Jenny's Altered Books

What's an altered book? Just take an unwanted book and use it as your canvas. Paint, collage, rubber stamp . . . do anything you like. It's a liberating way to create art. What I especially like about altered book art is being a part of a round robin. Usually in a round robin, one person is the host and provides a book that is mailed from person to person, giving everyone a chance to alter pages in the book. When the book is returned, the owner has a treasure -- a book that has become a piece of art created by several people. Below are examples of books from round robins in which I've had the pleasure of participating.

For more information about doing altered books, see my article the bottom of this page.

Click on any picture to enter the Altered Book Gallery.

The Fragrant Garden

The Heart of the Matter

The Art of Durer

Bridges of Madison County

The Wine and the Music

Goblin Market

According to Hoyle

Other Books

Some of my altered book art appears in this book by Gwen Diehn filled with great info on journals and a variety of book art.

This book includes a piece I wrote about paper doll art along with great examples of paper dolls by my mom, grandma and OPDAG editors.

An great compilation of 22 paper dolls by 22 artists of today. This book was done to celebrate the 20th anniversary of OPDAG (The Original Paper Doll Artists Guild).

My approach to altered book art:

Unlike creating on a blank page, doing altered book art gives me a chance to have a relationship with my art. Rather than my directing what goes on the page, I let the book direct me. I use the book's title, chapter titles, individual words, sentences, or paragraphs within the book to inspire my art.

I use all kinds of materials in my altered books -- watercolor, acrylic paint, rubber stamps, pictures cut from magazines, Dover clip art, decorative papers, etc. I usually alter a few pages in a book, then share it with others to alter more pages. It would be practically impossible to alter ALL the pages of the book because the book would get too thick. So lots of pages are just left as they are and the viewer must flip through the book to find the pages that are altered. Sometimes whole chunks of pages are removed to make room for the stuff added to the altered pages.

How to start your first altered page:

If you're a little nervous about altering your first page, I recommend isolating a sentence -- or even a few words on a page -- by painting (with acrylic paint) all over the whole page except the words you have chosen. Then let those words inspire you to add to the page -- stamp, collage, draw, anything you like.

To alter or not to alter:

Many of us grew up thinking that writing in or damging a book was a very bad thing to do. But considering all those books that are thrown out, I like to think altering a book is a way of saving it and giving it new life.

Where to get books for altering:

I get most of my books from library sales, lawn sales and used book stores. My local used book store has given me boxes of hardcover books that were considered unsellable and were most likely headed to the dump. Even the local library has given me books that were no longer wanted on the shelves. In choosing a book for altering, I look for interesting titles, and I especially like books with ingriguing chapter titles. Some books have illustrations or photographs which can be fun to work around. I try not to choose really old books that are musty and falling apart. The brittle pages are hard to work with, and if you send a musty book out in a round robin, some participants may be allergic to the mold. Don't hesitate to use a brand new book. Check out the bargain tables at your local book store where you can find some great books for around a dollar. Or pick a book off your own bookshelves. Look at all the books we keep that will never be read again. Pull some of these books off the shelf and experience them in a whole new way!

Don't forget the covers:

Altering doesn't have to stop INSIDE the book! Get out your acrylic paints and paint right on the cover of the book! Glue stuff onto the cover... poke holes and tie on strings and beads. Make the cover just as fun and exciting as the inside pages!

More about altered books:

I recommend the altered books e-group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alteredbooks

Here, you can learn from other altered book artists, look at pictures of altered book pages, and access files of tips, suggestions, and how-tos. This is also a great place to get to get involved in round robins. Once you join, you can choose to receive individual messages, a daily digest, or read the messages on the website. I recommend the daily digest format.

I encourage you to try altered book art. Dive in with your imagination and enjoy the experience.