Altered Book Rubber Stamping Techniques

About Altered Books

Basically, an altered book is a book that has been transformed into a work of art through the use of rubber stamping, drawing, painting, tearing, folding, and other crafting techniques. People interested in scrapbooking, card making, and other paper crafts often find that making an altered book provides an opportunity to try new techniques and push the limits of their creativity.

Altered books can be purely decorative or they can serve a practical purpose such as displaying a collection of favorite quotes or special family photos. Most altered books lie flat when finished, but some have pop-ups and other dimensional elements to add a touch of whimsy to the completed piece.

Choosing a Book to Alter

If you don’t have a pile of old books lying in your attic, you’ll need to visit garage sales, secondhand stores, or flea markets to pick an assortment of books to alter. You can either look for books with pretty covers or choose books that relate to the overall theme of your project. For example, an old travel book from Greece would be the perfect choice if you’re planning to create a tribute to your family’s Greek heritage.

Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t make a difference how many pages are in the book you choose to alter. Some people find children’s books, particular preschool board books, to be the most convenient because of their smaller sizes. However, if you find a larger book, it’s fairly simple to glue some of the pages together to create a more manageable project.

Altered Book Rubber Stamping Techniques to Try

If you’ve already used rubber stamps in your previous craft projects, you probably have all the skills you need to create your own altered book. If you’re a novice stamper, however, you may want to consider trying the following altered book rubber stamping techniques on your project:

• Heat embossing: Use clear pigment ink, colored embossing powder, and a heat tool to create a raised image on your project.
• UTEE: Also known as Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel, this unique product lets you create “cracked” effects with your stamped designs or embed small metal charms and beads into your work.
• Shadow stamping: Use special shadow stamps to create a simple geometric background for your artwork or make homemade shadow stamps by cutting a sheet of fun foam into the desired shape.
• Masking: Stamp your image once on cardstock and once on a piece of scratch paper. Cut the image out of scratch paper to use as your mask. Place the mask over the cardstock, then stamp again with a different coordinating stamp to create a collage of layered images.
• Spotlight stamping: Stamp your image once on black cardstock with white pigment ink and once on white cardstock with black ink. Cut a small shape from the white cardstock image and add color with markers or colored pencils. Use foam adhesive to mount this image over the black cardstock background to create the spotlight effect.
• Stamping with markers: Use markers to create stamped images featuring multiple colors. Color directly onto the stamp, breath gently over the image to moisten the ink, then stamp in your altered book.
• Found object printing: Think outside the box and use bubble wrap, old thread spools, leaves, and other interesting objects as homemade stamps. Apply your ink directly to the object, then stamp as you normally would.

Additional Resources for Making Altered Books

Online resources devoted to making altered books include:

• The International Society of Altered Book Artists
• The Altered Book Club
• What are Altered Books?

For an in-depth discussion of making altered books and altered book rubber stamping techniques, check out the following reference books:

• The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery: Mixed-Media Techniques for Collage, Altered Books, Artist Journals, and More by Karen Michel
• Altered Board Book Basics & Beyond: For Creative Scrapbooks, Altered Books & Artful Journals by Jan Bode Smiley
• Altered Books Workshop: 18 Creative Techniques for Self-Expression by Bev Brazelton