PAINTED BRICK "BOOKS"

Prepare yourself for another post in our Crafty Chaos series...

Last year, cute painted bricks as books started appearing in my Pinterest feed. I'd already been toying with ideas of some book-ish yard projects and I knew I needed to make some of these. At the time though, I wasn't sure where I'd even put painted bricks and so I put off the project. Later, as I began preparations to build some raised garden beds in my little side yard, I had an idea...

What if I lined the base of the garden beds with brick "books"?

A bit much? Probably. Do I care? Not really.

I build my raised garden boxes earlier this spring and began planting in them just last weekend. And with those tasks underway, it was time to create my first set of brick books. I didn't know of anyone getting rid of bricks, nor could I find any on KSL. Classified or Facebook Marketplace that worked (hopefully going forward I can find some old bricks to repurpose though!). So I picked up a few brick-ish sized pavers at Lowes (I couldn't find any actual bricks there) to get my collection started. More recently I picked up some thicker pavers of a similar size at Home Depot - so I will eventually have some different sizes, which I think will be cute, as that will be better mimic a real-life bookshelf.

There are a lot of tutorials and instruction on painting bricks as books out there. If you're going to paint some brick books, I'd check out a few - I found a lot of different, creative approaches!

As I intended to eventually have a lot of these and knew they'll be in the dirt outside (as opposed to book ends or something else indoors), I wanted an approach that wouldn't require too many materials or be too labor-intensive. So, for instance, I didn't want to cut out mylar sheet or vinyl stencils for each book on my Cricut. And because I'm not very artistic, I wanted simple designs. 

With these consideration in mind, I decided to keep it simple with paper patterns (inexpensive and recyclable) and transfer paper. I hadn't found anyone else who used this approach, so I wasn't sure how well it would work - but thankfully, it worked just fine! My designs aren't as crisp as some of the others I've seen. Given my plans and considerations for these bricks though, I'm 100% okay with that. 

Painting the bricks:

Using acrylic paint and a craft paint brush, I started by painting the top, one side and the bottom of my bricks (the "pages") a cream color. I took the paint to the edge and wasn't too worried about being precise, as I knew the "cover" would wrap around the side a little bit anyway. 

Using some painter's tape, I marked off the areas along those painted areas where the "front and back covers" will be - I probably marked about 1/4 inch border away from edges. On the next ones though, I think I'll just try to eyeball these lines. As the pavers aren't smooth, the lines weren't crisp anyway. And I'd rather not use lots of tape on this project. 

I then painted my "book covers." I used Midnight Blue on one and Black Cherry on the other.

The front, back and blank side ("spine"), along with the edges of the page sides, were painted in these colors. 

Next came the actual book cover design. I measured my bricks and then using Pages, drew rectangles just smaller than the bricks - this was my design space. I then added text and, in later designs, some simple graphics within that design space. My first two were super simple - no images for scrolls or anything. I was able to fit two book cover designs to a page. 

I cut out each design. And then I cut out the transfer paper slightly smaller than my paper pattern. I used black tranfer paper on the maroon brick and white transfer paper on the blue brick, tracing the design with a pen (as opposed to a stylus, which came with the transfer paper).

(I bought my transfer paper on Amazon)

Next, I simply used thin paint brushes and acrylic paint to go over the traced lettering. 

I then repeated the same trace and paint steps for the spine. (Just stick to author initials on the spines!)

On the third brick, I decided to branch out and add a little graphic and extra color on the cover and the spine (I picked sea coral for the cover, since I wanted something oceany). I aslo tried some puff paint on this one, hoping for an embossed feel. However, I felt this was harder than simply painting the letters, so I'm not sure I'll try any other bricks with puff paint. But perhaps I'll give one with block lettering a try. 

One the fourth brick, I chose a chunky, block font - I really liked how that turned out! It was easier to paint, as it was easier to trace those lines and fill them in than with the other fonts I chose. So I'll probably do more block lettering going forward.

What I'll try differently next time:

I think on some of the upcoming books, I'll bust out my floral stencils and add some larger stenciled designs to the covers. I may also cut out a stencil on my Cricut with some basic scrolls and flourishes to dress up future covers when I'm not using a book-specific graphic. 

More block lettering

Less painter's tape.

Stay tuned for updates on how these ideas actually pan out!

Book selection:

I recently read an Agatha Christie biography, listened to a lecture series on her writing and then read a selection of her novels - so it only felt appropriate to select a couple of her books for my first bricks. From here, I'm just working back through classics I've read in the past year or two. 

Materials:

• Bricks (or brick-like pavers)
• Acrylic paint (I used Delta Ceramcoat colors Antique White, Midnight Blue, Black Cherry, Blue Heaven and Tibetan Sunset, as well as Folkart Metallic color Pure Gold)
• Tracing paper (white and black) and either stylus or pen
• Craft paint brushes
• Painter's tape, optional
• Paper Template/design (unless you want to freestyle your design)

Have you painted brick books? What are your tips and tricks? Let us know in the comments below!

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