Altered Hatpins: Great Embellishments for Altered Books

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Decorated hatpin flowers are a currently popular trend in altered art and in other types of mixed media art. Hatpins are hard to come by, these days, however, so many of us use corsage pins instead.

The hatpins in the photo above are decorated with flowers made from shrink plastic (or Shrinky Dink). 

These flowers were made for a decorated hatpin swap in a mixed media group.

Want to see the process?  You will find a video demonstration at this link:  Decorated Hatpins with Shrinky Dink Flowers.

Video Demonstration of the Microwave Flower Press

Pressed flowers, leaves and other botanicals make great embellishments for altered books and other forms of altered art. However, if you're using the old fashioned approach to pressing botanicals, you will have to wait for six to eight weeks until your plants are ready to use.

Enter the Microwave Flower Press, or the Microfleur as it was known originally.

With this tool, your flowers and leaves will dry in the microwave in a matter of seconds.

There is a video demonstration of the Microwave Flower Press at this link.

The video and the blog post also discusses the pros and cons of using this tool as opposed to the telephone-book method.

Holiday Gift Idea: Give an Altered Coffee Tin Containing a Food Item

Who says that art can't be practical?  This holiday season, give a gift of an altered tin or jar in which you have tucked away a food surprise.  This altered coffee tin is described in full detail, including a  video demonstration, at the link given.  The page has a recipe for gingerbread pancake mix, which can be included in the tin.  Obviously, any food item will work well, and the tag contains cooking instructions or other sentiments you may wish to express.

New Site with Tons of Creative Commons Images

Altered book artists, as well as various other collage or mixed media artists are usually thrilled to find images that are in the public domain or that are licensed for our use under the creative commons.

The Altered Book web site has a list of web sites containing copyright free images

I have just added a new addition to the list This site has been up only since July, and already is has more than 48,000 images that can be used freely for commercial or non-commercial purposes. That site is called Ookaboo and the link is on the page mentioned above

Altered Tin Box with Scrapbook Inside

Sometimes the boundary blends between scrapbooking and altered art.

I made a scrapbook mini album, accordion style, and set it in a decorated tin box.  Scrapbook?  Or Altered Art?  Or Altered Scrapbooking, as some people would say.

Here is a video tutorial showing how the project came together.

For more details, my blog describes the two small accordion albums. You can see it here:  Mini Album in a Tin Box

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.

Container Art Exhibit of Altered Books

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to visit an exhibit of Container Art at the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver. One exhibit, called Hidden Knowledge, was built around the concept of an altered book.  I wish I had thought to take a camera, but unfortunately I did not.

The artist, Rachel Asche, altered twenty-five  Funk and Wagnell encyclopedias, and mounted them, page ends outwards, on white wall boards.  Each of the end pages had an object from nature embedded in it. These objects included a hard boiled egg, bones, twigs, shells and more.

Rachel has a picture of the altered books posted on her blog. In her picture, the books are arranged in a circular fashion and displayed on a table.  One comment compares them to a rolodex of knowledge.

The artist wrote:

The inspiration behind this work is the idea that knowledge can

be lost or forgotten when people no longer value it.

The encyclopedias represent the sum of human knowledge

contained in written form, while the found objects

represent information about the natural world.

You can see the picture and the blog post here:

Forgotten Knowledge: The Completed Set

Book Garden with Live Mushrooms

This has to be the most interesting use of an altered book that I have ever seen.

A library's garden has an art installation using 40,000 unwanted books. Located in the Lower St. Lawrence area of Quebec, Canada, the installation represents a Garden of Knowledge, according to the artists who created it.  Even more interestingly, the book installation contains beds or live, growing mushrooms.

The web site says:

"Sandwiched within and between the reclaimed and decomposing books

are several edible species of mushrooms like oyster and winecap, an

intervention that highlights the living, ephemeral and cyclic character

of these artefacts. "

You can read the full story here:  Mushrooms + 40,000 Books = Garden of Knowledge

The article makes mention of electronic book readers such as the Kindle. Will books become a thing of the past one day?  That would be a shame on so many levels. Books are so much more than just a medium to hold text and pictures. Books are an experience.  I hope we never see the end of them.

Serendipitous Accident Enhanced This Altered Book

Sometimes when you're creating an altered book, something lovely or wonderful happens by accident. Undoubtedly this is true for any form of art.

Corinne Stubson of Oregon is a prominent and well respected altered book artist. Many of her books are like little miracles.

Today, Corinne published a blog post showing a picture of a page that started out without a plan but thanks to a serendipitous accident, it turned into something lovely.  Read about her accident here:

I Love Art Accidents

Most of us who have worked with altered books or other forms of art have had similar experiences.  There are times when you just throw things together willy nilly and hope for the best -- and you get the best. Sometimes you just try something for the heck of it to see what it will turn out like -- and it turns out great.

When this happens, we are delighted.

In interest of complete honesty, it is also true that some of these accidents or experiments are disasters and have to be trashed. 

Either way, its all part of the journey we enter into when we begin to create an altered book.

Is an Altered Book Art?

Every so often, I see a debate raging about whether or not an altered book is art.  To be honest, some people don't "get" altered books. They ask why?  The answer is "why not?"   Why make any form of creative project?  Why paint with oils?  Why compose a symphony?  Why write a poem?  Why design jewelry?   You do it because you can, and because it releases and gives physical form to your creative energies.

If you think of an altered book as being another art form -- with the book itself being the canvas and the various items used to decorate it being the media -- then  perhaps it will make more sense to you.

Then of course there is the debate about what is art and what is craft.  Does anyone really know the answer to that?  I like this quote by Marshall McLuhan:

"Art is anything you can get away with."­ Marshall McLuhan

I know many altered book artists who consider their work to be art. I know others who call their projects a craft.  Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

Some one once said that art is something you create yourself and a craft is something in which you use a pattern created by someone else.  By that definition, an original oil painting is art. A paint by numbers is a craft.   However, that explanation doesn't seem to cover all the basis.

What about quality and skill?  Is a poorly done original project art but a beautifully done project made from a pattern a craft?

Does it matter? 

Whether you call an altered book an art or a craft is up to you.  Just enjoy the journey.