Customer Reviews

Pockets, Pull-outs, and Hiding Places: Interactive Elements for Altered Books, Memory Art, and Collage

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Buy this book if you are new to altered forms, pockets and pull-outs; the instructions and examples are all clear and explicit. There's 20+ techniques/models, so you'll get your money's worth. The examples are very mommy-track and scrapbooky, which is all good, but not the same as leading-edge altered art. (Hence the battle-of-reviewers found here. Sheesh.)

If you're looking for something edgier or with greater range in style and substance, consider the books and websites of Teesha Moore, Sarah Fishburn, Lesley Riley, Claudine Hellmuth, Lynne Perella, Jan Bode-Smiley, Sas Colby, Karen Michel and others in this class.

I gave this a 3-of-5 because of un-truth in advertising; the title, *Pockets, Pull-outs, and Hiding Places: Interactive Elements for Altered Books, Memory Art, and Collage*, is a misnomer.

This is described as being for artists interested in altered books, memory art, and collage. This is a misleading description. I was looking for ideas for the handmade books and greeting cards that I make. Most of what's in here is for scrapbookers, not for artists interested in book arts and collage. There's nothing wrong with scrapbooking, but I wish this had been more accurately described. I wouldn't have bought it if I'd actually gotten to see it first. There is little in here that I would think of as art--mostly it's tacky-looking scrapbook pages of the author's and contributors' kids and families. If this had actually had some original ideas in it that could be used in other contexts, I could forgive this, but these examples aren't all that original or interesting, and don't inspire me to try anything new. There's nothing new in here that I can use in my work. Most of these ideas have been done and seen before in other places, and many are of little interest to anyone who is not a scrapbooker. It feels like another book jumping on the scrapbooking bandwagon that's designed to encourage you to buy products to support the scrapbooking industry, not necessarily to teach you new art techniques. If you're a scrapbooker, you might like this. If you are one of the "artists" the blurb describes who is looking for inspiration to add another dimension to your altered books and artwork, you might find this insulting and disappointing. They are marketing this to the wrong audience.

I bought the book because I liked the ideas it gave me for my own altered book projects. I do wish there were more pictures explaining the processes, but the verbal instructions are very detailed. Not really good for those who learn by "seeing".

I like the numerous ideas they give in the book, making it the main reason I purchased it. It gives a great variety of layout concepts and designs.

Geared more for the scrapbooker, an altered book artist can glean a bit from the book. The templates in the back are very useful, making this a great resource! However, if you are looking for an altered book publication, there are better ones out there.

I recieved this book as a gift and have been really enjoying it. (scrapspeak, it's on my bedside table) The concept of providing numerous ideas with different options is GREAT to use as inspiration or a springboard for additional works of art. I am primarily a scrapbooker but also do a fair bit of "other paper art" and found lots of ideas for that too. The layouts are clean and organized and it is obvious that the author "gets" what scrapbookers are looking for. I have been scrapbooking for 9 years and teaching for a good part of that and still found some new perspective. If the person who criticized the book doesn't scrapbook, maybe it is possible than that she is not qualified to call the layouts tacky. My $.02.

Each time I look through this book I find another project idea that I must try! Containing a plethera of can-do projects for both the novice and seasoned artist, I'm searching for "pockets" of free-time to try them out! The instructions are clear, photographs outstanding, and range of interests broad. This is a must-have book!

I got this book because, like many others, wanted to get some good ideas on incorporating these elements into my collage and photo art. The focus is very scrapbook-y, but that wouldn't matter to me if there were at least some good diagrams/step-by-step instructions on how to complete the projects.

I have several other bookbinding books that show complicated binding approaches with diagrams that make it so easy to complete. This book needs some diagrams! In this book, there were many ideas I had seen before, but I still thought the examples are a nice collection of approaches, however, the instructions are poorly written.

On a positive side, the templates are nice.

Since I have several other books that show similar examples, I will probably end up giving this book to a friend who scrapbooks. I do think this is a good book for scrapbookers--the examples and ideas will appeal to them. I'm somewhere between scrapbooking and collage/mixed media artist, so there are other books that appeal to me more.

Pockets, Pullouts, and Hiding Places: has a little something for everyone. The altered book ideas were clearer then I have seen before and something that even I, a novice will enjoy making. The author stresses throughout the book and gives many examples of how tools can be used for all different kinds of art. Seeing the samples of different artists was a novel idea and kept the book from being repetitious.

For Altered Book artists, scrapbookers, collage artists and everyone else(the farmer and the cow-man should be friends.) I am thrilled by the variety of ideas presented in this book. Though a few people may think it is just for the scrapbook crowd, after looking through the entire book, it is obvious that the techniques presented are chock full of inspirational techniques for ALL mediums. Faced with an abundance of new books out on the market with similar themes, this book rises to the top of the tomes; a must for every collection. Crossover work at its best; bravo, Jenn!!!

In the title of the book, it leads you to believe that there are projects with altered books and collage. After reviewing the book, all I saw were projects for scrapbookers. Very disappointing.

Great and easy to use with full sized templates. The instructions are clear with excellent photos. Definitely worth the money.