Altered Silver

The term "altered text" refers to the creative process of modern-day palimpsest which gained popularity through the success of Tom Phillips's pioneering treatment of W.H.Mollock's A Human Document which then became: "A Humument."

How does altered text differ from "found text"?
Unlike "found text" (in which printed text items are cut, rearranged and glued to a new location), the process of altering text involves highlighting (wanted) and obscuring (unwanted) words, phrases or individual letters of text while retaining their original positions on the original paper.

How does altered text differ from "found poetry"?
"Found poetry" may be classified as either altered text or found text, depending on how the poetry is constructed. If the words of the poem are used in their original positions on the original paper, it's an altered text process. If the poem is built by cutting text and rearranging it, it's a found text process.

How does altered text differ from an "altered book"?
Generally it doesn't. When you practice altered text in a book, that book becomes altered; hence, it's altered text in an altered book. Although you need a book to make an altered book, you don't need a book to do altered text. You can do it on any form of printed text, such as magazines, newspapers, even pieces of junk mail! Some persons extract a page from a paperback novel, then work that page on its own. After viewing A Humument, the idea of filling an entire book with altered text is just too cool to resist for many people, including myself!

How are disparate words related together or connected in altered text?
Words and phrases that are chosen around the page are usually pulled together, related or connected by the use of "rivers" (connections developed through the available whitespace of the text body) or with "sticks" (semi-straight lines that connect the words like connect-the-dots) or by other artistic devices. When the reader's eye follows the visual flow of the rivers, sticks or other cues, sensible phrases or even complete sentences are able to be read in the chosen text. Some text is related together solely by the use of color; and really, any decorative method could be used that the artist desires. Some altered text is simply "free floating" with no connective elements at all.

What media can be used for altered text?
Any art media you want to use that works in your book is going to be the right media to use (although oil media are discouraged since oils can ruin books). Unlike a typical altered book, the pages of an altered text book are meant to remain in place such that both sides of every page can be viewed individually and the pages can still be flipped through naturally as with any other book. Exceptions can certainly be made to permit desired media (such as paper collage that may stiffen pages), or even to alter the text of pages separate from the book itself. Other than the basic need to keep the text in its original position on the original paper, there are no specific rules except the ones you set for your own project.

How do I mask my selected words in order to paint/decorate around them?
Time-honored masking methods are to use frisket film (a temp-adhesive acetate that is cut with a craft knife) or liquid frisket (a masking fluid that is brushed on) or a masking pen (liquid frisket in pen format). There are a number of additional methods: Post-It Note tape, clear fingernail polish, dimensional glaze, wax resist (using a colorless candle or crayon), rubber cement, etc. You could even just paint carefully around your selections.

What designs can I use in altered text?
Ask yourself what designs you like and venture in that direction. Some of your pages might be very elaborate while others are rather plain, or you might choose to do an entire book using the same motif throughout. It's your book, so choose anything that appeals to you.

What should my altered text book "say"?
It should say whatever you want it to say. Maybe you want your book to become a poetry book or a story book or an unusual scrapbook or a personal journal or...? It's your book and your choice!

A few must-see altered text links
"A Humument" official website	"A Humument" at Tom Phillips's website
"A Cup of Sky" Karen Hatzigeorgiou	"Reincarnation" Busstop
"The Art of Happiness" Karen Hatzigeorgiou	AlterNation Vanessa Barger
"A Whim" Alteredtome	"Giacometti Portrait Of New Orleans" David Tilley

If you've made an altered text book, are working on an altered text project or are ready to begin one, consider joining the AlteredText Yahoogroup for daily inspiration, tips, sharing pages and discussion of all things altered text.



Technorati Tags: altered text, altered books, palimpsest

I've added a new link, a very cool quote and some additional explanation about media to my "What is a Gluebook?" article. I also rewrote some of the other stuff for clarity. Aside from potential link modifications in the future, I think the article is in its final form now.



Technorati Tags: art journals, collage, gluebooks

If you work in collage, altered art or make gluebooks, don't overlook the plentiful and free elements that arrive (usually unsolicited) in your snail mailbox. Junk mail has a lot to offer the paper artist.

Photos & Clip Art
Nearly every piece of junk mail contains a picture. Sometimes it's just a logo, but more often there are photographs and usage of professional clip art. Once it's in your mailbox, it's all "clip art" for your personal use, so clip away! Weekly sales flyers are especially rich troves for imagery of almost anything money can buy.

Junk Mail Text
I think the best part of junk mail is the interesting phrases and sentences that one can find in it. To uncover those gems means you have to actually read the stuff, but you read it with an eye to using it in your artwork, which is a whole different way of reading, more like quick-scanning. Nearly everything that arrives has at least one interesting sentence or phrase to snip for later gluing. Here are a few examples from my scrapfile:

• ...amazing offer...
• ...from now on...
• Coupon must be presented at time of purchase.
• ...will never be the same...
• There are more details on page 2!
• ...your neighbors won't believe it...
• ...it's time for a change...

The text of junk mail is also a great place to grab up those common words (and symbols) that you might use often enough to need a good supply of them on hand, such as: to, for, &, !, ?, you, and, the...etc.

Then there are the advertising words to collect: free, free gift, only, bonus, %, limited, hurry, sale, save, offer, special ...etc. (Imagine doing a page that just repeats "limited time" in all the different fonts and color combinations from a multitude of mailed ads.)

For sorting and storing found text, I use one of those "magnetic" photo albums (with the plastic overlay sheets). Some of the papers don't stick in place very well while others hold on as if permanent, so it's probably not the ideal storage solution, but it does let me see my entire collection of found text at a glance. That view is extremely helpful when looking for an appropriate phrase without needing to search and search and search in the moment.

Paper, Paper, Paper...!
Mail advertising often uses some interesting paper or has cool designs printed on the paper. You can cut, tear or punch the best parts for decorating something later. And hey, no matter what it looks like when it arrives to you, it's paper, and that means it can be painted, stamped or collaged into any appearance desireable.

Coupons
Don't overlook the coupon mailings. They usually arrive in thick booklets or in their own stuffed envelopes. Big ones, small ones, b/w and color ones...there are coupons for everything you can think of (with very few that might be actually useful). Someday, I might build a book using only coupons for the paper.

Stamps
Collect the postage stamps, too. They're sure to come in handy to add a touch of color to an altered book spread, or if you gather a large number of them, the stamps themselves might become the focal elements of a collage. Collect metered postage as well and maybe even the printed prepaid squares.

Envelopes
Be sure to also save the envelopes from junk mail to use as "instant pockets" in altered books. Some envelopes have windows that allow a peek at the contents, a great place to slip in a decorated tag. Several envelopes with open ends can be adhered together accordion-style or bellows-style to form a book. Or use the envelopes "as paper" to create unique signatures for typical binding techniques.

Junk mail envelopes could also be used for storing snipped imagery; mark the envelope for its stored content and sort several in a shoebox as a makeshift file system. And don't forget that envelopes are paper too; many of them have interesting interior designs that may be just what your next collage could use.

Junk mail in use:
Here's an altered book spread that I made with (and about) junk mail. The spread is sort of a commentary on junk mail itself.

These two gluebook pages (09/04/05 and 09/13/05) were composed exclusively with junk mail material.


No investment required!
I began saving, perusing and snipping my junk mail only since September 2005. In addition to text and envelopes (and pictures, don't forget the pictures!), I've received seven fake credit cards, two 2006 calendar cards, a set of unsolicited address label stickers and a junk CD to this date, four months later. That only demonstrates that it doesn't take a long time to accumulate an ephemera collection from your mailbox.

You just need a very understanding spouse and/or family. ;)

In short, a gluebook is whatever you want it to be. Helpful, eh? ;) Generally the term refers to a series of collages that is built up over time (normally on a regular, ongoing basis) and typically involves modern ephemera. Gluebooks are often of mixed media and difficult to generalize because each artist's style is different, but they almost always involve some kind of gluing, hence the name.

What's it for?
A gluebook is for loosening up, for bypassing your inner critic and building a quick body of work without stress, for expressing raw emotion without having to explain or justify it, for "gesture drawing" without drawing. A gluebook can be used as a "practice run" for future projects (such as altered book pages) or as a kind of "sketchbook" (with or without sketching) to just play with shapes, forms, colors. It can be used as an art journal (with or without art or journaling). You can draw into it, write, paint or cut up the pages. What emerges from a gluebook as you play is sometimes enigmatic and sometimes revealing. There are no rules to a gluebook except the ones you establish for your own.

What kind of "glue" is used?
Your adhesive can be gluestick, white glue, acrylic medium, masking tape, duct tape, brads, staples, paper clips...whatever you feel like using that succeeds in adhering your items together in the way that you want them adhered.

What kind of "book" is it?
The substrate for your gluebook can be a notebook, looseleaf papers to bind later, a sketchbook, a lined journal or composition book. It can have blank pages or text-filled pages. It can be ringbound, stitched, spiralbound, stapled or handbound, hardback or paperback etc. It can even be made of playing cards, flash cards, index cards or greeting cards. Whatever works for you is going to be the right choice.

What kind of time goes into a gluebook?
The gluebook ideal is to spend very little time at all. Perhaps 15-20 minutes for a page. Can't work that fast? Take an hour then, or two, as you like. There are no rules, so you can spend all day building your gluebook page if you want. The faster you work, the less likely you are to fuss with planning, agonizing over details, worrying about some fiction of "perfection." If there is too much focus on the fussing, agonizing and "perfection" ideas, the benefits of a gluebook are greatly lessened. A gluebook is about effortlessly playing, not about seriously toiling.

How often is it done?
For myself, I glue daily, setting aside that time each day just for gluing. You might glue every day, or every-other day, or once a week or perhaps pick two weekends a month just to glue. It's your book, your activity, your choice.

What gets glued?
Typical gluebook materials derive from ordinary ephemera, either vintage or modern. Magazines, newspapers, cheap books and junk mail are just a few sources from which this ephemera can be gleaned. Generally, any material that can be glued down is a potential source of gluebook fodder, so just reach for whatever you have nearby.

What kind of "art" goes into a gluebook?
Any kind at all, even none at all. Some page might be very elaborately arranged while another has a single snippet of text. Neither complexity nor clarity are required. Maybe one day all you feel like doing is splotching down a streak of yellow paint, overlaying it with a strip of masking tape and adding a snip of found text. If it's satisfying for you in that moment at that point of time, then the page is successfully completed.

The best part of gluebooking is that absence of pressure — doesn't matter if you make something really cool on your page or really bland. It doesn't matter if it seems like "art" or not. What matters is putting the page together. Gluebooking on a regular basis keeps your creative juices flowing, even during those periods you "don't have time" to be creative. Surprise yourself!

What other kinds of media go into a gluebook?
Huh? More than one art medium? In a GLUEbook?? Absolutely YES! Don't get hung up on the "glue" portion of the term. I've noticed that many people erroneously get the idea that a gluebook must involve only glue. Of course using "only glue" is fine if that's what you want for your book, but it's mistaken to think that's the "correct" or "only" way. Gluebooks delight in mixed media. Break out your watercolors and inks and marker pens and crayons and whatever else you enjoy working with. Write, stamp, paint as you feel moved.

Something will probably be glued; that's the whole basis of a gluebook's definition. Beyond that, anything goes!


No one else can live my life, tell my story, or make any of my gluebook pages. (GailNHB)

Glue views and communities —
View some extraordinary gluebooks on the web:
THS Design Hieropenen Flumig.net Keri Smith	Blow Your Mind Unit Sicks Cat Sidh Ophelia Chong

There are at least two active Yahoogroups dedicated to gluebooking: [gluebooks] and [gluebots]. These lists offer daily prompts, gluing challenges, viewing the gluepages of others, sharing of thoughts and ideas, etc.

Be sure to also see Lisa Vollrath's Discovering Gluebooks article.