Altered Art: A Quick Overview

That's the thing with explaining this type of art, its not really any one specific thing to be exact.

Altered Art is the form of turning one thing into another for the purpose of creating art. It is creating a new life for something that was once worthless or taking a piece of junk and turning it into something else completely different.

Usually, you will find altered artists creating collages or sculptures from various items and even though they are used in various forms in altered art, the collages and sculptures are usually just pieces to a much bigger project.

There is no one thing to make in altered art, there is no single goal or achievement. Altered art is anything that you can imagine. Its all about creativity!

Throughout this hub, I have included photos of different altered items that I have made for visual examples. Know that there are no basic rules or lay outs to creating altered art.

Pretty much anyone who is at all creative can do it, I think. There are no rules and no strict guides on how to create, if you can think it, you can create it.

Most projects are time consuming and tend require both time and patience because once you get started, you will find yourself using various smaller altered pieces and techniques for the whole project such as torn paper pages with hand made clay accents or you may want to give your paper fairy some 3-d wings, dress her in embellished fabrics or give the fairy herself some texture.

I think that ANYONE is capable of creating this type of art. Its not straight lines, its not neat and a lot of the times, its not even pretty. Its all an expression of your mind. A collage of a fairy sitting in a garden surrounded by nature (and yes, you can actually use nature) or an old broken shelf turned into a witches cabinet full of tiny spice jars and bottles. If you have ever picked up a bottle cap, a jar lid, an old magazine or broken piece of jewelry and thought

"There's got to be something that this can be used for.."

this is the type of art for you.

If you tend to have a creative mind but cant paint or draw a straight line for your life, this is for you! If you're looking for a creative way to make a little extra money without having to put a lot into it, this form of art is the way to go. You can create anything and there is a lot of money to be made, without spending it. Even for those of you who aren't really interested in creating but happen to be hoarders of junk.

Well, it depends on what level of hoarding you are or the art types that you create, how much time you put into it and the demand for what you have.

Money can be made on every level for this.

Most artists use things that they find either around the house or even outside. A lot of items can be found at second hand stores, antique stores or garage sales and, of course, you will need to go to the craft store but I think most artists go to eBay or Etsy for their miscellaneous supplies where they can buy them in bulk lots or find other handmade items to use in their projects.

Depending on what you create and what supplies you have on hand, your cost to make could be fairly cheap.

Most artists sell their creations on auction websites such as eBay or Etsy or they might go to art and craft shows if they have time. Some artists submit their work to groups or magazines for review and awards. Some artists submit their creations just to have their voice heard such as the call for artists to submit their art for submission to be sent to the Democratic National Convention. Still, some choose to play pranks just to bring attention to their art. Check out shopdropping.net (The act of taking your art and replacing a store shelf full of them - as a mass amount)

Some projects can cost a lot, if you choose a lot of pricey materials. Most altered artists though, will recycle almost anything and have the ability to look at an item and see what it could be which saves them a lot in the cost of creating art. Most of the artists costs are the main supplies such as glues, sealants, glitter and things like that along with the cost to sell and ship an item. The problem is that a lot of artists either don't put the time and effort into a project to make it last-able or they tend not to charge enough for the time that they put into it.

Any collector will tell you that they would rather spend more for a lasting item than less for one that does not have the same amount of time and effort put into it. They will also tell you that your time is well worth their cost.

I've done this as a part time job for about two years. Over the past year, I haven't had as much time as Id like to go down to my workshop and create but my mind is usually on it. I actually sold quite a few pieces over the first year, this year I've been saving them up to sell all at once so I cant really take this year into account when I talk about my most expensive piece that I have created.

My first piece was an 18 inch fairy house which sold rather quickly for about $25 and my second, most expensive piece that I have sold so far was an altered book based on The Raven by Edgar Alan Poe which brought me about $125. I have, however, seen pieces go for quite a bit more and quite a bit less on eBay. I still follow the art sales closely and it is still a hungry field, even in todays economy.

They can be anything that you imagine, find or buy and mainly depend on the project that you have in mind.

Mainly, you'll need various old papers, pictures and books. Some glues to keep on hand - gel medium, collage gel, super glue, a hot glue gun and various sealants. You'll also need some paint, water colors or crayons to give your project some color. You may also find yourself needing some tools such as an xacto knife, a bone folder, sand paper, a hole punch and a few more.

Upon finishing your project, you might want to add some glitter and embellishments. Depending on your project, you might need gem stones, river stones, broken jewelry or glass or anything you can get your hands on.

These items can and many more can be found by searching eBay or various sites for altered art supplies. On eBay you may even be able to find what you need by looking for broken items or junk lots.

Be sure that you consider the cost of your supplies in every project that you make before commiting to a sale or you could easily end up spending more than your creation is worth.

Some places to find supplies for altered art:

• Ebay
• Etsy
• Alpha Stamps
• The Altered Abbey
• Boston Craftworks
• BJs Craft Supplies
• Create For Less
• Sunshine Discount Crafts
• 100 Proof Press Stamps
• Cats Life Press Stamps
• Stampfrancisco
• Artchix Studio
• Collage Stuff
• Megaglass
• Found Elements
• Ephermera Society of America

Many altered items can be made with paper. Four of the most popular altered items are made with paper: ATCs (Artist Trading Cards), Collages, Altered Books and Altered Tags. Ive also tampered with book marks, match books and paper fairies.

Some of the most popular paper items are:

• Old ads, labels or other ephemera
• Tags
• Tickets
• Playing Cards
• Matchbooks and boxes
• Old greeting cards
• Scrapbook Items
• Magazine Cut outs

These are easiest found on eBay or at garage sales. When using paper items, you'll want to make sure that none of it is under any copyright that restricts you from using it.

Most items are generally inexpensive and may be a reproduction of the original. That's okay too, as long as you don't mind. Most of the time, you'll find that its a good idea to make a copy of something and use that instead, in case you mess up. You wouldn't want to spend $75 on an old slave document to use one time anyhow.

These are quite easy and inexpensive to make. You can buy the tags in bulk at any supply store or on eBay for a small amount and they come in many shapes and sizes.

Some are rectangular shaped and some are round. Some are big and some are small. Some are plain and some have a metal rim around the edge. It really doesn't matter what type of tag you use for your project.

You never want to use a brand new tag for art, it looks too clean.You'll want to dye it. 

There are many processes to making a new tag look aged. For the texture, you may decide to sand or burn the edges. For color changes, use tea or coffee. Soaking them in tea or coffee will change the color to an old dingy paper, rubbing the tea or coffee grinds directly on the paper will create patterns.

Once you have dyed the tags, you should dry them. You can air dry by laying flat on wax paper or a metal cookie sheet but you should know that natural drying will not keep them flat. They will roll or bend at the edges. To keep your tags flat, heat them on a cookie sheet in the oven flipping them over every few minutes. Not only will this give your tags (or any other paper item) an aged look but scented teas and coffees make the scent of the tag quite appealing. You can also buy these types of dyed tags on eBay or other art websites but they charge quite a bit for something to be soaked, baked and well, that's it.

Once you have given your tag some color, you will then want to decorate it.

This can be done with various pictures, images, paints, pens and many other items. If your tag has a flat surface, you will want to make sure that it is nice and sealed with glue, sealant or melted wax. If it is in a 3d form, make sure that all items are attached to the tag securely.

Altered Books are my favorite art item to make. Probably because you can create multiple pages. So, I can use a bunch of ideas instead of trying to narrow it down to one or two choices. There are many types of altered books that can be created. Some are just folded paper books, some are old baby board books, some hardcover books that are cut and altered and some that are book sculptures.

My first book that I created was made of an old baby board book. It was a pretty decent sized book and allowed me to use 22 pages of story line. The second one, I made out of backing board pieces and I bound it with rings.

With any type of book that you make, you'll first want to sand the pages so that your glue can stick well. You can either use paper, paint or gesso to give your pages design and texture and then collage away from there.

There are many different techniques that can be used to create books. One of my favorites is the torn layers where you start by applying a piece of paper with a thin covering of gel medium to the back, let it dry and then repeat only letting the second layer dry for a minute or two. Cover an area with masking tape - press the tape with a bone folder and then, quickly, tear the tape off. Then, using the bone folder, fray the edges of the torn paper and repeat until you have the look that you like.

Once you are finished tearing, smear some watered down paint over it for some color and add some shimmer or glitter if you like. Let dry completely.

When it is dry, you can then decorate the pages as you like - adding text, pictures, labels, fabrics, gemstones and more. Make sure that you allow the pages time to dry before touching them at all.

Altered books are usually hand bound and lavished with various fibers.

Make sure that you decide your binding technique (be it separating the original, tying or using rings) BEFORE you start to decorate your book.

Test your binding and make sure that you will have enough room for it to close with the texture of your pages and also enough room to express what it is that you wish to be on each page. If the binding is too tight, the pages will not open or close correctly. This can be solved by either letting the binding source out a bit or resorting to rings.

When finished, books are generally filled with bits of ephemera. Examples would be trading cards, post cards, tickets, letters, photos and other collectible paper items or small trinkets.

Unlike other items that you would normally use in your work, you would want these to be the originals so, be sure to copy them if you'll want to use them at a later time or for another project.

Depending on the amount of time and the number and value of the items that you include in your book, you could make anywhere between $10 (for a half-efforted blank journal) and $300 (for an altered book sculpture). Possibly even more.

Other book projects include:

• The folded paper book - which is taking a destroyed or otherwise damaged paperback book and folding the pages in a pattern so that when it is opened, it forms a neat shelf ornament.
• Book Sculptures - which is taking a destroyed or damaged hard cover book and making a 3D scene with it. Such as turning the book into a building with a surrounding scene or building a 3D scene out of a book.

** Always make sure that you are not damaging a book for your art purposes. The whole meaning of Altered Books is to give new life to one that no longer has a good use, such as reading.

Remember that in addition to making art out of books, you can create your own books using backing board or paper bags or buy blank books made just for altered art.

Some Helpful links:

• Here is the link to a really neat book artist named Dan Essig. There are some very creative ideas here.
• Some altered books on eBay.
• Various book techniques from Jen Minnis.
• Dennis Gouey has free ebooks on various types of bookbinding.
• Tips and information from Altered-book.com

The San Fransisco Public Library has an interesting display of altered books online at http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/news/onlineexhibits/rv/. These are from a project created because a bunch of books were destroyed in the process of hate crimes. They asked various artists to recreate the books. Its a nice mix of various altered book types.

Individual collages are fun to make also. They can be made on just about any surface including trays, canvas, stones and furniture. You basically start with your blank surface and one focus item - such as the post card in the center of the canvas collage to the right and build from there.

As with all altered art, there are no rules to collaging other than using a safe glue and sealant. You don't want acids eating away at your images and you especially don't want them to start falling or flaking off. Most glue sticks are safe and there is a special type of collage gel made so that you can use the glue as a sealant as you go. You can also seal or highlight your images with wax. Either beeswax or colored crayons will do. You can either drip the wax using a small iron or melt it in between your image and wax paper.

The embellishments of the collage are what brings it together. you can use more paper, more images, rocks, jewelry, buttons and other findings to give it a filled and finishing touch.

In the image to the right, I have used a variety of items including images, paper, dried flowers, paint pens, a broken shower hook, copper wire, metallic stars, a quote cut out, fiber, rhinestones and an old sticker to create a collage on an old piece of slate.

There are many types that you could make. Just think of all of the things that we use boxes for:

• Keepsake Boxes
• Memory Boxes
• Magic Boxes
• Jewelry Boxes
• First Tooth Boxes
• Recipe Boxes
• Bill Boxes
• Garden Tool Boxes

I could go on and on, I'm sure.

The point is, there are many boxes to be made out there and they are all waiting at your local craft store unfinished and in all shapes and sizes. Ready for you to make them into something.

You could use old cigar boxes or other types of boxes that you find but they are generally not that simple or inexpensive to come across.

Your best bet, if you want to make an altered box and not spend a lot of money, is to buy an unfinished box at your local craft store.

These come in two types - wood and pressed paper. I'm not really sure what it is called exactly but that's what it is, pressed paper.

If you were only using them as decorations and you were sure that they wouldn't have to with-stain ANY damage, I would recommend the paper but I like to use the wood boxes. They don't cost much and are pretty sure to hold up any light abuse by their owner.

You decorate and seal the boxes in the same way that you do when collaging. You can choose to either decorate the inside, leave it empty or fill it with a fabric lining. Or you can fill it or tuck a simple, special surprise inside.

Just as boxes do, jars come in all shapes and sizes at the craft store. Even better, I bet you have one full of spaghetti sauce in your cabinet! When you use it, wash and dry the jar completely.

Choose your fairy, which is a copyright free image or image that you own either cut out of a magazine or picture of a small child with a set of decorated wings glued to the back and a small hat glued to the head.

Decide what you want to fill the bottom of your jar with and choose the things that you think would be in your fairies jar. If you want your fairies wings to sparkle or to add touches of paint to her dress, you should do that now and allow it to dry before attempting to put the fairy in the jar.

Once dry, take the image and carefully apply gel medium to the front of the image. Be sure not to use too much because you do not want it to ooze out onto the glass however, you want to make sure that the edges stick flat. To press your fairy flat against the glass, I recommend using a sponge brush to press out the bubbles. Allow it to dry completely.

Use a strong glue, such as super glue to attach the ground layer to the bottom of your jar, make sure that you don't make it too deep. The depth depends on the size of both your jar and fairy.

Add embellishing touches to your fairies surroundings. If you are using moss for grass, add some small flowers, stones and insects. If you're using sand, add some shells. If the jar is big enough, you can even use items to create a small setting.

Leave the lid off for a few days to allow the glue smell to air out after drying. If you close it, the jar will fog and continue to smell like glue.

Use this time to decorate the rim and top of the jar.

You can make all sorts of jar lids and any fibers or ribbons are great for tying around the lid. You could even attach an altered tag for a more personal touch.

Once the glue smell has faded, you are then safe to put the lid on and display your fairy or put her up for sale.

If the jar is made well, it is sure to sell. Along with altered books, these are one of the most collected forms of altered art that I have seen.

Most well made fairy jars don't stick around too long on eBay. And the prices in sales range from the types of decor and the size of the jar. Smaller jars tend to sell better because they are more rare.

Also, you don't have to stick to fairies, jars could be used to "capture" just about anything from insects and butterflies, to gargoyles and dragons.

These are a little more complicated but still pretty easy and fun to do. You can use various things to make "houses" and "homes" and there are also various types of "homes" and "houses" that you can make.

For example, you can use:

• Bird Houses
• Craft Pumpkins
• Cornucopia
• Old Shoes and Boots
• Logs
• Doll Houses
• Clay
• Paper Mache

And Im sure you can imagine more.. always more. You can turn these things into:

• Fairy Houses
• Candy Houses
• Mouse Houses
• Haunted Houses
• Toad Houses
• I'm sure there's more..

Fairy Houses

One of my favorites and the first project that I created was a fairy house. It sold rather quickly on eBay for around $25 and was fairly easy to make.

I started with an 18 inch bird house, painted some and used various craft items to decorate it. Since then, I have made a few more fairy houses but came up with a few more ideas along the way.

The most extravagant fairy house that I saw was a full size dollhouse made into a fairy house.

It was really neat and inspired me to work on my own, which turned into a really hard job with lots of hard little jobs inside of it and currently sits unfinished downstairs in my workshop.

A quick search on the internet, though, will show you that there are many, many ways to create some very cool fairy houses. 

Haunted Houses

I was shopping at the craft store one day around Halloween time because I had a few projects that I was working on but I always have the habit of prowling around the clearance section when I am finished with my shopping.

Well, I don't know who I am trying to kid, sometimes its the first place I go to..

Anyhow,

So there I was. Prowling the clearance section and I came across a colonial looking, 2 story bird house that was cracked and for sale for $1.50. it was so neat looking in design that surely, even with the crack, I could do something neat with it.

I bought it, of course, and took it home and stared at it for a day. The next day, I painted it a dingy gray color, added some stuff and turned it into a haunted house. It took about 3 days to complete but sold immediately on eBay for about $20.

Don't get me wrong, I did put work into it, even creating gargoyle eggs from clay for the nest and decorating the inside walls and trust me, trying to glue that wiggly grape vine all over the top without leaving smudge marks was tough but overall it didn't take very long or much money to create.

Candy Houses 

Then, around Christmas, I found another bird house that looked like a log cabin so I decided to use some hot glue, fake candy, fake snow and sparkles and turn that one into a candy house.

That one, though, I didn't sell because my daughter insisted on giving it to her teacher.

There are many, many other things that can be created as altered art. As I said before, if you can imagine it, it can be altered art. It can be as simple as a greeting card or as complicated as a game board with individually created pieces.

Altered Ornaments

One of the easiest and cheapest creations that I have made were the fairy ornaments. These were on clearance at the craft store and so simple to make. All I did was decorate the glass with paint, ad some filling and add an image. Both sold immediately and I even had people contacting me on eBay asking if I had more, I wish I had. I am sure though, that these ornaments can be found somewhere and even if not, that there are other ornaments out there that can be created just as easily.

Altered Bottles 

Another old item just laying around - glass bottles. These are also in all shapes and sizes and can either be filled or decorated.

For mine, I made a 3D collage on the front and painted the 3 other sides. The picks were made from curling antique wire (which was hard because of its thickness) and buttons. I finished it of with a big bunch of fibers with charms tied around the neck.

The picks stand straight because I put a flattened ball of clay on the end of them so that they would be more upright in the bottle. Otherwise, they are too heavy and lean to the side. There is, of course, thinner and lighter wire that is much easier to work with. I just liked the look of that type.

Altered Pumpkins

This is one of my favorites. I saw it in a craft magazine somewhere although the idea of the inside was not quite the same. I think it had a spider in a web on the inside.

These are made from craft pumpkins and can be found at craft stores. You cut the opening with a carving knife or a pumpkin carving kit. They are made out of foam and cut rather easily.

Once you've carved it, paint the inside to match whichever scene you are creating. Then, glue the pictures for your scene in the background and fill the bottom with your "ground" - you can use moss, grapevine, stones, sand or egg cartons to create a path. Any other filling you like is fine too.

Finally, decorate it however you like. I created mine as a graveyard scene with flying bats, added a fence and topped it with a skeleton that had broken off of a piece of Halloween garland that we had laying around for a few years.

Wire is also one of my favorite things to work with. I like to use it as an embellishment. Probably because its hard to make it the same way twice so each piece is unique.

I find myself using it often, in almost every project that you have seen here including:

• As a cage in the altered book "The Raven"
• For mini fairy wands on collages and in jars
• For fairy wings
• To create unique jar toppers
• To make "smoke" from chimneys on fairy houses
• To make picks for my altered bottle
• To make a flower shaped pick out of pop can tabs
• To make a hook for my goblins fishing pole
• To make the twisted wire spider shown above

And, as always, I'm sure there's more. There are many types of wire with different colors and thickness sold at the craft store. Other wires, such as the ones used for my picks, must be bought from a junk or garage sale or possibly cut from an old wire hanger.

Clay, like wire, has many uses in altered art. It is mainly used as an art form itself such as sculptures or jewelry pieces but can also be used to make miniatures or embellishments. And don't worry, in altered art, perfection does not matter.

Polymer clay is the best to use for altered art, it has enough substance to work with without breaking your fingers or leaving your hands filthy. There are many things that you can use for tools or to give your clay art texture that are everyday objects laying around your house such as erasers, rubber bands, toothpicks, forks and knives.

Once you have created it, you'll need to bake it and let it cool before adding any paint or final touches.

Shadowboxes are another popular altered art item. They are rather easy to make and much like making a collage or fairy jar. Cover the back of the box with paper, board or fabric and create a 3D scene inside the box. Backing board is helpful in these projects because of the strength needed to prop images to the standing (or sitting) position.

Altered spoons are fun to make as well and a very neat and unique decorating item. I even came across one lady who makes jewelry from spoons - check out Spoonfed Art.

Altered art doesn't end there. There are so many other things that you can do. A quick search on google or eBay will give you plenty of ideas for inspiration, creation and how to sell your altered art.

Besides those listed throughout this article, here are some of my favorite sites for help on altered art:

• Altered Arts Magazine
• Polymer Clay Tips and Techniques
• Karens Whimsey Altered Book Gallery
• Altered Books by Georgia Russell
• How to make Fantasy Film Fairy Wings
• How to make Ground Foam
• How to make a Brick Wall
• Preserving flowers or preserving with borax
• Making bricks and patio stones
• How to make a sleeping baby fairy from polymer clay
• This to That - Glue finder
• Marble Magnets

I will be adding hubs with step by step guides to creating beginners altered art with the pieces and techniques shown here and, of course, a few more.