Customer Reviews

Altered Book Collage

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Altered art, in all its different guises, has certainly taken the art & craft world by storm over the last couple of years. There are now dozens of books (not to mention hundreds of websites, blogs, and Yahoo groups) which cater for all those interested in altered art, and altered books probably still remain the most popular out of the many things that can be turned into art. If this is not your first foray into altering, then chances are you already own some of these books, have been to the websites (such as ISABA), and are a member of some of the many online groups. If you fit this category, then to be perfectly honest, you probably won't find much that is new in Barbara Matthiessen's book.

For a book that is coming a good two years behind some of the well-known ones in the 'altered book canon' (for example, titles by Holly Harrison, Bev Brazelton, Beth Cote and the Design Originals series to name but a few), I had hoped for something that pushed the boundaries a little more, rather than just including the same tips and techniques that can now be found pretty much anywhere. Matthiessen will give you the standard run down on the history of ABs (to use the art world lingo), how to choose a book to alter and get started, materials and tools you can use, and things you might do to the book. This includes things like stamping and embossing, cutting windows or niches, transfers, and adding embellishments, all of which are now pretty standard in the file section of online groups, or that can easily be found elsewhere on the web. Of course, it's always nice to have things in book form rather than amassing piles of loose idea pages, but this seems like much more of a beginners book than for someone who's been altering for a while.

Of course, if you are a beginner, then chances are you'll find most of what she has to say quite useful, and if it's step-by-step instructions you like, then Matthiessen includes them for almost every page presented. But again, they really seem tailored to the inexperienced alterer - I'm sure most people would find instructions like 'tear paper, adhere to page, allow to dry' somewhat redundant.

To be fair, I thought the artwork itself in this book was as beautiful as what I've seen in many other books about altered art. If inspiration is what you're after, I'm sure you will find it in Mattheissen's pages, as well as those by other wonderful contributors toward the end of the book. I especially liked the altered board book 'Nature's Miracles' and the collaborative 'Art of the World' book.

There is plenty here to inspire the new artist to pick up a book and start altering, and I'm sure there are many die-hard AB artists who will want to add this to their collection anyway. But otherwise I would give this one a miss, or at least borrow before you buy to avoid disappointment.

I am new to altered art, although I've been crafting and making jewelry for years. I've bought a few books about altered art and this is by far my favorite. Barbara goes through all the basics, what to use to glue with, to color with, whether to seal the pages or not. Some of the other books I've gotten just tell you to color the page and then go into cutting windows and doors. With the other books, I've questioned what supplies I should be using and how they got certain effects. With this book, my questions were answered and the projects are inspiring.

I've read 3 or 4 books already on altered books, but just couldn't seem to get started. This one gave me the details and confidence to actually get going.
It discusses the process, history, altered book groups, and collage.
It gives ideas for displaying the results or giving them as gifts.
It talks about building a page by choosing a theme or concept, considering the mechanics, design, backgrounds, layers and mistakes.
The next section helps you choose a book, and covers adhesives and attachers, coloring for pages, decorating supplies, papers and embellishing tools.
It clarified for me how to prepare the book, gluing, cutting windows/doors/niches and listed 101 ways to alter a book.
Other techniques explained are:
Rubber Stamping
Decoupage
Coloring
Polymer & Air Dry Clay Embellishments
Transferring
Embossed Metallic Embellishments
Microscope Slide Embellishing
Stamped Spackle Embellishments
Crackled Stones (Dominos)
Burnt Edged Papers
Sealing & Protecting
Watercolor Batik
Beaded Edging
Torn Window Collage
Leather-Bound Memorabilia Book
Cheesecloth Masking
Tags & Envelopes
Bleached Stamped Pages
Fabric Pages
Needlework Pages
Woven & Folded Pages
The needed tools and supplies are listed in a box next to the inspiring photos of altered books where that technique was used. I practiced some of the techniques on old greeting cards that had piled up. The results impressed me and I even sent some off to family and friends.

This is a wonderful book to add to your creative arts reference library. It's jammed with wonderful images and ideas. The projects are very appealing to the eye, not dark and bizarre like some altered art that I have seen.

It covers the basics for someone who may be just trying this art form. I like the way the instructions are given. The amount of photos that show techniques are helpful. The "101 Ways to Alter a Book" list is great.

This book will be refered to many times. It would also make a great gift for any creative friend.

At first I was dubious about purchasing this book over the net as you couldn't view the pages within. However when I received the book, I was definitely not disappointed. I would say my skill level on altered books is intermediate and this book proved to be a wealth of information. The instructions are really clear. Easy to understand and there was no shortage of techniques described. I also especially enjoyed the images. The photos were cleare and large making it very easy to see tiny detail. A book well worth the money.

I have bought every altered book book Amazon sells. This is definitely one of the very best. Good step by step instructions and lots of beautiful photos. It will definitely get you started and teach you the basics. If you want to get into altered books, you won't regret buying this book.

This book gives you great examples of ways to explore altered art. I love a visually entertaining book, and this one fits the bill. Although I already explored many of the ideas in the book before I bought it, I still give this book five stars because it is very informative for the beginnning altered artist. If you have been doing altered art for a while, there may not be much new information for you, but it's always a treasure to see what someone else has done with a fun technique. All in all, a great choice for your altered art library.

This is a useful book if you're starting to alter books and do collage work. It describes a lot of great basic techniques like layering, creating backgrounds, collaging, decoupage, various methods of transferring image and creating embellishments. There are plenty of examples of altered books by the author and other artists, including an "Art of the World" book made by a group of crafters who each created one or several pages using art as the theme.

Altered Book Collage is a good resource whether you're looking for suggestions on how to get started if you're new to the art, or you want to get a variety of ideas for our own projects. The author provides instructions on creating complete pages and a couple of books like a triangle-shaped book with beaded edges and a botanical theme. I was impressed with Nature's Miracle, an altered children's book with foldout sections and decorated with objects from nature. The black gesso base really makes the metallic stamping and embossing stand out and give the page added depth.

I liked the book but thought it could have been better edited. One project uses a woodburning tool to transfer images but the technique is not described in detail or illustrated anywhere in the book, including the image transfer techniques section. And is it just my book or do the instructions for using tissue paper in the travel fashion book project really end in mid-sentence? Some of the photos in the techniques instructions section also leave a lot to the imagination: the image created by using bleach is not shown; the final photo used to illustrate the inkjet printer gel medium transfer technique is of an image so blurred and fuzzy I would think the method doesn't work if I hadn't already tried it myself.

Overall, a good book for starters if you don't mind a few holes here and there.

I purchased this book because my sister had gotten it first. The book has great ideas and the illustrations are wonderful. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves altered books.

This is a great book for the student or professional. Both the physical and informational quality is very good.