Altered Book Ideas

The joy of altered books is that it's not difficult to find great altered book ideas, especially since there are no definitive altered book instructions. You simply take discarded books and change them into something that expresses the uniqueness of the book and yourself. Think of a book as a canvas and you will begin to understand what altered art books are. An altered book is one that has been taken from its original form and is cut, burned, torn or manipulated in some way to create a completely new piece of artwork. 

Altered Book Art
The first trick is finding a book for your project. Generally, hard-covered books are the best because they will hold together better than paperbacks after you have altered them. If you want to save money and recycle at the same time, avoid using new books. Look for old books that have seen their fair share of wear and tear. You can find them at library sales, swap meets and garage sales.

Finding the right book is part of the fun of altered books. The book should speak to you in ways beyond the content. The title of the book alone may tickle your fancy. Illustrations that are screaming for your witty comments might be another factor. The overall appearance of the book might appeal to your artistic sense. Maybe the book is so "quiet" that it just needs your voice in order to be heard.

Altered Book Ideas

• Tear out pages that you think are boring or write over them with more interesting ideas. Draw illustrations or write notes on the page margins about other books or your daily activities. Write love poems in a murder mystery. Repeat nursery rhymes in a scientific book. Glue pages together and paint over them. Cut out the words that you don't like on a page.
• Add photographs or pictures from magazines.
• Cut a square though the book's cover so that you can see inside of the book. Glue all of the pages together and create a diorama inside of the book. Paint the cover like a stage with an audience.
• Create an altered book collage. Overlap leather pieces and different kinds of fabric onto the book cover to give it different textures and depth. Add items like keys or stray pieces of puzzles. Glue an eye from an old stuffed animal onto the cover. Decorate with yarn and ribbon.
• You can cut square pages into semi-circles, cut a page into half of a paper doll, cut waves into the book cover or collage to your heart's content.

If you like the altered book concept, but aren't sure where to start, take an altered book class. You will get tips and shortcuts from the instructor as well as inspiration from your fellow students.