Altered Art

To me it means taking something not normally used for visual arts and transforming into some form of personal self expression. It is in no way I knew idea, but it was only 5 or 6 years ago that I stumbled across my first piece of altered art. It was a altered book that a fellow scrap booker had made. It was simple a child’s board book turned into a scrape book for her daughters 2nd birthday. It created an explosion of ideas in my mind and barely any of them scrap booking. I am not one for destroying a written work of art, having a great love for words and writings, but I could already see my emotions visually splattered out in the form of an altered book. So off I went to find a book that would suit my purpose. Checking second hand stores and I found a few.

   

I made pages and mini books dedicated to poems that deeply move me and stir my soul, I made some that simply were filled with raw emotions I felt at the time. When I altered books and pages it is purely for me, I never intend to sell them and rarely show them to anyone… until now. These are a few years old now but here are a few examples.
 These three are pages from my first altered book I did it has Emily Bronte's poem Shall Earth No More Inspire Thee There are more pages in this book. Have more I will post some other time that are more personal...... about my daily stresses and things like that.

I always see things I want to alter but time is so fleeting… isn’t it? Making Steampunk jewelry pieces helps me with this desire. To me it is the current altered art form I can relate to. Victorian style mixed with fantasy, science fiction and mechanical. Here is my most recent Steampunk piece.

The Time Keepers Amulet

Steampunked and Altered-A few of my favorites by other artisans
ReClain2Fame Is a great shop that sells sculptures using recycled materials(upcycling another love of mine), Altering junk into ART you just got to love it! Unkamen Gifts Is a wonderful shop selling a wide variety of jewelry items I love this Steampunk piece!

Chipper A Robot Dog

Altered Art Steampunk Necklace

 

Inspiration

Inspiration is an odd thing, at least it is for me. I can be inspired by nature just as much as I can by a walk through a hardware store. My head is in a constant frenzy of what can I do with this and what couldn’t I do with that. I started making altered books and altered art about 5 years ago and have always been looking for new ways to add it in to my jewelry designs. I am sure that this is part of what has sparked my latest passionate explosion for hardware, industrial, steampunk and other less traditional creative jewelry pieces. With steampunk it allows me to play around with unique materials, alter materials and stay with a romantic/fantasy and Victorian style perfect for my taste. But my moods shift quickly sometimes and something new will inspire me more strongly, but steampunk, industrial and hardware will always pop back up.
What inspires you? I would love to know.

Fantastic fibers, fabrics and threads!(some of my favorite finds from artisans that work with these materials)
Now here is a wonderful shop full of items made mostly from second hand clothes. Ton of fun and beautiful repurposed and upcycled products. Hand-Me-Down Designs
Here is one of her current items that I love. I love the color and design. What a great way to keep your cell safe.
 Green Corduroy Cell Phone Case w/ wrist strap