Altered Photos and Asian Dog Postcards

This is my yellow pile of Happy New year postcards for a special swap I joined:

I took some photos before I sent them out. I had lots of fun making these.

How I made my dog postcards

  1. Cut out postcard sized card-stock
  2. Covered the m with Chinese news prints
  3. Painted white gesso over the torn prints
  4. Used a yellow wrapping paper with little silvery stains as the edge on one side
  5. Painted and stained the whole surface with brownish watercolours
  6. Printed the Chinese phrase Congratulations for getting rich (which is what you answer when somebody says Happy New year to you) on see through-paper; vellum, from the computer.
  7. Stamped all of the cards with my name Chinese Name Stamp that I bought in Taiwan
  8. Added the dog and the vellum print with a glue stick
  9. Taped the photos with small pieces of yellow tape
Altered photo of Asian street dog (Copyright Hanna Andersson)

How I altered the dog photos

The photographs are all taken by me on my trip to Asia 2003. It was a dog theme project I wanted to do at the time (all of these dogs run around with no owners, but of course some of them had owners no doubt). I made a collage with the digital photos in Photoshop when I came back home, and then had that collage developed on photo paper. I think I sent some cards to friends and family, but some were left in the drawer so for this swap I dug them out. I decided to altered the developed photo copies:

  1. Held them a couple of second under running water in the kitchen
  2. Cut out the dogs from my collage photo
  3. Colored the photos with acrylic paint in different shade
  4. Altered them with sand paper in different grains (so fun!)Sealed the surface with acrylic gel!
  5. To alter photos is great fun. I want to try this in my art journal soon. I hope everyone likes the cards.

Altered Photo Postcards

Here they are individually. Click on the one you’d like to have a closer look at.

Thanks for taking a look.

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How to alter photos and create altered photo postcards - a fun tutorial by iHanna (Copyright Hanna Andersson)

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25 Responses

  1. They’re simply beautiful Hanna! Thanks so much for sharing about how you put them all together. I’m very intrigued by the altering process.

  2. Each one is so beautiful! Your photos of the dogs, the way you altered them and mounted them on collages. The ten people who received them are truly lucky!

    When I try to make collages like these they always curl and bubble. Do you have any tricks to help everything stay flat in the end?

  3. They are just lovely. Its great that you shared how you made them and I am totally intrigued by how you altered the photos. Can this be done with ordinary photos? I need to investigate…

  4. WOW! Those are great! I wish I had gotten one. I’m glad you liked the one I sent your way ;)

  5. Whomever gets them is “one lucky dog”
    that is some old american phrase…
    thanks for sharing your process-
    they are GREAT! and I love the fact that you took the photos yourself in Asia. This was the exact project for them, eh?

  6. I really love them and appreciate the tutorial. I’m going to try some cards of my own. Thanks!

  7. I think these are just beautiful, Hanna! I linked to this post in my post about the Project Spectrum Postcard Swap – I think people can be inspired by your lovely creations.

  8. Your postcards are wonderful!! I’m so impressed! And thanks for sharing all the creative process!!

  9. Your art is always a true bliss to the eye – you are such a talented girl! These cards are yet another proof of your skills. Thank you for sharing your wonderful work. I always feel inspired and happy after a visit in here :o)

  10. These are so beautiful! I love the colour and the texture and that the dogs come from your travels. I love how they are each unique but still look like an overall set. Absolutely wonderful!

  11. hi there! i am from the philippines. can you send me the postcard pls. i am very curious. i will also give you postcards from my place in exchange. hope we can swap.

    dave

    here’s my add to reply.

    dave_barbarian18@yahoo.com

  12. Omigoodness – I just LOVE these! What a sumptuous shade of yellow.