To Alter or Not to Alter

Posted on 13th November 2013 by Sylvia Ames
Filed under Design Team

Hello everyone Sylvia here with a short post on  the one thing I am doing at the moment that raises a lot of eyebrows, my altered dictionary. The altered dictionary is a  fortnightly challenge,  a letter is given each fourtnight so you can pick which word you wish to depict from that section of the dictionary.   You can use whatever you like on your pages but the definition must be highlighted in some way.   I started my Altered Dictionary with an old dictionary my mother was throwing away, but you can find old dictionaries for sale in most charity shops if you want to start altering one yourself.   This has been a marvelous experience and a way of trying out new techniques and using different mediums.  My first pages were simple stamped and coloured images but now I colour my backgrounds, add texture with stencils and texture pastes, add  embellishments and text, like an art journal the possibilities are endless.  Altering is very popular and you can find altered dictionary sites on the net, and there is even a Facebook page just for altered dictionaries. Many people think books should not be defaced in this manner, whereas others think to add artwork into a book which will ultimately be destroyed is giving the book a new lease of life. What are your thoughts?   Do you throw your hands up in despair at the thought of defacing a book or do you see the possibilities for some great artwork?  We would love to hear from you and get some discussion going.

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