I've seen a girl on TikTok who paints these really beautiful pictures on the side of books but I don't think she sells them. And there's a lot of books, especially paperbacks, that I love and wish had sprayed edges. Not even necessarily designs, just edges that are painted a solid color. And when I looked it up on YouTube I saw a lot of people doing it themselves with spray paint, paint brushes and even airbrush. But I'm wondering if it's too much of a risk to do it at home yourself. It seems like it would be cheaper than having a book custom painted but I also don't know what kind of paint would be the safest and if the risk would even be worth it. What do you guys think? Would you ever paint the edges of your books yourself and if you did what kind of paint would you use? Or do you think it's too big of a risk to ever bother to try?

Comments

SnarfbObo t1_j6ltt8q wrote on January 31, 2023 at 6:02 AM

#1,648,047

It's my book and there are others, why not?

serralinda73 t1_j6ltviy wrote on January 31, 2023 at 6:03 AM

#1,648,071

On a $10 paperback? Why not? If I wanted to do something artsy with them, I'd slap on the paint, glitter, stickers, whatever. Acrylic paint is probably the easiest.

ohcharmingostrichwhy t1_j6luihx wrote on January 31, 2023 at 6:10 AM

#1,648,263

To answer your question, to me, personally, it would feel like desecration. If it’s done right and you like it, though, I don’t see the problem. They’re not my books, lmao.

Disastrous_Animal_34 t1_j6lv5ei wrote on January 31, 2023 at 6:17 AM

#1,648,455

Not personally but also don’t draw or annotate in my books. If you think it’s cool and it’s your book, go for it! Experiment with a cheap/old book, and if you see a lot of it on social media, comment on the YouTube or tiktok clip for paint type/application advice from the creator?

jawnbaejaeger t1_j6m01o7 wrote on January 31, 2023 at 7:16 AM

#1,649,806

I mean, unless it's some precious, out of print book that can only be found for thousands of dollars, why not?

Where's the risk? I fuck up a $10 book while experimenting with art? Either way, I've learned something and probably had a good time.

My friend used to color in the pages of the manga she bought. The books weren't worth anything and she enjoyed doing it.

everydayvictoriesuk t1_j6mia8k wrote on January 31, 2023 at 11:29 AM

#1,654,592

I saw this too and think it's really cool! It would also make a lovely gift for someone as you could personalise it for each person. You could even buy some cheap books from a charity shop to practice on first.

Kris98tin t1_j6mlrju wrote on January 31, 2023 at 12:09 PM

#1,655,656

A friend of mine does it, but she practiced first on used/ruined/didntcarefor books because with spray paint a lot is about distance and pressure on the valve! If you find some 2 or 5 bucks books that you don't care if you ruined start with those to see what distance and pressure to apply and then you can do it to other books knowing you won't ruin them.