr is to create an altered coaster book. Viv who set this theme stipulated that 'Your 'book' may be on any theme you wish but somewhere it must include a stamp and some texture and must be made of at least 2 coasters.( i.e 4 sides)'

I used three identical coasters (cardboard beer mats) which had an unusual shape and cut a square aperture in the first two. I decided to use a clay face (for a change!!!) which I had already painted and was waiting to be used. The face I mounted on the last coaster and with the apertures it can be seen even when the book is closed.

I had trouble deciding on a theme and after looking through my rubber stamps, decided to go with Paris / France. There is a mixture of old and new France in the book though - 'pages' 2 and 3 have a modern street map on and pages 4 and 5 include some vintage French adverts. I couldn't quite decide what the face had to do with my theme - maybe her hairstyle is a chic Parisian bob - or maybe not!

The texture is on the front cover. I built up around the aperture with some Golden Soft Gel and then a crackle glaze over the top of the whole cover. A slight twist on the French flag, I used an old gold colour instead of white to give a more vintage feel and a couple of old French coins. As I said it's a bit of an old/new mixture, but hope that it'll do.