• About
  • Press
  • Advertise

Craft Test Dummies

The Crafting Blog for Crafters, By Crafters

  • Craft News
    • CHA Coverage
    • Crafting for a Cause
    • Giveaways
    • CTD on TV
    • Quilt Market
  • Craft Product Reviews
    • Apps & Sites
    • Art Supplies/Mixed Media
    • Beads/Jewelry Products
    • Books, Magazines, Events
    • Comparisons
    • Crafty Tools
    • Fabric, Needle, & Quilting Arts
    • Food Crafts
    • Paints, Inks & Dyes
    • Paper Crafts
    • Polymer Clay & Tools
  • Craft Storage and Tips
  • Crafty People & Places
    • Crafty Field Trips
  • Kids Stuff
    • Hands On Crafts For Kids-TV show
  • Winter/Christmas
  • Home Decor
  • Food Crafting/ Party Crafts
  • Valentine’s /Sweetest Day
  • Spring/Easter
  • Wedding & Shower Crafts
  • Father’s Day Crafts
  • Baby & Shower Crafts
  • Mother’s Day Crafts
  • Patriotic crafts
  • Summer Crafts
  • Fall Crafts
    • Halloween Crafts
  • Jenny Sez
    • Sponsored Posts
  • Periscope Superfans Page
Home / Craft Projects / Beads/Jewelry Projects / Altered Art- Crafting a New Purpose for Old Stuff

Altered Art- Crafting a New Purpose for Old Stuff

January 12, 2010

Altered Hymnal, covered w/ hand-dyed paper

In the past few days I’ve had fun working on some “altered art” items, and I realized that I’ve never done a post on altering! I know there are a few of you out there who may not be very familiar with altered crafting, so I thought I’d do a little primer for you. In my own words,

Altered art is talking old stuff that used to have a purpose and turning it into art.

Interestingly, Wikipedia does not have a wiki on altered art…good thing there is Altered-Art.net to fill in the gaps. One of their definitions/explanations of altered art is

….expression to mean the transformation or ‘alteration’ of ordinary, everyday  objects into artistic pieces….

That works for me!

Often, altering or transforming an object implies using mixed media- that is, many different media (such as paints, stamps, fabric, paper, etc) and many different techniques (i.e., stamping, sewing, beading, burning, glazing,) to make the art piece.

Translation: there are no rules!

I personally have altered a number of different items. Sometimes it’s an old book that speaks to me, an old tie that has a history, a key to a lock long since gone, or a piece of junk that is calling for a new life. Here are some pictures of what I’ve done to give you some ideas:

Altered shipping tag

Altered shipping tag, with vintage crocheted lace.

Old tie, re- "purse"-posed!

Bra purse, covered w/ painted (recycled) doilies

Altered hymnal, w/ recycled peacock earring

Part of the fun of altering items is that there are no rules.
Have you altered an item? What did you alter and why?
  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Jenny

Chief Craft Test Dummy, Craft Evangelist, Founder, Editor, bottle-washer, trouble-maker, and creative whirlwind.
  • Spooky Spider Halloween Bookmark Craft - October 24, 2018
  • Review and Demo of LDRS Hybrid Ink Pads - October 15, 2018
  • Review and Demo of Nuvo Hybrid Inks - October 1, 2018
  • Craft Studio Tour and Organization Ideas - September 20, 2018
  • Tonic Studios Dies Unboxing (Giveaway Closed) - April 20, 2018
  • Wax Paper Resist Background Technique - March 20, 2018
  • Comparison of Liquid Watercolor Markers/Pens - March 16, 2018
  • SAI Japanese Traditional Watercolor Brush Markers- Review & Demo - February 23, 2018
  • Rinea Metallic Foil Paper & Ghost Ink Review - February 21, 2018
  • Jane Davenport debuts at Creativation 2018 & Watercolor Card - February 13, 2018

Share this:

  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • LinkedIn
  • More
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Posted in Beads/Jewelry Projects, Craft Projects, Fabric Crafts, Paper Crafts, Recycled & Green | 1 Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ctd-headshot-round

Hi! I’m Jenny, the co-host of Hands On Crafts for Kids on PBS and the Head Dummy behind CraftTestDummies.com where you’ll find craft product reviews, tutorials, and craft industry news.

ctd-fb ctd-pin ctd-twitter cts-insta ctd-youtube ctd-g ctd-email

Search

ctd-subscribe
Want weekly craft projects delivered straight to your inbox?

YouTube

Disclosure

CraftTestDummies is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

jenny-headshot-square

Jenny Barnett Rohrs is Head Dummy and Pied Piper behind CTD, which focuses on reviews, tutorials, and craft industry news. Jenny has appeared on HSN, Scrapbook Soup PBS series, and is currently the co-host of Hands On Crafts for Kids on PBS.

ctd-fb-30  ctd-pin-30  ctd-twitter-30  cts-insta-30  ctd-youtube-30  ctd-g-30  ctd-email-30  ctd-rss-30

Copyrighted Content Permission All images and tutorials on this blog are copyrighted material. Please contact me if you would like to borrow any media (photos, video or audio files), tutorials, or ideas from this blog. 99% of the time I would be happy to allow you to use one photo with appropriate credit and link back to CraftTestDummies.com (preferably to the same post it was borrowed from.)
clever-network  linqia  viglink

All content copyright © 2015 Craft Test Dummies | Privacy Policy | Disclosures | Site design by XO Sarah

MENU
  • Craft News
    • CHA Coverage
    • Crafting for a Cause
    • Giveaways
    • CTD on TV
    • Quilt Market
  • Craft Product Reviews
    • Apps & Sites
    • Art Supplies/Mixed Media
    • Beads/Jewelry Products
    • Books, Magazines, Events
    • Comparisons
    • Crafty Tools
    • Fabric, Needle, & Quilting Arts
    • Food Crafts
    • Paints, Inks & Dyes
    • Paper Crafts
    • Polymer Clay & Tools
  • Craft Storage and Tips
  • Crafty People & Places
    • Crafty Field Trips
  • Kids Stuff
    • Hands On Crafts For Kids-TV show
  • Winter/Christmas
  • Home Decor
  • Food Crafting/ Party Crafts
  • Valentine’s /Sweetest Day
  • Spring/Easter
  • Wedding & Shower Crafts
  • Father’s Day Crafts
  • Baby & Shower Crafts
  • Mother’s Day Crafts
  • Patriotic crafts
  • Summer Crafts
  • Fall Crafts
    • Halloween Crafts
  • Jenny Sez
    • Sponsored Posts
  • Periscope Superfans Page