2D

Creating niches
 


Equipment:

• A cutting mat
• A cutting knife
• An old book
• PVA glue
• Clothes pegs

Health and safety:
Be careful with the cutting  knife as they can be quite sharp
Keep area around you clear for others and yourself

What is a Niche?
As the name suggests, it is a "hole" cut through one or more pages of a book. This creates a space that altered book artists and other arts and craft people use for multiple purposes.

Step by step

1. Decide how you intend to fill the niche. This will determine the size and shape.
2. If you are using a 3-D element, a key, for example, you will need to determine how many pages you must cut through. Place the key on the outside edge of the book's pages to determine the desired thickness. If you want your book to close flat afterwards, you must make your niche a little thicker than your key. (Some AB artists don't care if the book doesn't close; it's up to you.)
3. Decide the placement on your page. Cutting a thick opening close to the spine will result in an unsightly ridge of cut pages that will stick up and prevent your book from closing properly. Alternatively, cutting a thick niche too close to the outer edges will create undue stress on the spine and possibly lead to damage.
4. Decide on the shape you want to use. Squares and rectangles are the easiest, but you can cut any shape you want.
5. Using a pencil and ruler (if you want a straight line), draw the niche on your top page.
6. Place a cutting mat underneath the last page that you intend to cut. By cutting mat, I refer to a hard surface that will prevent you from cutting through to pages that you want to protect.
7. Fasten your pages with the clothes pegs to hold them in place while cutting. 
8. Cut your niche using the knife.
9. If your niche is thick, you will not be able to cut through all pages at once. Cut through as many pages as you can, then using the last cut page as your template, cut some more. Continue until all desired pages are cut. 
10. In most cases,the inner edges of your niche will be messy. Many of us don't care, believing this to be part of the charm of an altered book. If you do care, tidy up the inner edges by cutting, sanding, painting, etc. Another approach is to line the entire niche, including the edges, with paper or vellum.
11. Fasten together the pages used for the niche.
12. Fill or decorate your niche as planned.