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Altered Curiosities: Assemblage Techniques and Projects |  | Author: Jane Ann Wynn
Publisher: North Light Books
Category: Book
List Price: $22.99
Buy New: $7.99
as of 7/30/2010 02:18 CDT details
You Save: $15.00 (65%)
New (24) Used (22) from $4.10
Seller: isabelv
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 36519
Media: Paperback
Pages: 128
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 8.7 x 0.4
ISBN: 1581809727
Dewey Decimal Number: 702.812
EAN: 9781581809725
ASIN: 1581809727
Publication Date: September 20, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Featuring techniques for assemblage and surface alterations never before seen in a mixed-media art book (kit-bashing, wiring, egg-shell texture, casting and more), Altered Curiosities offers a new twist on a hot topic. A fresh variety of projects (such as hair barrettes, jewelry, a drawer pull and a bird feeder) prove that artistic assemblage and collage styles can be expressed beyond wall art. Readers will learn a new storytelling approach to their mixed-media art. Altered Curiosities goes beyond construction techniques to help readers discover how to create a personal narrative with objects and visually tell a story, not just infuse a piece with meaning or symbolism. Two very important things make this book stand out from the crowd of other collage, mixed-media and assemblage titles: the projects (full of oddities and the unexpected) and the techniques--several of which have never been published before. A common element of Jane Wynn's style is to find an object, break it and put it together again (sometimes more than once), and she loves using anthropomorphic associations to tell stories in her projects. Step by step, readers will learn her unique method and her sought-after techniques. Along with surface alterations (faux-aging, patinas and the use of unusual household products) Altered Curiosities teaches metal etching with rubber stamps, simple wiring to create dramatic lighting, instruction for altering simple toy figures (making two-headed animals, for instance) and more.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
 A very funky book October 11, 2007
Crafty Dogma (Sydney)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
Just when I thought I had seen all there was to assemblage out comes this book. Jane Ann Wynn has been extremely generous in sharing her techniques with us and also in encouraging us to use methods such as soldering that we might be too scared to use otherwise. One of the things I really like about the book is that the art work that is presented here is not cute and whimsical but groovy, edgy and even disturbing with a good dose of humour thrown in. The bird-feeder is really something else and the jewellery is very cool. Highly recommended.
Wonderful! September 29, 2007
K. Fitzsimmons (Redding, CA USA)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
As an artist who loves to experiment with any form of altered art this book hits the spot. I was immediately attracted to this book because of the awesome cover then I opened it and started to read. I instantly got goose bumps and an overwhelming urge to CREATE SOMETHING! The photos are beautiful and leave you wanting more, more, more and Jane Wynn gives step by step instructions that make these works of art doable. She invites you into her world with wonderful stories that inspire and motivate you. If you are in a rut or just need that little bit of something to jumpstart your creativity this book if for you. This book is a treasure and should be a must for anyone interested in altered art.
Take Heed, but Read January 9, 2008
Elizabeth Rasche Gonzalez (Chicago)
19 out of 22 found this review helpful
I want to thank all the reviewers who loved and extolled this obviously groundbreaking book. I also want to thank Christopher Palmer for his comments on possible technical errors in the text or the photograph cut-lines. If you proceed to the "Comments" following his Amazon.com review, you will note that the review engendered some controversy and ill feeling, which I would like to address here.
I know that authors (and I include myself, although to date I have only edited for publication -- not yet authored and published -- a book-length manuscript) can be exquisitely sensitive to criticism. I understand exactly where Jane A. Wynn is coming from in her response to Christopher Palmer's review. That said, Mr. Palmer's review alerted me to the possible necessity of filtering some specific instructions in the book through the perspective of an instructor who works with the relevant tools and who finds himself having to correct some errors that his students have picked up from other sources. His review did NOT, however, discourage me from investigating this obviously attractive and exciting book about altered imagery, which appears to include information not otherwise available on assemblage (a particular new interest of mine).
It may also be useful to note that sometimes a book is only as good as its editors. As a long-time publishing professional myself, I know this only too well -- most recently from sweating out a friend's publishers'-proofs-reviewing process with her after she was subjected to the last-minute dictates of an (impetuous?) editor under the influence of a zealous and persuasive in-house proofreader who had several last-minute suggestions for "improving" the book. Working at great speed under deadline pressure, my friend had to dig up and stick in several additional features, including a requested list of references and resources, with no time to be thorough or even impeccably accurate, let alone to annotate properly. Meanwhile, the crucial photos accompanying my friend's instructional manual may have received insufficient publisher-attention; at any rate, the author was distressed by some technical problems she noted in the shots that finally went to press. Unfortunately many readers may not be aware of this kind of behind-the-scenes "collaborative" process, which may detract from the writer's original vision or even compromise the final product. It is not necessarily reasonable or correct to lay the blame for any book-related issue entirely at the feet of the person whose name appears on its cover.
Regrettably, Chris Palmer's "neophyte" readers may not all be as sophisticated as we might hope: (1) able to take his specific critique in stride and protect their fingers accordingly if necessary (or at least careful to purchase the appropriate tool after researching any seeming ambiguity at, say, the most reputable Internet DIY sites), while (2) remaining eager to explore this obviously appealing and inspiring volume with its wealth of ideas and its illustrations of stunning works of art. Mr. Palmer could have provided a bit more well-deserved praise amidst the warnings he enumerated for the unwary. And I do empathize totally with Ms. Wynn, who must have been appalled and wounded by his words; God forbid I should have to confront such dire and scary corrections to anything I might personally write or publish. Still, I can see why he wrote what he wrote, and I expect his words will do more good than harm overall. I hope and trust his review will not harm sales of what has been a wonderful, even life-changing book to so many readers.
Ideally, all the rave reviews of this book will lead to brisk sales, which in turn will lead to a second edition. And ideally, the next edition will correct or clarify any problem-points relating to proper technical procedure or personal safety -- making an already-wonderful book even more valuable to accomplished, tool-saavy artists and vulnerable neophytes alike.
A Must Have for Your Collection!! October 15, 2007
Susan Tuttle (Maine)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I highly recommend this mixed media art book to add to your collection of treasured books! Fascinating, imaginative, soulful, artist Jane Wynn so generously shares with us many of her unique projects and clever techniques. Her prose will delight, warm your heart, and make you stop and think. This book is a wonderful celebration!!
Altered Curiosities Abounds in Inspiration! November 9, 2007
P. McVay (beautiful Eastern Washington state)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Altered Curiosities is a book filled with inspiration for the creative alterer. The author really does tell you HOW to take one ordinary thing and alter it so that you can combine it with other items to become a work of art. It isn't so much a how to make the finished object book as it is a how to take original things and burn them, cut them, drill them, bend them until you can reassemble them into an artwork. It has me thinking in new ways about junk that is in my junk drawer. Perhaps it isn't junk...maybe it is art! I love the book!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
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