Altered Art: Techniques for Creating Altered Books, Boxes, Cards & More [Hardcover]

Terry Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2004

A fast-growing craft trend, handled by experts.

Choose an object—a cigar box, playing cards, an old album cover—and use it as a creative starting point to make beautiful and entirely new items to display and use: that’s “altered art,” and it’s the fastest-growing trend in the craft world today. Here is the first book to explore the full range of its possibilities, from turning a vintage board game into a nostalgic wall hanging to creating whimsical art dolls from children’s blocks. Take a look at the artistic traditions that inspired this movement, and see how to use the crafter’s familiar tools, materials, and processes in entirely new ways. Paint, collage, pierce, sew, and cut the pages of an old book. Change an ordinary candy tin into a charming decorative storage case with paper scraps, metal grommets, and paint. The possibilities are infinite. The author lives in Asheville, NC.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–Flush with gorgeous color examples, packed with helpful hints, and crammed with inspiring ideas, this title is an absolute must for any YA collection. Making art or jewelry from old Altoids tins, scrap photos, game pieces, and other found objects appeals to an edgier crowd than the scrapbook-faithful, though scrapbookers will also find much of interest here. Taylor begins with a brief history of altered art (Joseph Cornell was an early practitioner), discusses copyright issues with regard to borrowed images, then moves straight into techniques, tools, and a phenomenal gallery of a variety of artists' works. The author includes a few projects with step-by-step instructions, but not too many; the emphasis is on readers realizing their own voices, obsessions, and interests in original pieces. Altered Art is without a doubt one of the finest craft books available.–Emily Lloyd, formerly at Rehoboth Beach Public Library, DE
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* It is understandable that scrapbooking remains a "hot" craft (see our Spotlight interview, on p.705), given the satisfaction so many people derive from preserving souvenirs of personally memorable events, such as photographs, printed programs, and postcards. Also growing in popularity among crafters is "altered art," defined by veteran and versatile crafter, artist, and craft writer Taylor as "using ordinary objects to create art." Any sort of found object will do, from old books to a discarded file box to an old greeting card. The point of altered art, then, is to take the starting-point object and add other objects or decorations to it, as a way of expressing a personal aesthetic vision or statement. (The fortunate thing is that traditional artists' skills, such as drawing and painting, are not required--just some thought, planning, and imagination.) The illustrations in this book are numerous, gorgeous, and absolutely helpful, supporting an encouraging text that starts with general information, including basic techniques and ideas about selecting a starting-point object. Other crafters then join Taylor in presenting and explaining specific projects. No self-respecting crafter will be able to resist plunging straight in. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Lark Books; Second Edition edition (October 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579905501
• ISBN-13: 978-1579905507
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.8 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #369,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Terry Taylor is an editor, jeweller and metal artist. He has authored numerous Lark books including Button! Button! 9781600591457, The New Crochet 9781600592188 and Altered Art 9781579905507, and his project designs have been published in over four dozen Lark books.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Inspiration! October 12, 2004

By bookarts

Format:Hardcover

I loved this book. A lot of the books about altered books look alike to me, but Terry Taylor's book is full of eclectic inspiration. One of the best parts are all the examples by different artists. It's nice to see a book without page after page of the same stuff. In particular, check out the work by Dorit Elisha on pages 35 and 79. This book is definitely a must-have if you are interested in altered books.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A piece of Art in itself! February 13, 2005

By Toni Ratzlaff

Format:Hardcover

This book is beautifully photographed and written with great detail. I consider it to be an important addition to my "altered art" book collection. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in altered art or collage art. It is filled with ideas and examples, as well as tools, and products useful to the art form. It will inspire you to start making your own altered art!

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Surprise February 5, 2006

By Sunny Skies

Format:Hardcover

I did not know what to expect when I picked up this book. I saw such high reviews on Amazon when I was scanning through scrapbooking and collage topics. The book covers various projects including altered books, boxes, tags, objects, games and more. In each section you are given some basics for working with the specific type of objects. This is followed by projects and a gallery of work featuring various artists' work.

My favorite chapter and the one I will try first was the Cards, Tags, and Games chapter. It contained some beautiful tags and games. The other chapters are equally as innovative and interesting. There is brief discussion of history of altered art, copyright issues/ethics, sources for imagery and some basic steps and supplies. The photography is great and the projects and gallery were fun and very different.

Definitely recommend this for anyone interested in altered art.