Prepare yourself for another post in our Crafty Chaos series...
Last year, cute painted bricks made to look like books started appearing all over Pinterest. My sister had already been toying with the ideas for some book-ish yard projects, so she knew she needed to make a few of these. At the time though, she wasn't sure where she'd even put painted bricks — so the project got put on hold.
Later, as she began preparing to build some raised garden beds in her little side yard, she had an idea...
What if she lined the base of the garden beds with brick "books"?
A bit much? Probably.
Did she care? Not really.
She built her raised garden boxes earlier this spring and started planting in them just last weekend. With those tasks underway, it was finally time for her to create her first set of brick books — and I helped her along the way.
She didn't know anyone getting rid of bricks and couldn't find any on KSL Classifieds or Facebook Marketplace that worked (though hopefully she can repurpose some old bricks going forward!). So she picked up a few brick-sized pavers at Lowe's — since she couldn't find actual bricks there — just to get the collection started.
More recently, she grabbed some thicker pavers of a similar size at Home Depot. Eventually she'll have a mix of sizes, which will look even cuter and mimic a real bookshelf better.
There are lots of tutorials out there for painting brick books, and if you plan to make some, we definitely recommend checking a few out. We found a lot of different creative approaches!
Since she plans to eventually have quite a few of these — and they'll be sitting outside in the dirt — she wanted an approach that wouldn't require too many materials or be overly labor-intensive. For example, she didn't want to cut mylar sheets or vinyl stencils for each book on a Cricut. Because she doesn't consider herself very artistic, she wanted simple designs.
With those considerations in mind, she decided to keep things simple with paper patterns (inexpensive and recyclable) and transfer paper. We hadn't seen anyone else use this approach, so we weren't sure how well it would work — but thankfully, it worked just fine!
Her designs aren't quite as crisp as some others we've seen, but given her plans for these bricks, she's 100% okay with that.
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Painting the bricks:
Using acrylic paint and a craft paint brush, she started by painting the top, one side, and the bottom of the bricks (the "pages") a cream color. She took the paint to the edge and didn't worry too much about precision, since the "cover" would wrap around slightly anyway.
Using painter's tape, she marked off the areas along those painted sections where the "front and back covers" would be — roughly a 1/4 inch border from edges. On future bricks though, she said she'll probably just eyeball the lines. Since the pavers aren't smooth, the tape lines weren't perfectly crisp anyway — and she'd rather not use a ton of tape for this project.
She then painted the "book covers," using Midnight Blue on one and Black Cherry on the other.
The front, back, blank side ("spine"), and the edges of the page sides were painted in these colors.
Next came the actual book cover designs.
She measured the bricks and, using Pages, drew rectangles slightly smaller than the bricks to create her design space. Then she added text and — in later designs — some simple graphics. The first two were super simple, with no scrollwork or images. She was able to fit two cover designs on one page.
She cut out each design, then cut transfer paper slightly smaller than the paper patterns. She used black tranfer paper on the maroon brick and white transfer paper on the blue brick, tracing the designs with a pen.
(She bought the transfer paper on Amazon.)
Next, she used thin paint brushes and acrylic paint to go over the traced lettering.
She then repeated the same trace-and-paint steps for the spines — sticking to author initials there.
On the third brick, she decided to branch out and add a small graphic and extra color on the cover and the spine. She chose Sea Coral for the cover since she wanted something oceany. She also experimented with puff paint, hoping for an embossed feel.
She said it was harder than simply painting the letters though, so she's not sure she'll use puff paint again — though she may try it with block lettering.
On the fourth brick, she chose a chunky block font — which turned out to be her favorite. It was much easier to trace and fill in, so she'll likely do more block lettering going forward.
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What she'll try differently next time:
On some upcoming books, she plans to break out floral stencils and add larger designs to the covers. She may also cut basic scrolls and flourishes on her Cricut to dress up future covers when she's not using book-specific graphics.
Plans:
- More block lettering
- Less painter's tape.
Stay tuned for updates on how these ideas actually pan out!
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Book selection:
She recently read an Agatha Christie biography, listened to a lecture series on her writing, and then read a selection of her novels — so it felt fitting to choose a couple of Christie titles for the first bricks.
From here, she's working back through classics she's read in the past year or two.
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Materials:
- Bricks (or brick-like pavers)
- Acrylic paint (Delta Ceramcoat Antique White, Midnight Blue, Black Cherry, Blue Heaven, Tibetan Sunset, and Folkart Metallic Pure Gold)
- Transfer paper (white and black) and stylus or pen
- Craft paint brushes
- Painter's tape (optional)
- Paper template/design
Have you painted brick books? What are your tips and tricks? Let us know in the comments below!
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