Would you ever paint/spray the edges of your own book?

Submitted by thatvampiregirl t3_10pqajs in books

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?

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SnarfbObo t1_j6ltt8q wrote

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

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jawnbaejaeger t1_j6m01o7 wrote

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.

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AlanMorlock t1_j6mynxo wrote

Coloring a black and white Manga is actually a pretty interesting idea.

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IndigoTrailsToo t1_j6nlz21 wrote

It's probably cheaper than a lot of adult coloring books to when you think about how many pictures are in 1 coloring book

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AlanMorlock t1_j6o3hie wrote

I've actually seen Junji Ito art marketed as coloring books before.

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serralinda73 t1_j6ltviy wrote

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.

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honestlyicba t1_j6mq1cy wrote

If it’s not a rare book, do whatever you want with it.

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Disastrous_Animal_34 t1_j6lv5ei wrote

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?

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everydayvictoriesuk t1_j6mia8k wrote

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.

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Kris98tin t1_j6mlrju wrote

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.

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EAF_Gummy_Bear t1_j6o78me wrote

I don’t personally like the look so no I wouldn’t

But do wtv you want with your books, and I’ve seen people come up on my TikTok too that do this and sell them

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ohcharmingostrichwhy t1_j6luihx wrote

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.

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