How to make an Altered book *UPDATED*

I carved my (first!) set of alphabet stamps from erasers:) And I’ve been using them everywhere!! It wasn’t as cumbersome or time consuming as I thought it would be to hand carve 26 alphabets. It was a breeze! It took me awhile to get used to remembering to write it in mirror opposites, though.

 

 

Altered books is something I’ve seen more and more people get interested in. Once you get over the fear of making marks on a BOOK, the writing filled page is actually less intimidating than the blank page.

So this is my short post on how to make one, what to do in it, etc.

I tend to choose small gift book series books, travel books and books on divination (like Tarot and I-Ching, specially) because they tend to make the photographs I want, the paper quality I want, and they (by default) evoke reactions and writing from me.

My current altered book is a Helen Exley Gift Book called HAPPINESS and it fits my moods and me perfectly. It has quotes that I can use or write over. It have moving images. It has space for paints and words and collage. I’m altering it to make it my planner calendar from August till December this year. Simultaneously, I have one more book in progress that is a travel book on India, written in French.

You can see come of the pages in my HAPPINESS altered book in my flickr set Altered Book Calender. I’ll post the remaining as soon as i can drag myself off my art table and onto the computer.

Here are some of the things I’ve tried, am trying, and/or have learnt while playing with altered books. The following list will have ideas, tips, and things I’m trying in my book that you can try if it appeals to you.

• When you’re just starting out, choose a slim volume ideally with photographs or illustrations that speak to you/ that you like.
•  Biographies are interesting for altering because they have interesting words, usually quotations, photographs and some handwriting. Also, if you pick a person who inspires or interests you, you can learn that much more from the book, and put in that much more of yourself into it. Get photos of them from the net, alter and paste them in. Google quotations by them and put in the ones you like in big letters. Paint over parts of images to create new ones. Read up little bits n interesting or inspiring things about them, their life and put those in as well. I have a Maya Angelou book that I found at a thrift store and altered, putting in photos of her, drawings (which look nothing like her!) of her that I made from photos I saw of her, quotes and poems by her that I liked.
• It helps to have a theme in mind. That helps with giving the book a title and a leaning/ direction. For example, I have one that I’m making into a calendar for the rest of the year. So it has boxed with dates. Quotations. Things to do lists. Etc. Another (slim) one is a book I’m making for a friend’s birthday so it had everything I want to say to her, give her, make for her. If you look at the archives here you’ll find more ideas for themes, pages, books, prompts. Try this:  Title a page (or a book): YES. In it, include everything you want to say YES to in your life. images colours words dreams weave them all onto these pages. yes to birgsong and nappy changing. yes to staying up too late. yes to waking before dawn. whatever. fill a book with the yes-s of your life.
• If you keep art journals, you can use a book as your journal. Give the book a name. Change the binding if you wish. You can choose ones with text and illustrations that you can use, or one with only text , depending on preference. Paint over the pages, prepare a background just like you do with a blank journal or sketchbook. The book gives you built in background, cover, inspiration for a title, and words that you can play with or add to. This way you don’t have to think of what theme to make this on, or what to put in it etc. you just work on it like you do on a blank journal.
• Alter the table of contents page and make your own in a similar layout.
• Like my journal pages, I add my own illustrations and photographs. Paint out sections of pages. Add tabs. Doodle over images. Crayon around images and paint the rest. Write things that are on my mind. Make lists. Write links I found that are interesting…
• Add flaps and extensions to pages. It makes the book more interesting, and its helpful for creating larger layouts if your book size is small-ish.
• Add pockets with little notes. Or a related photograph. Or love note. Or journal entry. Or a secret. Or memorabilia like SIM card or cigarette stub.
• In my India travel book, I’m adding photographs I’ve taken of places in the book, adding photos of my friends etc in the places featured in the book; writing my take on the place. Making hand drawn maps of the places I’ve seen and lived in. I’m also following the table of contents in the book writing my take on the culture, the people, the places to shop, etc. since the book is in French, I have also written everything in English and translated it to French using an online translator and so all my pages have my writing and words in English and in French.
• I also often add CD’s to my altered books. I sometimes alter an old CD and use it just as part of the art in the book. I’ve collaged over them, added photos to them, written love letters on them. Mostly, however, I actually put in music or photographs or voice recordings that relate to the content or mood of the book in some way. I make a CD envelope pocket and attach it to the book somewhere as an added element. For example, the HAPPINESS book I’m altering has a CD with music that I find most uplifting. The kind that makes me smile. Or laugh. Or lifts a glum mood. It’s attached to the front inside cover of the book.
• I have also used magazines as altered books. Because the images in them are impossible to have in a book. And the quality of the paper can withstand most art experiments. And it’s big and slim and glossy and has a wide variety of images and had words in different fonts and sizes. They are very interesting to play with. And they are relatively cheap for the quality. You can choose a theme and them pick a magazine to fit. Most of us have old magazines lying around and most of them have some very good images. One of my altered magazines is an old issue of O Magazine and its called wishlist. It has all the things I’d like to own, be, do. So: purchase lists. Dreams. Fears. Ideas. Another is an old issue of Yoga Journal. So play with this idea and see what you can come up with.

 This is just to get you started. Give yourself to think up ideas, try new things, experiment freely. You’ll be surprised at what you can come up with.

For my journals and altered art, I use a lot of art/writing that I do myself and copy on vellum or transparencies as well. Here is a page that I wrote and xeroxed today. I make my own collage sheets for my art. This one is free for you to download and print/alter for use in yours. You can find some more free to print collage sheets I made here.