AGNES THE RED ART and CRAFT TUTORIALS

What is altered art?....well there are thousands of books and dvds and websites dedicated to this craft, and the artists that carry it out. There are so many variations and interpretations of altered art that it would take far to long for me to discuss and put it all down here, so I won't and I'll leave it up to you to google and research in your own time. Simply put, it's an item that has been taken and transformed from it's original form and use into another piece of artwork. Anything can be altered, be it a small everday kitchen utensil, made into a piece of wearable art jewellery...to something as big as a car into a sculpture...a house...whatever.....this type of art has endless opportunities...the world is your oyster....and yes you can alter one of those too!

I believe this idea was first created by Tim Holtz using a short length of wooden ruler, drilled with holes through which nuts and bolts are fastened, to create a 'spine' for a book. Not only decorative, as a neat piece of ephemera embellishment, the ruler provides stability and tension to the book by holding the pages within securely....AND also gives you the ability to undo the hardware fastenings and add more pages, remove them or even rearrange the contents without ruining the book covers or other pages etc.

US companyJunkitz, with Tims help, have designed premade ruler book kits - blank canvases that you can purchase and then decorate yourself...and are available in a small range of sizes. Much as I love them, they are very well made and put together and ideal for first time altered art/crafters, I have found them a little costly...and perhaps a little too restrictive in their size and design. So, I realised that it was actually quite easy to make your own and that once you understand the concept and design, you can tailor the shape/size etc to your own requirements...much more scope and with just a few purchases from your local DIY/hardware store, less costly too!

The following tutorial shows you how to make a basic ruler book 6.5inch x 8.5inch, with a hinged hard front cover, using half of a 12inch long wooden ruler and fastening measurements based on a standard ring binder hole punch. It then progresses on to show you how I decorated it to make a my 'old school' photo album. There is also another example of a variation of ruler book - a coverless shopping list/note book board, plus some ideas for alternative fastenings etc.

Materials and tools required - one 6 inch wooden ruler (or a 12inch ruler cut in half), hand saw/junior hacksaw, drill and bit and hole punch, TWO pieces of heavy card preferably book or mountboard - both measuring 6.5 x 8.5 inch (for back and front covers), TWO EACH of bolts washers and nuts (either wing or standard plain) that must fit easily through a standard punched hole, A5 sheets of paper for the book pages, Papers  inks  paints and embellishments of your choice. Basic craft tools - scissors, craft knife, pencil and ruler for marking and measuring, glues/adhesives, hole punch.

NOTE - PREPARATION : If you are working with a full 12inch wooden ruler, this must be cut into half. It is quite easy to do this using a junior hackaw or small hand saw. Prep the ruler by sanding and smoothing the sawn end, then if you wish to ink up the ruler you might want to gently sand over the whole surface with a fine grade sandpaper to give a 'key' to the surface. You may also want to sand away any rough edges when the holes have been drilled into the wood too so that the hardware can be pushed smoothly through without snagging on any splinters.

  1. Take the front cover and slice off a piece that      2. Drill holes in the ruler and then punch holes in the     3. Cover the back panel and the two seperate

   is a fraction wider than the ruler width - this will         back panel and the smaller of the front sections.               front sections in your chosen papers.

          form the hinge of the front cover. 

   4. Place the two front cover sections together face         5. gather together a small quantity of A5 paper, turn        6. Push the two bolts from the back, through

   down but making sure there is a small gap between       'landscape'wise and punch holes into the right hand side.    the back panel. If you are attaching a hanging

   them, then cover and adhere a whole piece of paper      these are the pages on which you can adhere photos.                loop, tie this to the bolt heads.

                            to the back.

NOTE : when covering the back of the two fron cover sections, it is vital to leave a small gap between the strip and the main board. This is where the hinge is created and needs space to enable the main board cover to open out while the smaller strip section is secured down with the hardware fixings. There should be sufficiant space to allow the cover to open out at least 90degrees.

  7. Slot your pages onto the bolts....             8. ....then add the ruler.....                      9. ....and the washers....             10. ....and finally screw on the nuts.

Your basic ruler book is now complete and ready for you to decorate and add content to the pages inside...be it journaling, photos....or even your favourite ATCs!

NOTE : It is a good idea to use washers as part of the hardware fixings as these help evenly spread the tension on the book spine and prevents the nuts from being over tightened and marking and damaging the ruler.

 This is my completed ruler book 'Old School' photo album which I will use to display my family school photos. It has been embellished with school related ephemera to reflect this. The following briefly shows the componants.

The front panels were covered with a collaged paper that already had a distressed look, but I wanted to age it further and did this by gently sanding and scraping the edges to wear down some of the print, then treated the surfaces with complimentary Tim Holtz Distress Inks. These were applied with old paint brushes, and rubbed in with an old soft cloth. The photo on the far left shows the main panel after inking and the smaller section left untreated as comparison and to show how much further the distressed look can be taken from the original printed patten.

The hardware and ruler were also given the distress treatment too! permanent Stazon ink in brown and black was wiped on the metal to dull down the silver shine and left overnight to completely dry and set (inks such as stazon need to be used as dye based colours will not take on the metal, and will rub off). After a gentle sanding, the wooden ruler was rubbed over with distress ink, using a soft cloth.

Aa part of the front cover decoration, an old ink pen nib was displayed in a shadow box. The box front was created by covering a small rectangle of mount board that a window has been cut out of the middle. A thin piece of plastic was adhered from behind to complete the window and the sides were built up with thick double sided foam pads. I choose not to fit a back panel to the box as I liked the idea of being able to see through to the print of the cover. In the top right hand corner I attached a metal filing cabinate plate with small brads - this was also treated with stazon inks to give it an aged patina. The definition of 'school' from an old dictionary was slotted into it to complete the look.

ALTERNATIVE FIXTURE IDEAS

If you don't have or want to use a ruler and metal hardware fixtures, you can use an number of alternatives to keep the cover and pages together. String, ribbon or threads...even rafia and lengths of craft wire can give a much softer look, but you must be aware that these won't be as durable as metal fixings and may suffer wear and tear with constant tying and untying. As for ruler alternatives.....anything that is strong and durable can take its place...plastic rulers can look equally decorative for a more modern theme, or wooden baton...or another strip of thick board can be covered, inked or painted up.

The above photo shows the basic metal hardware and choices that you have for fixings. On the far left are two different sized bolts with standard plain and wing nuts, plus washers. For another idea....why not try using bottle caps instead of washers! In the middle of the photo are two caps with holes punched through the centres, just pop onto the bolt, and screw the nut down...it adds another dimension and texture. For a real professional finish, you can use metal fixings that are specially made for book binding. The far right of the photo shows a pair of book binding screws (top left) which are tubes of metal with a small screw head that fixes into the end. You can get different lengths of tube...even extentions....but be aware that these will not give you the flexibility of the nuts and bolts. These fixings can only be used with a book that will have a thickness of pages of the same, or more than, the length of the tube, where as a bolt and nut can screw right down to just one page thickness. Book binding screws are very useful for items such as fat books, or material pages and for books that only require a simple elegant metal fixing that won't detract from the cover.

ANOTHER USE FOR THE RULER BOOK DESIGN

Taking the ruler book idea one stage further....this piece shown below is a shopping list/memo pad board. The back board and ruler only were used (no cover as this would interfere with the overall intention of the design. The ruler and washers hold a wad of scrap paper pieces that you can jot down messages, lists etc onto, then tear them off when you've finished with it! There is a loop of string tied to the back for hanging, plus a strong strip of magnet tape so that it can be stuck to a fridgefreezer door instead!

I was forever loosing scrap bits of paper with messages and shopping lists written on, scrabbling around for a pencil....and misplacing my trolley token and shop vouchers....so this memo board is proving most useful......everything in one place...for once! The photo on the left shows the board with paper fixed in place. The photo on the right shows the board without the paper...the back decorated with an assortment of complimentary papers, ripped, torn, scrunched, sanded and inked to give it that old distressed look that I so much love!                     

A small empty matchbox was covered and decorated in matching paper and beads, the end fixed with a small metal knob (Tim Holtz idea-ologyrange) and adhered to the bottom of the board...this is where I keep my trolley token. An old wooden light pull knob proved an ideal little container to hold a pencil ready for writing the list..inked up and tied in place with string. The string theme follows through to three tiny brown paper bags that run down the right hand length of the board. Initially this area of the board had been left plain and unadorned....but it looked too bare and the whole board seemed unbalanced. I needed embellishments in this area to equalize the design but it had to be something small enough that didn't interfere and get in the way with my hand when writing on the paper (I am right handed). Flattish bags were an ideal solution, made from scrap brown parcel paper with little string handles glued on to add more dimension and texture.   

The 'SHOP' wording was made from a sheet from the Tim Holtz distressablesrange. The appropriate letters were cut out, adhered to mount board then distressed with a sanding block before being adhered with glue and foam pads to the base of the board. A small metal paper clip is attached to the bottom corner to keep tidy any stray shopping vouchers. 

I made this piece as part of an online altered art group swap challenge. We were asked to alter a CD but it had to carry an oriental theme. As I watched members upload their finished swap pieces into the group photo album, I noticed everyone had kept their CDs whole and they were all 'hanging' ornaments of sorts...so this got me thinking....I really wanted to explore the concept of 'altered' and so I set my own personal challenge of actually breaking down the original circular shape of the cd and creating something different from the rest of the group. I had to stick to one strict rule - this final piece was to be swapped out with another member, so the piece would have to be quite small for easy packing and posting. I came up with a number of ideas, some of which I am still in the process of making, but this one struck me as being truely 'altered' and I decided to use it as a tutorial.....the CD became a book....and to be more specific, it was cut up to play the role of the book cover. As I researched and played around with the oriental theme, I decided to keep it quite stylised, with classic red black and gold colours in simple lines. It is also a nice example of how to make an unusual shaped book with multi layer pages and hinge fixings.

Materials and tools required - CD (freebie junk mail), 4x wooden bbq skewers or craft wire, strong scissors or jewellers tin snips, hole punch, black red white cardstock, black and gold paper, red and white mulberry paper, black permanent marker, gold leafing pen, gold alcohol ink and applicator, glue/adhesives, oriental stamp images and black archival ink, pressed leaf, black cotton jewellery cord, gold coloured eyelets, scissors and craft knife, pencil and ruler for marking and measuring, bone folder and embossing tool for scoring and folding.

NOTE : Take care when cutting cds as they can crack, shatter and splinter in the wrong place. You can overcome this by blasting it with a heat gun which will soften it slightly and make cutting easier. Punching holes can cause the same problem - the hole punches that work by hammering action will not work...you need to use a lever action punch. I use the We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-dile II Big Bitea fantastic tool that slices through cds, metal and thin wood like it's butter. If you're not as fortunate as me to own one of these, you could try drilling a hole (warm up the cd with a heat gun first to avoid cracking or shattering the plastic).

ALTERED CD - 'The Door To Enlightenment' Book

  1. Using strong scissors, cut the cd equally in half.        2. Ink up the edges to disguise the plastic. I used       3. Cover both sides of the cd pieces with paper of 

   See NOTE above as to how to avoid cracking.           gold alcohol ink dabbed around the outer edges and                               your choice.

 4. Cut 2 strips of black paper 4cm wide and in excess     5. Ink or paint gold around the middle and black on       6. Fold the strips in half lengthways, wrap around

 of 14cm long, plus FOUR 12cm lengths of skewer.                 the ends of the wooden bbq skewers.                   the cd straight cut edges and mark the middle.

NOTE : you can use wire instead of the skewers to form the hinges, but this must be straight and strong enough not to kink and affect the mechanics of the hinge. I would suggest using a thin galvanised steel wire (often found in garden sections of diy stores). For safety, wear protective glasses when cutting wire and file down sharp edges.

       7. Mark but do not trim where the ends lie.              8. Cut out the middle section that you have just      9. Lay out the strips with the folds as 'valley', place

                                                                                     marked and open out the strips of paper.                      one skewer in each and glue in place.

  10. Wrap the strips back around the cds and glue       11. Once dry, trim off the excess ends flush with      12. To form the main book part, cut out a rectangle

                      securly into place.                                                    the cd 'corners'.                              of black card 20cm wide by 12cm deep. Mark, score

                                                                                                                                                         and fold 4cm in easc side to form the hinge flaps.

  13. As with the cd hinges, mark halfway down the    14. Place a skewer in the fold and glue in place then    15. Fold the flaps down, glue in place and make sure

    folded edge, and cut out a small semi circle.                    repeat with the other folded edge.                         the skewers are pushed well into the fold.

NOTE: you will notice in photos 14 and 15 that I have torn the edges of the card before glueing down.....I often do this with thicker cards and paper when the join is to be covered up and disguised by another layer. The torn feathered fibres provides a softer and better 'key' for the adhesive and allows the join to be smoothed down completely and flat. A hard cut straight edge could show up under any paper that is then glued over this join to cover it up.....having the opposite effect and making the join underneath more obvious.

16. Turn over and use a bone folder to neaten edges     17. Cut out 2 pieces of white mulberry paper            18. Glue the flaps to the back top and bottom          

      and define the hinge sides.                                  10cm wide and 12cm deep. Fold over a 1cm flap.                       edges of the book base.                           

  19. Bring the excesss paper back over to the front.      20. Cut 2 pieces of thin black card 12cm wide by      21. Using a cd piece as a template, draw around

        These are the first inner pages.                                                  11cm deep.                                   close to one edge to create a semicircle. Repeat

                                                                                                                                                      with the second piece and cut out the curved edges. 

  22. As with the mulberry paper pages, fold approx     23. Make sure the flaps are glued down firmly. Now     24. I created another section on the back to conceal

   1cm of the ends, over the top and bottom edges      cover this back panel with more paper to neaten.          the flap edges and contain my art book details. 

   of the book base to form the next layer of pages.

 25. Punch holes and set gold eyelets into each cd       26. Place and line up cd sections on the book base   27. Thread through and under the two exposed

               section for the closures.                             skewer to skewer. Cut 4 lequal engths of cord.         skewer sections TWO pieces of cord each side. 

     28. Tie double knots in each cord to secure.         29. Trim to required length. I have choosen to leave   30. Cut a final longer length of cord, thread through

    It may help to clamp the book between your                           the threads long.                                   the cd eyelets and tie in a loose bow to keep the

       knees to keep the book covers lined up.                                                                                                                  book closed.

31. ....and finally open out the book and decorate the inner base panel. I have choosen layers of black and white card, red mulberry paper and gold paper, with a black ink stamped image of buddah, and a dried pressed leaf.

The completed book entitled 'The Door to Enlightenment', shown closed above left, The cd cover opened (middle photo) to reveal the upper layer of pages, then these are opened out (photo right) to reveal the delicate semi transparent mulberry paper pages.

The final pages are peeled back to reveal the buddah image. This book also serves purpose as an icon for a meditation shrine. The final photo on the right shows the back of the book, which also has pages that open out to reveal the artist and book details.

Click for step by step explanation of the componants of  'AN ORIENTAL JOURNEY'

A favorite with many altered artists these little plastic, wood or bone game pieces can provide unlimited altered ideas. Here is a little 'Objet D'art' entitled 'TIME FLIES'.

Materials and tools required - Domino game piece, drill with small wood bit, alcohol inks with blending solution and applicator, wire (various gauges), wire cutters and pliers, glue and masking tape, small metal bead/embellishment, cardstock plus waste cardboard, unmounted stamps (various time related images, wings and script), Stazon ink pads (black brown and green) and brushes, acrylic stamp blocks, card, clear embossing ink pad plus powders (clear and copper), heat gun, card, ADT, scissors or craft knife.

      1. Mark and carefully drill holes into the end of              2. Bend wire into curly legs using round nosed                  3. Position and check it is balanced

                              the domino.                                                              pliers.                                                     (glue when inked and dry).

       4. Ink up and stamp the domino                            5. Edge with aluminium duct tape and burnish                   6. Stamp, emboss and cut out card wings.

                 and allow to dry.                                                          down neatly.                                                (this will be glued behind the domino).

      7. Cover the reverse with ADT and age using                8. Cut out and stamp textured card for the                 9. Low tack the tiles to cardboard and age with

               stazon inks applied with a brush.                                             roof tiles.                                                       black ink. Allow to dry.

      10. Apply clear embossing powder to create                  11. Remove from card and adhere to the                    12. Make a wire coil, attach metal bead to end.

                   glossy finish to the tiles.                                        roof base, overlapping each line.                                 attach to a small stamped clock face.

EMBOSSING THE ROOF TILES - These were far to small to handle and emboss individually and you can't emboss the card 'before' you cut the tiles as the enamel wil crack and come off so to overcome this I stuck them all down together on a piece of cardboard using tiny pieces of low tack tape. I then just dabbed my clear embossing ink pad over the whole piece, covered with the EP, shook off the excess and then I could safely hold the cardboard while heating with the gun to melt the EP. I repeated this three times to ensure the tiles had a good thick and glossy coating. Yes you do waste some EP on the card, but this is a far better alternative than trying to do them one at a time and risk burning your fingers or dropping a tile.

The small clock face (set under the roof eaves) from which the coil is attached was treated in the same way.

In this tutorial, I'm altering an ATC into SHRINE WALL ART.......this might raise a few questions as to HOW? and WHY? but I don't want to get too technical, or complex....so here's some brief info that you may want to go over before commencing with this project.

WHAT IS ALTERED ART? - This is bascially taking an object/item and altering from it's previous use into a piece of artwork. There are no rules as to how you go about this....you can reform, change the colour, combine it with other elements and embellishments etc. As long as it becomes something decorative and different from it's original use...it altered.....and you can basically alter anything you want!

WHAT IS AN ATC? - Click HERE for details.

HOW DO YOU ALTER AN ATC?....and IS THIS ALLOWED? and WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DO IT? - Some ATCers may disapprove...but if it's there...why not alter it. It's not going to traded as one once it's altered....so there shouldn't be a problem. BUT I'm NOT, however, talking about altering somebody elses ATC...that in my opinion is a BIG NO NO and may cause offence and insult. A lot of hard work can go into making an ATC...and it's traded with you as an item to appreciate and collect. NO, I'm talking about one of your own ATCs - maybe a tired old one stuck in the back of a folder, unloved, unwanted, untradable....or one you've worked on but didn't like so intend on binning. Well don't let it go to waste - howabout redesigning them and altering them.....giving them a new lease of life as something else!. It IS possible to alter an ATC....as long as you initially begin with the basic 2.5inch x 3.5inch card...you work outside the box and add dimension that takes it beyond and outside the ATC rules. It will eventually become something no longer deemed an ATC or fit to trade...therefore it becomes ALTERED ART !

So now we ask, WHY ALTER an ATC? - as said above, why not? it's a great sized piece of art to work with.....nice and easy and small for new techniques and ideas to be worked out on without too much expense and outlay. For people new to altered art it's an nice size and easy simple subject to start with. For ATCers, it might give inspiration and encouragement to try a new craft and look at ATCs in a different way. If you're not an ATCer...or haven't got a spare ATC to alter, then there's nothing stopping you from using a blank canvas...a plain ATC sized card. This might beg the question ' How can it be an altered ATC if it wasn't an ATC in the first place?'...well, lets not split hairs over this. I you don't ATC and haven't got ATC...then where do you start? As long as it STARTS off with a basic ATC sized card, then I don't see the problem in calling it an ATC and it makes this technique available to EVERYONE.

 So, where do we go from here?.......The following shows an example of an assemblage semi sealed shrine, incorporating a box frame that is created using a matchbox and it's designed to hang on the wall - so not only is it altering an ATC, but a matchbox too!. It also includes a handmade tassel and alcohol inks - all instructions here!. There are a number of elements to this, but it's still a simple and quick make and if you wish to create your own...then it's up to you as to what design and elements you wish to include.

TOOLS and MATERIALS REQUIRED:

ATC - either plain card or predecorated and it MUST measure 2.5inch by 3.5inch, small empty matchbox (ideally 2inch by 1.5inch), additional cardstock, papers, paints (including crackle effect), inks (permanent and pigment, alcohol etc), ADT (self adhesive metal repair tape), embellishments - game pieces ephemera etc,  rubber stamps, hole punch, eyelets (if attaching charms) and craft wire, plus basic craft tools such as scissors, craft knife, glues, ruler & pencil for measuring and marking out, heat gun (optional), eyelet setter (optional), roundnosed and flat nosed pliers and wire cutters.

NOTE - if you do not have a matchbox to hand, or do not wish to purchase one, you can make your own using the following template. Copy to file, resize in appropriate programme and print out.

                                                                MATCHBOX TEMPLATE - CLICK HERE

 The inspiration for this piece came about from a conversation with a friend...we were discussing our homes and creature comforts....what we couldn't live without, and what we called home. I commented that my ability to create was important to me and it didn't matter where I was...or where I lived...as long as I had my art stuff with me...I was home!

I decided to create a shrine in the shape of a house, with a small selection of art objects that represent the tools important to me. The roof would also incorporate my words......

                                                                                 "Take these walls, and floor, and stairs,

                                                                           remove the rug, the mirror and all household wares...

                                                                                       no materialistic comforts I need...

                                                                               for wherever I lay my brush...that's my home"

To begin with, I created a window/box frame...to see how I did this you'll need to visit the SHRINES tutorial (scroll down below the matchbox shrine instructions)

   1. I first created a window in an ATC sized card.            2. Then gathered together some old brushes,             3. And selected papers in earthy natural colour

          (see Shrine section for full details)                       pencils and other objects I wanted in the shrine.                                      tones.

      4. I roughly worked out a basic design and      5. And then selected the papers to cover the card.          6. I chose green as a base colour- and used a craft 

                             layout.                                                                                                                 knife to cut the inner section and allow me to cover

                                                                                                                                                                  the internal window edges.    

   7. Before wrapping the edges with brown paper         8. I then partially covered the front with a natural         9. Then spattered various acrylic paints over to

   I aged and distressed the card with a black inks.            coloured crackle paint....and allowed to dry.                         give further texture and colour. 

   10.The inside of the matchbox drawer was also                 11. The inked drawer was left to dry.                 12. I then started decorating the roof section, firstly

  treated with the same crackle paint and once dry                                                                                       covering the piece with metal repair tape.

aged with distress ink - this also accentuates the cracks.  

NOTE - when cutting ADT (aluminium/metal duct repair tape) use an old pair of scissors kept especially for use on this tape only. The metal tape will quickly blunt any of your good paper/crafting scissors.                                                                             

  13. The corners were mitred and the tape folded         14. I then dripped copper, green and caramel            15. Once dry, decorative edging was applied and

              over to neaten the edges.                            coloured alcohol inks over the front and gently                    wording embossed into the metal.

                                                                                           mixed with a blending tool.

  16. I then glued the shrine box frame face down     17. The roof section was also attached at this point.      18. I began making a charm in the shape of a mini

                  over the apperture.                                                                                                           paint palette, cut from thick card and covered in

                                                                                                                                                          natural handmade paper that matched the card.

NOTE - although not shown in the images, I finished off the back of the piece by covering in various papers. You should never neglect the back....even if it may never be seen. It completes the piece and gives a professional finish and shows you've taken the time, care and effort to create a whole piece of art!

  19. I also wanted to add a tassel to the piece -               20. I wrapped the cotton around the card               21. Then threaded a strand through one end 

     to make my own I needed card, cotton,                    until i reached the desired number of strands.                   to tie up and secure the top section.    

               a fine needle and scissors.

    22. I Carefully pushed  the loops off the card....       23. ...Added a hanging cord and created the neck      24. The looped end was then cut and trimmed to

                                                                                       by tying in with some more cotton.                          create the individual  tassel strands

      25. The completed tassel ready to attach.             26. Jump rings were needed to attach the charms       27. I then snipped through the coil to seperate

                                                                               so I wrapped copper craft wire around a dowel               the rings using jewellers wire cutters.

                                                                                     to form a coil - then slid the piece off.

    28. Multiple indentical sized rings are created.            29. The front of the shrine was then finished off       30. The charm and tassel were attached and further

                                                                             by adding the ephemera and choosen objetcs etc.                              decoration added. 

NOTE - the pencils and brushes used in the shrine were cut down to size with a junior hacksaw, the ends sanded smooth and the handles aged and distressed with sandpaper. Roughing up the paint on the handles also provided a 'key' for the glue to adhere easily.  The backs of the buttons were also treated this way to ensure they ahered to the shrine securely.

                                                                                     ' Home is where the heART is ' 

                                                     The completed artwork - altered ATC and matchbox, assemblage, and shrine in one!