Taking Your Art Journaling Out of a Book with Altered Art

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This article is written by Keri Sallee

Art journaling…many of you have heard of it and probably have tons of pins on Pinterest of artist that inspire you and quotes that have you moved. There pages and pages of art, but…what if we chose to take our art journals out of their books and instead made 3-D embodiments of our feelings and thoughts?

For the second year, I was asked to help at a mentor/mentee retreat for an organization called Saving Grace. It is an amazing organization that offers transitional housing and education to girls age 18-23 who have aged out of the foster care system, are homeless or have a home living situation that is dangerous. This year, their retreat theme is “Fight Like a Girl” and I was given a plain paper mache dress form to come up with a project example  for the girls to spend time expressing themselves creatively.

Torn but Treasured Dress Form

I wanted my piece to tell a story…to tell a story that we all struggle with…the desire to be normal and perfect despite our baggage, our history and our scars. The sides  of the dress tell that story:  one is sparkly, pristine and dazzling white, while the other is dingy, tattered and torn. Both sides of the same person.

I originally planned on making this super girly, really pretty piece, but the more I thought about the theme “Fight Like a Girl”, I thought “If I was fighting for my life, would my dress be perfect and immaculate or would it be messed up and stained and torn?” And then I thought a step farther…thought of it through the lenses of my past and thought “Would someone still love me if I showed up in a torn dress?” And the answer is…YES…even though I am torn, I am still treasured.

“Torn but Treasured”

I wanted to be very deliberate in my choices of embellishments and everything has some kind of meaning.  Like in the above title I added the lock because if you treasure something, you protect it.

The “perfect” side of life

This side view shows the “perfect” shiny side that we try to portray, but if you look closely, you can see works like “love” and “Dream on” across the side because even in our striving to be “perfect” and “normal” we all still have dreams that we dare to dream, even if it’s only in our own heads.

The pink bustle in the back shows that, as women, we can be bigger than life, while still being women.

The wings show the desire that everyone has to excel at something.

Tattered Heart

The heart was formed with red Sculpey clay. Before I bake it, etched “stitches” into it. I baked it over a small ball of wax paper to keep the shape curved. Once it was baked and cooled, I applied a layer of black acrylic paint and wiped off the excess. In some ways, we all have scars on our hearts, but  through the love of family and friends we can be stitched back together and be free just like that little bird.

Symbolic Charm necklace

The necklace is very heavy in symbolism: the bird cage (need for freedom), the clock (everything happens in time), the word “be” (BE who you are!), roses (there are seasons for everything), and the word “journey” (we are ALL on a journey.)

You can also see the white “stitches” on one side of the dress form. I made them white for 2 reasons: (1) it would show up better and (2) because so many times we feel like our scars are bright white and everyone can see them, when in actuality, most of us keep them hidden pretty well.

So what do you think? How about we take our thoughts, dreams and desires out of our books and put them on display for all to see and to remember that art can be both beautiful and healing.

For more information on Saving Grace, check them out at www.savinggracenwa.org

Have a Blessed Day.

Keri Sallee

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Keri Sallee is a lover of all things creative and believes that everyone has the ability to be creative in some manner. She currently designs for Graphic 45, Marion Smith Designs and The Crafter’s Workshop, as well as occasionally appearing on the blog for The Canvas Corp family of products. She loves to challenge herself and others to think outside of the box. You can find her at her blog, on Facebook and her favorite photo hangout, Instagram

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Filed Under: Altered Art Tagged With: , , , ,

Mini Altered Houses

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Melanie Statnick has put together the materials list and instructions for these cute mini houses.

Supply List

To create your own village, you will need:
  • Wooden houses
  • wooden pieces including hearts, tags, bingo tiles, fence , rulers.
  • Tissue paper,
  • decoupage,
  • flat brush/glue brush,
  • glossy accents,
  • letter stickers,
  • Walnut Ink Spray
  • a heat gun.

Mini altered houses by Melanie Statnick

Instructions

Step 1. Decoupage tissue paper to wood houses. Apply glue directly to wood. The tissue paper will move around and might rip. This is the look we are going for. Grungy, wrinkled look. Dry with heat gun and set aside.

Mini altered houses by Melanie Statnick

Step 2. Spray all wood pieces with your Walnut Spray Ink. Dab with paper towel and dray with heat gun. This will the wood an antique look with some grunge.

Mini altered houses by Melanie Statnick

Step 3. Using glossy accents glue fence onto front side of your houses and continue with the other wood pieces. You can arrange them how you like.

Mini altered houses by Melanie Statnick

Mini altered houses by Melanie Statnick

Step 4. After your pieces are glued and dried, you can now add your word art. Last use Glamor Dust, Liquid Pearls, or Stickles to add details.

Three Mini altered houses by Melanie Statnick

 

Happy Creating!

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I’m a Canadian Mixed Media & Collage Artist out of North Carolina . I create art daily from my private studio and my artwork is fun and whimsy . I teach mixed media and art journaling online  and I hold mixed media workshops around the USA.

 

My artwork can be found in art galleries and shops extensively in NC with international private collections. I have created my personal line of original stamps to purchase and use in your art.  Look in my Etsy shop for my line.

Please visit my website to learn more about me and my work at www.melaniestatnickart.com or become fan on Facebook.

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Filed Under: Mixed Media Art Techniques Tagged With: , ,

Altered Books for Mixed Media Art

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Altered books are one of the exciting areas within Mixed Media Arts. This article will provide information as to what to look for when choosing a book to alter and some of the background to altered books.

What is an altered book?
An altered book is an old book, often no longer needed in its original form or for its original content, that has been turned into a work of art. Many mixed media art techniques can be used to create this artwork, from painting, stamping, journalling and collage. The final project may be a book with a common theme or it could be simply a “technique book” where many different mixed media techniques are tried. Books can be created by one artist or a group of artist may come together to do a “round robin “project.

History of Altered Books
Altering or reusing books and parchment has been around for a long time. When parchment was a scarce commodity, the monks would scrape off old writings and prepare the parchment for reuse. This is known as a palimpsest. Illustrations were also saved from the old manuscripts and reused in the new texts.

Modern altering came into vogue from the 1960’s with British artist Tom Phillips, who created his “treated book” using a Victorian novel by W.H. Mallock A Human Document. More information can be found here:  Humument

These humble beginnings have created the phenomenon which we see today.

"Using books to create altered art"Choosing a Book to Alter
Firstly, as artists, we would never wreck a book of significant value or one that can still serve its original purpose.

The key to choosing a book to begin your altered book project is to ensure it is study enough to undergo the rigours you will put it through with your painting and gluing. It needs to be in fairly good condition, with the spine intact and pages mould free.

Next we need to check that the page sections have been sewn in. Newer books that have the pages glued in will not stand up to the altering process. To check the construction of the book, hold the book up so you can see the inner part of the spine and where the pages touch it; if you can clearly see the page sections (the little books within the bigger book) then it will have been stitched. To check further, carefully open the middle of one of the sections. If you can see cotton or thread, then the book has been stitched and is exactly what you are looking for.

Books with glued pages can still be pulled apart and used as background and collage pages with interesting fonts. Any illustrations can also be used in other projects. The covers of the book can be used as a substrate for other projects. There are many uses for these books; but we will not use them as the basis for an altered book.

Where Do I Look for Books to Alter?
As the book is becoming a work of art, it no longer holds its original value, so these books can be bought fairly cheaply. Church fairs, garage sales and opportunity shops are great places to keep an eye out for books. Discount book stores can also be treasure troves.

I will look for books with interesting pictures and fonts. Or books of a large size, which are especially good to technique books, are always a prize find.

We will cover the techniques of getting started with an altered book in the next article.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for those alterable books and…

Happy creating!

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For further inspiration, have a look at  “Altered Art: Techniques for Creating Altered Books, Boxes, Cards & More” by Terry Taylor. This book is filled with photographs and the projects are amazing.

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Filed Under: Altered Art, Altered Book Art, Mixed Media Art, Mixed Media Art Techniques Tagged With: , , , ,
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