Using Ephemera in your Altered Books

When making an altered book, many A artists favor ephemera for embellishment.

Ephemera is a term referring to found objects, or what some may call junk.  If an object is flat enough to be attached to a layout in some way, or small enough to fit in a niche that you have cut, or capable of being dangled from a string or cord, then it is fair game to use in an altered art project.

You find emphera everywhere. Its in your junk drawer, your garage, your recycle bin and in the junk mail that arrives only too frequently.

Friends are good sources of emphemera, once they know you are interested.  You can also pick up items found on the streets, or sold at garage sales and the link.

In this video, an artist describes the various ways she finds emphemera.

Aside from the artistic scope for creativity with using found objects, you are also saving money, since these things are usually free. Not to mention, it is recycling so you are doing a good thing for the environment while you create art works.

Halloween Clipart for your Altered Book

Anyone looking for Halloween Clipart  might want to check out this link.  Halloween is coming and many altered book artists as well as other paper crafters will be making craft projects and art projects with that particular theme.

Clip art is a good addition to altered books. Obviously, it can be used as an embellishment on layouts and spreads.  It can also be converted into a sticker using a Xyron or by printing out on an Avery label.

If you have some good image editing software and know how to use it, you can edit your clipart to customize it to your design needs.

Your clipart witches, vampires, ghosts, goblins, skeletons, spider webs, black cats and pumpkins can become something truly your own when you tinker with them in a program like Photoshop Elements.

When using Halloween clipart or any other image, you will need to consider the copyright, of course.  The following web page has links to copyright free images.

Lamp Made from Altered Books

If you think making an altered book is not true art, then you have to check this out.

I just found this amazing sculpture at a blog. Its a lamp made from one or more altered books.   I love creative, amazing work like this. Apparently the artists are making a number of projects using old books and this is just one of them.

Here's the link to this piece of altered art.

The Altered Book Round Robin

Altered book artists sometimes create an altered book via an activity called a round robin.

While round robins may differ, depending upon the terms stipulated by the organizer and the members,  the activity involves passing a book along to a number of people, each of whom alters one layout or one page.

Each member usually contributes a book, which gets passed along, eventually to return to its original owner -- decorated and worked on by each artist in the group.

It's a fun concept. When a round robin works well, you end up with a group of happy people, each who have contributed to everyone else's book, and each who have received their original book back containing artwork from all members.

When things do not go well, books can get lost or misplaced, members can fail to meet their obligations, members can complain about one another or the quality of the art work, etc.

You will find more information about round robins at this altered book web site.

Host a Shoe-Box Party

If you fancy making an altered book, or some other type of altered art, why not host a shoe-box party?

Shoe box parties are parties in which every guest brings a shoe box full of supplies.  The boxes are traded at the party, and each participant spends the class time working on a project based on the contents of the box.

Although I have never attended one, it sounds like a lot of fun. First of all, you get to socialize with other people who share your interest in altered art. You would be likely to learn from them, and they would be likely to learn from you.

Secondly, your creativity is stirred, since you must quickly come up with an idea for using the supplies that you have not seen before.

As for the shoe box of contents, I would think you would include a book to be altered (or other item), some colored papers, tissue paper, ribbon, feathers, ephemera, found objects, beads or jewels, lace, etc.

Each member would be asked to bring their own adhesives, cutting tools and paints or colors.

A shoe box party could be adapted to fit any occasion or event -- such as Halloween theme, Thanksgiving theme, birthday theme, etc.

Altered Books Made into Wearable Art and Other Musings

I've been finding some wonderful works pertaining to altered books at various blogs and web sites lately. Here are a few favorites.

This link goes to a great photo on Flickr. It shows a Halloween themed tag that someone has made for an altered book.

This page has a number of truly exceptional book sculptures and other works of paper arts.
http://bronsgrove.blogspot.com/2010/09/paper-craft-and-book-sculpture-art-is.html

On the link directly above, one particularly stunning example is a piece of wearable art made from a book.  I confess that this is the first time I have heard of an altered book that could be worn.  I've seen pictures of purses made from old books, but that's as far as it goes.Has anyone else made wearable art using an altered book?  Please leave a comment about it if you have.

Wonderful Mermaid Dominoes Mini Book

Altered art involves more than an altered book.  Many artists who pursue this art form alter a wide array of objects to create artwork.  Personally, I have altered wedding favors, tins, dominoes, packaging materials, optical lenses, Formica chips, paint samples, envelopes and various other things as well as books.

I've just found a wonderful example of this. Blogger K. Andrews of the Hive has a post and a picture showing her Mermaid Mini Book which she has made by altering dominoes. These little mini books are so delightful. Their tiny shape requires careful attention to detail but the end result is so worth it.

The post about the mermaid mini book is at this link.

Embossing with the Cricut on Metal

When you make an altered book, you can literally incorporate almost any technique or process to embellish and decorate it.  The use of embossed metals is one example.

Blogger and altered book artist Kristal A has a great tutorial and video on her blog showing how she embosses metal using the Cricut Electronic Die Cutting Machine.

In addition to the Cricut and a cartridge, you will need a few accessories.

Krital's post is called DEBOSSED/EMBOSSED/SANDED, STUMPED

Of course, this technique lends itself to many other projects besides altered books. You could use it in any type of altered art, or in scrapbooking, card making, hand made book binding or much more.

Alert: Owners of Tim Holtz Movers and Shakers Dies

When creating an altered book, artists use an array of supplies, techniques and materials. Sometimes we use die cut shapes.  Here's any alert for anyone who has purchased any of the Tim Holtz Movers and Shakers Dies

The following is a quote from Sizzix. com

"Creative note: All Movers & Shapers Base Dies are designed to work with Movers & Shapers Magnetic Dies to cut a window within a shape. However, when Movers & Shapers Base Dies are used without Magnetic Dies, special Magnetic Ejection Foam is needed to eject the die-cut shape. One piece of Magnetic Ejection Foam works on all Movers & Shapers Dies, no matter the design.

This special Magnetic Ejection Foam will be available soon from Sizzix free of charge to owners of Movers & Shapers Dies. To get yours, please contact customer service."

If you own the Movers and Shapers dies, please visit Sizzix and make the request through Customer support.

I know of someone who contacted Sizzix customer service regarding this issue. She reported that customer service responded to the email the next day and asked for a mailing address. They said the foam would be shipped shortly.

Steampunk a Trendy New Design Style in Altered Art

Steampunk is a currently trendy design with paper crafters of all persuasians. As such, it has shown up in more than one altered book and in various other types of altered art.

For those who are unfamiliar with this design form, Wikipedia describes it as " a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes anachronistic technology, usually from the Victorian age. It is also used to refer to a trend in fashion and music. "

Wikipedia goes on to say:

Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by enthusiasts into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical "steampunk" style.[ Example objects include computer keyboards and electric guitars.The goal of such redesigns is to employ appropriate materials (such as polished brass, iron, wood, and leather) with design elements and craftsmanship consistent with the Victorian era.

The Viva  Las Vegas stamp site has a number of steampunk stamps, for anyone wanting a visual idea of what this style is all about.  The link leads to the results of a site search using the term "steampunk".

I searched Youtube for an altered book using steampunk, but I didn't find one. I did find this example of altered art jewelry done in the steampunk style:

The steampunk design in this piece of altered art is quite striking.

Using Niches in an Altered Book

One of the many tricks of the trade associated with creating an altered book is the use of a niche.

A niche is a hole that you can in the book.  You can then fill this hole with any little treasure you desire.

You can cut a niche through the covers of the book, if you wish. Alternatively, you could glue or tie a block of pages together and cut the hole through the block.

One tip to remember when cutting a niche:  Do not cut too close to the book's binding, or you will end up damaging that part of the book. Also, a niched block of pages cut too close to the binding is unlikely to close properly.

Otherwise, you can cut the niche to any size and shape that you fancy.  It helps to draw the niche on the top page or cover first, so you end up getting what you imagined.

To cut a niche, you will need suitable cutting tools. I have heard that many altered book artists use power tools used in woodworking This assumes that you have access to a woodworking shop and that you know how to use the power tools -- or that you have a co-operative woodworker in your life who will assist with this task.

Those who are not that fortunate can cut the niches using regular craft tools, such as a box cutter or X-acto knife. I personally use this method of niche cutting. True, the niches I create are not as tidy and perfect as one could achieve with a woodwork tool. The inner edges are often jagged. I smooth them out with a sandpaper block or a sheet of sandpaper.

Once a niche is made, you can use it to display a surprise object. This can be anything that fits in the niche.Some of the objects I have seen used included notes, pictures, snapshots, beads and jewels, leaves and dried flowers, twigs, shells, stones, mirrors, potpourri in bags, punched shapes and anything else that comes to mind.

The neatest thing about using a niche in an altered book is the element of surprise. You could cover it with a "door" and let the reader experience the adventure of finding hidden objects.

In this video, an artist from Altered Arts magazine demonstrates cutting a niche.