The Process of Altering

Today I'll explain a little bit about what I do to create alters.  To help explain, I'll be showing pictures I took when creating a life counter with the card Ambassador Laquatus.

When making an alter, there are a series of steps that I like to follow.

1. First, and probably most important, I decide on the layers.  Starting on a project without a clear plan is a bad idea.
2. Second, each of the layers is cut.
3. Once the cuts are made, the edges have to be inked.  Leaving the edges plain white looks very bad most of the time.  Coloring the edges also helps to hide some mistakes that may have been made.
4. The final step is to put all the pieces together.  I use craft glue for this step, although I've seen several people use sticky foam.  This step takes the longest, and is by far the least exciting.

In this case, I started with this card.

While this artwork doesn't lend itself to 3D altering as, say, something with more scenery would, I did realize I could do a lot of detailed work on the body.  I considered cutting the throne as another layer, but decided against it.  The finished layers are in the next picture.

I chose to do as much detail on the body as possible, so using the leftovers from the layers that were cut, I cut out the arms, head, and some of the clothing.

Those pieces will fit onto the layer shown beside them.

Now, since this was going to be made into a life counter as well, I needed to cut out the text boxes to make room for the beads.  After the edges were all inked and everything was ready, it was time to glue it all together.  Partway through, the beads went in.

Finally, the top layer was added and it was done!

3D alters make wonderful life counters.  They make even better EDH commanders with life counters!

Shannon Ketcham