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

by Terry Taylor

A fast-growing craft trend, handled by experts.Choose an objects 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.

Genres: Art, Crafts, Nonfiction, Reference, How To, Creative

144 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to learning how to make art out of anything. Lots of projects and photos of artists who employ this medium. All the pages are in color.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

While much of the art in the gallery isn’t my style, the techniques used and other information within the book is quite useful. Unlike many other books in the arts and crafts field this book *does not* contain step by step directions and templates to exactly duplicate any artist’s work. The directions are the processes and techniques used along with the inspiration and sometimes the thought process of why they used certain elements.

It’s a very interesting book and I’m glad I took the time to read it. It, however, will not be added to my personal library of books. I’ll trust my public library to have it if I should ever need to refer to it again.

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though this book is beautifully illustrated with color photographs of intricate "altered art ", it just wasn't my cup of tea.

The transformations rely heavily on embellishments with paper ephemera, and though quite creative and visually appealing, non of the projects sparked my soul.

But please don't let my antipathy to the projects turn you off. If crafting with paper is your thing, then you'll find lots of inspiration in this book.

[Soc Page]

Fairfax

[Evelyn Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has so much wonderful art and many tips for creating your own. Great inspiration.

[Gabriella · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of the same info that is in other altered art books, in terms of adhesives and materials like that. Although, I found the examples of work shown in this book to be more inspiring and unique - they really stepped outside of gesso and collages on the pages of pre-existing books, which I've seen so much of - so for that reason this is one of the better books I've read on the subject.

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those shiny, colorful coffee table-style books that break my rule about owning either books or art supplies. I really appreciate Terry Taylor's you-can-do-it approach to making art, and I find that if I'm having some artist's block and open this book to any random page, it usually helps quite a bit. He even has a specific section about what to do if you're having trouble figuring out what to make! Lots of color photos submitted by a wide variety of artists also make this book worth keeping around.

[Celina Zhao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Altered Art includes many techniques and tips for creating altered art. The author explains a few big categories of altered art, including altered books, boxes and tins, cards, tags, games and altered objects. Many projects are included inside with descriptive instructions, making it really easy to follow-through, and there were also galleries with artwork that designers have created.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice reference of techniques and great pictures for inspiration. One of the few craft books I've seen that even discusses copyright in crafts (albeit not exhaustively); I bought the book partly just for that. Overall a nice book to have and look through.

[Sherry (sethurner) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Altered Art is nicely organized and illustrated, with enough text and photography to make it a valuable reference for people wanting to work with mixed media art projects. I liked the copy I checked out of the library well enough that I bought a copy for myself.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for some new ideas. You get lots of pictures and easy to follow directions. They have ideas that you can make your own and create different things from what is shown. I keep this for a good reference and inspiration.

[Slee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring images, but more importantly, in-depth discussion of technique set this book apart from many other Altered Art tabletop books. I checked it out at the library and have added it to the list of books I'd like to add to my forever-books collection.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of good inspiration. But I am disappointed, somebody already had the idea to alter a globe...

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fair selection of ideas for exploring journaling.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great techniques.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're curious about found/altered art, this is a good book to start with. Taylor gives a brief history of artists, then gets right into techniques and project ideas.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Checked this one out from the library, not once, but twice.

Really liked the projects and beautiful book, but didn't think this was one worth adding to my personal library.

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the book that started my obsession with altered art books. Love it.

[Bayley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very cool book with lots of neat ideas, but unfortunately many of them are quite complex and require you to have many unusual knick-knacks on hand that might be hard to find.

[Dolldiva · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting projects. Not my cup of tea.

[Trey · Rating 1 out of 5]

my book is about a man named ichigo and hes trying to save his dad before he dies

[Ariyanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting ideas for new concept art with quite a bit of attention to detail. Good if you like folksy kind of art.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread. Loved it even more this time!

[Sharice George · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really speaks to me.

[Alan Maness · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wanted to say that I found this book at a library and after looking through it, I found it quite amazing and simple how to instruction examples seem pretty straight forward to understand!

[Maggie Yowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I created one of the altered works exhibited in this book!

[Darla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of pictures not a lot of helpful information