Check out my altered photos

[redpurse]

This is my first attempt at posting pics so hope I did it right.  These are some altered photos I've been working on for a journal for my sis.  Would love feedback as I just moved and haven't made real, live friends to show stuff to yet... and my husband thinks I'm just "ruining" perfectly good photos

[iciclegirl]

No such thing as ruining! I like them. You look very cozy in the first picture

[redpurse]

That's my sister:)  I actually had my pic up for my avatar but I changed some info on my profile and must have accidentally removed the pic...

[deliriumschild]

Hey, those are really cool. How did you do them?

[redpurse]

Thank you! They're so easy! I found a terrific new magazine at the book store last week called Cloth Paper Scissors... it's their first edition.  They had this great tutorial in there about making altered photos by an artist named Karen Michel.  Google her name and you'll find her website. She also does altered books.

Anywho,  quick explanation...

Take a photograph (haven't tried digitally printed ones yet) and soak it for about 5-10 seconds in water.  Then take sandpaper or steel wool and rub over the image.  You can rub really hard to wipe out background stuff and more lightly just to make a rough surface (I don't usually rub over faces and stuff that I don't want to change at all). 

Then rinse the pic again to get rid of the print emulsion you just sanded off.  Now you can paint it with water colors, watered down acrylics, markers... just about anything while it's wet (sponge off any puddles of water first).  If you want to color it with colored pencils you have to let it dry for a little bit because the wet surface won't take much color from colored pencils.  I used watercolor pencils because after you've colored with them you can add water and they look like watercolors (hence the name right?) 

Lastly you can decopage images and glue beads and ribbon on.  The magazine suggested using decopage glue or white glue over the whole thing when you're done painting so that you won't lose any of your color if it happens to get wet again.

So there's the short version!  You really should check out Karen Michel's website.  She does incredible altered books too.

Hope that helps.  Post some pics if you do it.  I just love my new hobby.  I've been going through tons of old pics that were just piled up.  The best part is that if you hate the way you or someone else looks in a pic you can just rub 'em out!  Hmmm... maybe I need to get out the old bf pics...

[iqjones]

Would love feedback as I just moved and haven't made real, live friends to show stuff to yet... and my husband thinks I'm just "ruining" perfectly good photos

Unh! Move near me so you can teach me! I love the one with the crown:)

[redpurse]

Don't be silly!  They really are easy, you just have to experiment a little.  Everyone has craft paints, water and pictures.  If you don't have sandpaper you can use a bent nail file or even rub the wet pic on the sidwalk outside.  (Thanks about the crown... it's foil) 

[mevy]

The altered photos are great and I wonder what did you use to color them? Keep crafting!

[redpurse]

I used all sorts of things to color them!  The key is to get the picture wet and then sand off the parts of the pic you don't like.  Then let the pic dry and it has a nice rough surface you can alter.  I used acrylics, craft paints, markers, pens, decopaged paper, watercolor pencils... just about anything that seemed to work.  Just experiment... if you're anything like me you have tons of pics around the place just collecting dust anyway.  What's the difference if you ruin a couple:)

[rabid.dustbunny]

booyah! I can't wait to try this one! Seems like it would make a wonderful cover for a photo-album given as a gift. Even on their own, neat Christmas presents(especially on poor years like this one) too!