Altered Books with some Kids who are 8,9, 10 and 11

This is my first experience working in this medium with kids of this age group. I recently finished another homeschool class made up primarily of teenage girls. Totally different. We looked at Rookie yearbook, cut pages from Vogue, listened to The Smiths on the Ipod and chilled.

The younger set is great because they are so free. Every one of them. But they move quickly.

Can you guess which of these books were created by A a bubbly and smart girl B my dear son (who is a bit of a cut-up) and C a child who works with such precision he would make a grand scientist?

Altered book and zine making with homeschoolers

It has been an absolute joy working with this kids - 6 girls aged 11 to 15 and one brave guy, 11 years old. I don't know if it is because they are homeschooled, but they are creative, bold and they know how to bring it! We are always surprised when out hour and half has ended and it is time to clean up.

The Sketchbook Project

This is the sort of thing I would dream up, but never pull it off, because I don't have the resources or know- how (my head is FILLED with such projects!)....

"TOGETHER, THOUSANDS OF CREATIVE PEOPLE AROUND THE
WORLD ARE FORMING A TRAVELING LIBRARY OF ARTISTS' BOOKS."

A touring library of over 22,000 sketchbooks from over 130 countries and growing. Eventually they will reside in Brooklyn, New York.

I was happy to learn about this, but I never managed to turn in my $25 to get a sketchbook and participate. Wasn't I overjoyed when my dear friend Michael visited this weekend and BROUGHT ME A SKETCHBOOK! Happy, happy.

http://www.sketchbookproject.com/

Alexander Korzer-Robinson Books

Stellar hand cut altered books. Such precision.They are surprisingly affordable as well.

http://www.alexanderkorzerrobinson.co.uk/

Altered Books

Here is some of the work done by a group of 12 in an hour and a half class. It was a first time experience for all, even though some of the people felt very comfortable about their artistic abilities.

I was really pleased at how everyone dove in and I was impressed with the results! I love how we all start with the same materials and the finished products are so very different.

Images from the latest book

collage without thought

Finishing up this last altered book. The last book was super lovey dovey, this one is super heart broken. *sigh* I tried to put myself on every page, as if to say "I am my own true love". But I didn't totally mean it.

Today's little tip about burning things

I like to play with paper and I like to play with matches. I like things to look older than they really are when I use them in collage. Sometimes when I put fire to paper I get a big hot mess, drop it on the ground and burn that too. Soooooo....when you want to singe the edges of a paper, take it outside and burn it with a stick of incense. Thats a new trick for me. An old trick that I also love to hold a flame to the side of a crayon tip and drip the wax onto my collage.

My camera is broken so I can't show you anything I set on fire lately.

First quarter altered book

It is my journal and it all makes perfect sense to me!

Lynn Whipple, mixed media artist

http://www.whippleart.com/Lynn/lynn_index.htm

I like to think that I am the artist that the talented Lynn Whipple is. Its just that I am too busy to really dig in. Or too distracted. Or uninspired. Or I don't have the right materials. Or I am lacking in some other way. If it were not for those things I would be making big installations of gorgeous things.

Either way, I can look at her work and mooch good ideas for my journals and altered books.

Idea #51 of what to put in your altered book

Pictures of the bare backs of men you cannot help but adore.

B. Tim Groen Collage

http://www.timgroen.com/Web%20art%20portfolio/2.html
Here is some collage that I like/that I would never come up/that you should see.

the altered book of she vs. he

This has been a journal I put a page into most nights. No matter what I have to work with I often end up with someone really glorious on one page (usually a girl) and some gruff character on the other page with his fists up.

What could it all mean?

50 ideas to add in your altered book

paste in: pockets, envelopes, candy wrappers, fortunes from the cooky, feathers, hair (some people will say that is gross, I know), your best doodles from your notebooks, pretty found items from nature or urban life, fabric scraps, safety pins, teacher's stars, color copies of your photos, magazine pictures that you have messed with (or not messed with), ribbon, rhinestones, baker's twine, leaves, ticket stubs, postcards, pretty paper.

Handmade paper dolls, and handmade paper doll clothes, buttons, vintage ephemera, old stamps, butcher or sandwich paper, coin envelopes, shapes cut from torn out pages (colored to contrast can look nice)

To do lists in pencil, decoupaged decorated napkins, handmade paper flowers, vellum (layers and layers are fun), blank tags that you decorated, tags from your purchases that someone else designed, wee little mirrors, seeds and spices, google eyes, little spindly twigs, slides, butterfly wings, wires, corrogated cardbaord, sushi grass, sequins, dots from the hole puncher, thin wooden comb ( Ijust thought of that and want to try it!), text cut from other sources.......

the falling pictures

At least there was a bed to soften the fall.

This page

I made this thinking of my sister. I copied some snippets of her letters on the copy machine and put them in the envelope to look at later. My sister is one of the funniest people I know.

Magdalena Squalor knows true glamour

Here are some pages from an altered book I'm working on. Its my "happy book" of wonderful memories, most of which make sense to no one but me. Its like having a diary that my kids can stumble on but all the good stuff is there.