Altered Silver

What's this crazy thing? Some new kind of altered product box? Sure, but what it is really is a very helpful Special Tool.

Toward the latter part of January, my gluebook was full, and I switched to altering cards for my daily gluing. I had 3 of the Go Fish! decks to work with. Each deck has 52 main cards, and I started gluing on two cards each day. I really like using the cards, knowing the backs are all identical. There was just one drawback: the glossy faces of the cards need to be sanded first to ensure that the glue will be able to hold.

Through the first 26 days, I sanded two cards by hand each day. I told myself it didn't take very much time (10-15 minutes for each pair of cards) and was fairly simple to do, but as the days passed, it became more and more just an aggravating chore. I'd either have to give up using the cards or else find some better way of doing the sanding. As I completed gluing the first deck and was ready to start on the second, the time was right for changing the routine.

Enter the Special Tool, a wonderful conception of my life partner (who was tired of listening to me gripe about having to sand each day.) ;)


The base for the Special Tool is a chipboard product box (Hamburger Helper, in this case). After expanding the box to its flat state, I cut out two card-sized openings in it as a template. The openings were crossed by low tack painter's tape from the backside, and the low tack tape was reinforced along the sides with regular masking tape (to keep the low tack tape in place).

Once the Special Tool was prepared, the magic could begin.

I laid the Special Tool down on a workbench and filled the template with two of the cards, glossy face up. The cards are held in place by the low tack tape behind them.

The power tool, a palm sander, outfitted with Fine sandpaper, is switched on and applied to the faces of the cards until all the gloss (and ink) is sanded away. These cards are then removed from the Special Tool and replaced with fresh cards from the deck.

In very little time, the stack of sanded cards piles high while the stack of unsanded cards diminishes. With the help of the palm sander and the Special Tool, I completed sanding an entire deck of cards in about 30 minutes!

The Special Tool held up quite well, but the rigors of its duties took their toll. When it comes time to prepare the third deck, the Special Tool will be recreated with a new chipboard box.



Technorati Tags: altered cards, collage, mixed media, sanding