The Seven Deadly Sins

I jumped at the opportunity to participate in a "Dark Side" altered book round robin.  This is a round robin where we are free to explore taboo topics that others may find disturbing or offensive.  I had a hardback copy of Anne Rice's book, Pandora and thought it would be perfect for this round.  I selected "The Seven Deadly Sins" as my theme.  I liked how the Seven Deadly Sins related to the legend of Pandora.

I wanted to provide an overview of the seven sins in the front of my book. I did this on a gel transfer (top picture).  For the next spread, I placed another gel transfer of an image of Pandora atop her box of evils onto one of the title pages.  On the opposite side, I included the story of Pandora (second picture).

To begin my book, I chose the sin of lust.  For my background, I used a "pulled-paper" technique.  The black, gray and silver color palette gives this spread a grungy, dirty feel.  I then cut out four hearts and painted them lipstick red (of course!)  I folded the hearts in halves, sewed them into the center of the background page and glued that into my book.  This created a seven page heart-shaped book within the book.  With the pages I had removed to thin out this book, I cut out phrases all relating to my lust theme and decorated the heart-shaped pages with them (last three pictures).