Altered Silver

While "Odyssey" is still underway, I've made a start on a second altered text project which I'll be working on in conjunction with the AlteredText Yahoogroup. Each month, we'll be focusing on altering four pages from Catching The Light by Susan Pope. I don't know if I'll be able to work on all four pages each month, but we'll see how it goes.

Having some time away from the studio and working from a scan, here's how my first page 168 emerged digitally after only about 90 minutes (one of the plus aspects of working digitally is not needing to wait for paint to dry). I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it came together.

I immediately fell in love with this page and decided to reproduce it into the physical book. The first thing I did was put down a layer of acrylic medium and let it dry. Liquid frisket (which unfortunately you can't see in the photo) was applied to the selected balloons and rivers and allowed to dry. I used strips of low-tack tape around the edges of the paragraphs where I wanted straight lines and didn't want any paint to go. After that, I could paint onto the page pretty carelessly without concern (although I should have also protected the facing page). This is the only photo I took of the process.

When the paint was dry to the touch, I stamped the words across the area. I started with the Beatles lyric, "love is all you need," but for the stamp size I was using, the phrase was ungainly and I was concerned about the acrylic paint drying on the rubber while I was working with it. So I cleaned off the many letters and reduced them to simply "love." That was stamped in a couple different colors, then the page was left to dry.

I removed the low-tack tape, and drew the borders with a Pilot gold paint marker. The frisket was carefully removed from the selected text with a crepe pickup, and I used the paint marker to add the upper and lower designs. The metallic gold looked so attractive on the page that I chose to go over the text outlines with it as well. I snapped this shot to try to show the metallic shine off the gold, but what it really shows is how messy the opposite page became, oops!

Here is the finished page, and I'm rather pleased with it. If I were going to do it over again, I'd try using watercolors instead of acrylic for the base colors to get a background effect more similar to the digital version. But frankly, I enjoy both of the versions, digital and physical, each for their own special characteristics.

And in both, I really like the excavated poem:

Love, love, love repeats, repeats.
The words return to know.
The words return to see.
The words return to...to power
in one small mot at a time.



Technorati Tags: altered books, art journals, palimpsest, altered text, mixed media

This altered book project, Angels Among Us (named after the title of the book), is really just an excuse for me to play with colors. It's a small (5x8", 127 pages) hardcover with many Gustave Doré woodcuts and various clip art angels used as spot illustrations. This book found its way to me by being a remainder under $2 that I selected sight unseen, solely on the basis of its title (if you've looked around my blog or website, you know I have a thing for angels). When I later held it in my hand, I could see how thin it was and couldn't imagine putting a lot of dimensional embellishment into it. I decided to go with some light collage and color - lots of color.

This book's paper loves water. It loves it so much, it just soaks it right up and shares the bounty as far as it can. Not a good trait; it's like trying to paint watercolor washes on thick newsprint. After that discovery, I chose to first cover each spread with a base coat of acrylic medium. That seals the paper and provides a great surface for the media to follow.

The next stage is to cover each spread with watercolors. Different color choices are made for each spread.

Then I dig into my digital stash, pick out a photo of a cemetary angel, prepare it to be used as a base sketch (very unlike a photograph), and print the alteration. I cut it out from the paper and glue it into a waiting spread. I really like bringing this digital aspect into the physical book. Sometimes additional items are glued to the spread as well, including quotations, other images and punched shapes.

The real color fun comes next as I go over the angel sketch and the entire spread with crayons and colored pencils. Other media can come into use also, like Zig markers, as long as it doesn't add bulk, although I may add a few dimensional items later.

I'm not sure any of the spreads are officially finished as yet, but for now there are these few worth peeking at and more to come.




Keywords: art,altered book,angels,collage,mixed media

For less than $2, as a remainder, I picked up a copy of Celebrities and Their Angels by Pat Montandon. Although some of the material the book contains is attractive and interesting, much of it is less than memorable. I decided to alter this book to hold some of the myriad angel imagery that I've been collecting for many years and re-title it: Celebration of Angels.

Because this is strictly a personal project, I'm incorporating both copyright-free and copyrighted material, starting with the book itself and continuing through images I've gleaned from the internet, magazines, catalogs and other books. In deference to the included artwork, I'll be blurring or otherwise obscuring certain portions of the photos I share here of the project.

The book itself is thin (about 130 pages) and square in shape, about 7" x 7". The first step I took was to add color to the white, semi-glossy pages, using mostly watercolor crayons and also some acrylic paints. When all the pages had color, I sprayed each spread with fixative to ensure that the watercolor wouldn't run and that the acrylic wouldn't stick to itself. The process of coloring and fixing took a little over two weeks to complete.

I only removed one page as I went through the book adding color. What remains of that page is a thin strip on which I plan to attach a tip-in of some kind.

I've also turned several pages into pockets. A couple of them are simple angled pockets as shown here. Others are vertical pockets created by folding a book page over onto itself from the outer edge toward the ditch. When making the pockets, I snipped off most of the portion of the paper that folds into what will be the interior of the pocket, leaving only about a quarter-inch to actually fold over and be glued to its own "inside" (like the hidden hem on a fabric pocket). This provides a neat, folded-edge at the pocket opening, yet eliminates the bulk of the paper that isn't visible anyway after the pocket is sealed.



Technorati Tags: altered books

With so many altered art and collage projects in hand, it's a challenge to try to chronicle each of them. I have been intending to write about this particular "altered text" project for some while. Today seems a good day to launch into it at last, although I only have one photo ready to show of it at this time.

This project is being done after the spirit of Tom Phillips's A Humument. I've started with a hardback book and, using only the text that is present on each page, I'm altering it to tell a different story, one of my own choosing/composing (albeit much more abstractly "written").

I selected a novel that doesn't interest me for reading. I've found that I can't help but pick up the gist of the original storyline (at least in the chapters I've worked on) and now...well, it still doesn't interest me, lol.

My process is pretty simple: to examine a page, mark potential words and phrases in pencil, erase the marks I don't want, then ink in the outlines, rivers and decorative elements for what I do want. Color will be added later. I've been testing with watercolor which seems to work okay but is a bit too transparent for my taste, so I'll probably also be using colored pencils and gouache along the way.

At first, I actually tried to start at the beginning of the novel, but I stared at the first page for almost an hour and couldn't think of a thing to do with it! So I flipped randomly through the book, one of the pages caught my eye, and suddenly I saw disparate words on the page "come together." That's when I began marking them with pencil. That initial page was at the end of Chapter 12. Then I started working backward into the same chapter, so Chapter 12 was the first chapter that was fully inked.

Here are some stats for this altered text project:
- My chosen book has 430 numbered pages, plus 10 additional pages that are unnumbered.
- There are 34 numbered chapters, plus Prologue and Epilogue chapters.
- The novel is furthered divided into Parts One, Two, and Three. The story I'm constructing over/through the original novel will change tone slightly within each Part, but otherwise there'll be no special distinction.
- Each new chapter begins on the recto side, so whenever a previous chapter ends on recto, the back of it (facing the new chapter) is blank. I will probably also be leaving those pages blank, but haven't firmly decided.
- There's an "about the author" page and an "about the typeface" page in the back, and I've been using the latter to test inks and colors on. so that page is definitely different from all the others.
- The pen: a Faber-Castell PITT "S" puts down beautifully permanent black lines without smearing or bleeding through the paper.
- Outlined so far: chapters 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and I've currently left off in Chapter 6. (A total of 64 pages have ink at this time.)
- Three pages have initial color (watercolor), but may not be "finished" as I hope to be using gouache soon with the watercolor.

One thing I've found is that it gets easier when I work on it regularly. It's as if the eye gets attuned to viewing the text differently. Recently, I've had other projects taking my attention, so I haven't touched the altered text book for awhile now, and I know it'll be a bit rough when I get back to it. But then it will become easier again when I pick up the rhythm of it once more.



Technorati Tags: altered books, art journals, altered text, mixed media

FINALLY! At long last, the local library held their annual book sale. I only had about an hour since I had to cram the time in between a bunch of other things, but I made good use of the time I had. I picked up hardback books of various sizes that begged to be altered and others (hardback and paperback) that wanted to donate text and pictures to the cause.

If I'd had more time available, I would have bought even more. Or, if I'd just reached and grabbed, I would've bought more. As it was, I first flipped through each book that caught my eye, with definite ideas about whether it would be a book to alter or one to deconstruct. If I couldn't think of even one "maybe" use for it, I put it back on the table.

Flyers posted around the room announced that hardbacks were $1.00 and paperbacks were $.50. The total of my sale came to a mere $20.50, and I exited with two sacks of happy books both large and small (I'd brought my own paper bags for carrying the goodies.) The condition of the books range from clearly used (children's items and mass-market paperbacks) to excellent (nearly everything else).

I don't think there's any way for an altered artist to lose when attending a library book sale. The enormous stack of books I acquired will absolutely keep me busy for many months to come...maybe even until the 2006 sale!

I now have seven images completed in this altered project, and I've begun an Angels & Aliens photo album to display them. Angels are a favored motif of mine, and when I saw the title of this book (which I purchased as a remainder for less than $2), I knew I had to fill it with angels. (Or aliens, depending on one's viewpoint.)

Essentially, I'm turning the novel into a sketchbook, covering the text with a sketch/drawing on each spread. For the drawing, I'm using a Pentech GelGrip, a rollerball type which has a very fine point, requiring many passes to thicken certain lines. The pen was chosen because it happened to be sitting around in the first place I looked for a pen, and happily, it proved to not bleed through the test page. Each drawing takes about an hour to complete.

Coloring also takes about an hour. I'm using crayons and colored pencils, aiming to keep the hues bright and airy, with no bulk added to the pages.

Because the media are very portable and clean to use, I can work on Angels & Aliens almost anywhere, whenever I have a few moments to give to it.


[edit 10/30/05]: I've decided to forego the photo album arrangement and will now include the images in with the entries, like below. This way, the images are larger and also fewer bytes to load.

This first Angels & Aliens drawing is the only page of this project that I haven't added color to yet. And, I might continue to leave it as it is.







Technorati Tags: altered books, art journals, mixed media, angels, drawing, crayons

I was embarking on a new project, to make a quick, daily collage in the spirit of a "gesture drawing." I wanted to keep all these collages together in the same spot, but after putting the first collage into a composition book, I discovered that the composition book just wasn't going to work out for me. Others seem to be having good results with them, but I simply couldn't accept the too-thin paper as a support for glue and pencil and paint and whatever else might be needed.

I looked around and selected an old hardback book I'd recently acquired in a book exhange. It's about collecting postage stamps as an investment practice and was published in the early 50's, so it's quite old and out-of-date. The previous owner had generously marked most of the pages with some kind of black pencil or crayon, to highlight certain paragraphs and statements. I decided to leave those be and just accept them as "lovemarks." The cover and pages still seemed to be in pretty decent shape, however. Very carefully, I removed my paper bits from my first collage in the composition book. I'd used glue stick for adhering them, so they came up relatively easily.

I transferred the bits into the stamp-collecting book, retaining the same arrangement, but needing to compress their positions somewhat to adjust for the smaller dimensions of the page. I had used watercolor over the initial glueing, so the pieces had some strange colors on them. I didn't want to attempt using watercolor in the stamp-collecting book, so I used colored pencil as a substitute. And voilà, my first "gluebook" collage was in its new home.

What can one actually do with a composition book? I've got three of them now, and it seems like they should be good for something, right?

I decided to paint this one. The cover, that is.


I sponged on individual layers of sienna, yellow ochre and dioxazine purple. Finally, I sponged on clear iridescent medium to give portions a bit of shine (if I followed these steps again, I'd apply the iridescent medium with a brush to keep it more consistent, although it is less metallic-like than it looks in this photo). Then I added a paper bit on one side so that it would be obvious which end was "front." The uninspired scrap I grabbed for this purpose is a multicolored happy-face that says, "There's always something new."

I must say, this composition book looks very enticing now, less utilitarian and more inviting, like it's just asking to play a role in "something special."

But currently, I'm only using its pages as undersheets (to catch stray glue streaks) when glueing my daily bits.




Technorati Tags: altered books, art journals, collage, mixed media, gluebooks, composition books

Why are so many people using composition books for their gluebook support?

In USA, composition books are a familiar item most of us have grown up with. They're about 7.5" x 9.75" and usually contain 50 sheets of paper folded in half (for 100 pages), with center-sewn binding and a foldover chipboard cover (typically with a black/white mottled pattern). That seems all well and good for writing on with a ballpoint pen, but the (wide-lined) paper in a composition book is only 14-16# weight. That's extremely thin paper to be expecting it to hold up to the rigors of daily collages.

And yet, there are many people out there using composition books for daily collage and journaling, even applying watercolors, acrylics and a wide assortment of markers and pens. Here's one, and here's one, and here's another, and another and yet another. I tell ya, they seem to be everywhere! (And each one of these links is definitely worth visiting!)

Since so many are doing it, I figured it must be possible, and I acquired three composition books to get myself started.

It was August 28. I only remember because that was the date recorded for my first gluebook entry. I'd decided I'd seen enough and read enough, and now I had my composition book, so I might as well just jump in to glueing: i.e. making a quick daily collage. I paged through a couple magazines, pulling out what seemed right for the time, then I glued those pieces onto the first page, along with the title/price sheet from the new composition book pack. When all the pieces were in place, I looked at the expanse of empty lined paper showing between the bits and decided to add a watercolor wash.

The ultra-thin paper, already feeling cranky after having paper bits glued onto it, became downright ornery with the addition of watercolor.

I looked through a couple more online galleries of composition book journals, elegantly covered with paints and glued bits and markers and just about anything. I turned back to my cantankerous composition book and decided to seal a few page-pairs together with acrylic medium (much as I'd done with the F&W pages) to give the paper added strength. I made three page-pairs and hoped they might settle themselves when dry.

They didn't.

I added pale watercolors using very little water and hoped the touch of color might perk the pages up.

It didn't.

I liked my initial composition, my first "gluebook" collage.
I didn't like the composition book I'd put it in.

This tale will continue in tomorrow's entry.



Technorati Tags: altered books, art journals, collage, mixed media, gluebooks, composition books

The plans for the 6x6 were shaping up, and I realized I was about to collide with one of the biggest differences between physical and virtual materials. Aside from how virtual materials never run out or spoil (and virtual brushes never need cleaning), the virtual paints also never actually get wet and therefore don't need time to dry. Physical materials, however, would need drying time. As one who was very accustomed to the "instant gratification" of digital work (even when an image took weeks or months to complete), I wasn't looking forward to being excited about a piece, doing one little thing to it, then having to leave it alone and wait for it to dry. At the very least, I needed to set myself up with more than just this one 6x6 project.

The local library usually holds its large old-book sale sometime in August. I couldn't wait for August! I started thinking about the books I already had, but they were all really good books - i.e. not books I'd want to sacrifice. Everytime I tried to think about my books, I'd think of favorite novels and excellent reference works. Finally, I actually started looking at the books I have on the shelves. Most of them are paperback with glue bindings. Not a good choice for an altered book. Of the hardbacks, there indeed are several favored novels and excellent reference. But little by little, a few books with potential were also noticed.

There's that old dictionary that I haven't used since I got the "new" one in....uh, 1972? My, how time flies. But the old dictionary was rather large, its pages rather dull, and I decided to save that one for some later time.

There's a set of Time-Life books that were never even looked at, although getting them had seemed a good idea back in the mid-80's. They were thinner than the dictionary with much more interesting pages, but again I decided to save those for a more experienced time. They have beautiful covers that I thought really should stay together in some kind of multi-volume theme, and I definitely wasn't ready to attempt a multi-volume theme.

And then, oh look, over there are those books that have simply been stacked in that storage corner ever since the old bookcase was dismantled a few years ago. There had been an intention of getting a new bookcase and these books would again have a shelf, but the intention died after awhile because after all, why bother? No one uses these 32 volumes of the Funk & Wagnall encyclopedia of 1978 anymore. Not only is much of the information in them out of date (like the advice to use DDT in a household to kill silverfish), but since the advent of the internet and the web, any needed encyclopedic-type information is found behind a keyboard these days.

Eureka! I'd found a treasure-trove in my very own home!

Most of my altered art acquisition shopping has been with online stores, but the initial excursion was to a brick and mortar store: a nearby crafts chain called Michael's. I took $100 with me that day, but spent only about half of it. There were too many decisions to be made, most for which I wanted more time to consider or more research.

I was encountering frequent "sticker shock" while looking at the price tags of items. Those small decorator punches I had from years ago? They cost about $2@ back then. When I looked over the decorator punches on today's market, I didn't see anything under $7. Plus it seemed you couldn't just spend the $7 and have something to use, the $7 was only for a die; the actual punch to use the die was sold separately (and considerably more than $7). If you wanted larger or smaller punches, there were entirely separate sets for those.

I saw one price marker in the rubber stamp aisle and that was enough to let me know to skip the rubber stamp aisle. (The punches started seeming cheap in comparison.)

So I only picked up things I felt certain about, which included a set of 24 watercolor markers, a set of 8 glitter-glue pens and a length of jute twine that I just wanted for some reason. I spent time more than anything, looking at all the paper craft items, up one aisle and down the next (except the rubber stamp aisle). Two of the items I bought have particular significance.

One of those items was a tremendously useful crafts tote for about $20. It has pockets front and back, one of which holds a plastic box with sorting compartments. Unzip the tote and there are several sections inside with many, many clear-view snap-close pockets in three sizes, and one end of the interior has those elastic loop areas for holding pens, scissors, whatever. It was love at first sight for me; it seemed to be the ideal method for storing whatever specific-for-altered-art stuff I would soon be acquiring.

The other significant purchase was a small (6x6") spiral-bound sketchbook with plain white canvas covers and 20 heavy, white, watercolor paper pages. It was again love at first sight, and I decided right there in the store that this little sketchbook would become my first altered book.

Well technically it can't be "altered" since I'm not diverting it from its original purpose, but it would mark the alteration of myself. This 6x6 would be my canvas of initiation back into the world of physical, dimensional, tactile artwork after having worked solely digitally for over a decade.