The Altered Object: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration by Terry Taylor is a mixed-media art book that is half inspiration, half technique. It has inspiring artist profiles, beautiful photos of mixed media artwork, and tips and techniques for altering objects.

Altering objects to create art is definitely in style these days - you can make very unique, interesting, sculptural pieces, and because found objects play such a prominent role, it’s a great way to recycle things that otherwise might be thrown out. I enjoy using small found objects in jewelry designs, so it was fun to read a book about creating larger scale found object art.

I love artist profiles, so that was my favorite part of the book. Each profile included pictures of some of the artist’s work, which I think is just as important as the text - you really get a feel for the artist’s style along with a bit of their personal story.

The technique section was also done well - and, fun for me, considering my new obsession with mica because a lot of these artists use mica in their work. If you want very specific project instructions, be warned - that isn’t exactly what this book has. Instead, what it has are good instructions on the techniques used in each sample project, so that you can find your own objects, images, and text and make something that is unique to you. I really prefer this type of instruction anyway, because it’s rare that I happen to have everything required for a specific project - but I often take a technique and adapt it to what I do have, making it my own and integrating it into my personal style.

I would say that this book isn’t for a complete beginner, since there isn’t a “basics” section, but if you have a little bit of experience working with some of the materials, you can probably learn some new techniques or see new ways of using techniques you already know. I enjoyed reading it, and got some ideas to try to use in jewelry projects.