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How to Alter a Domino with a Vintage Image

An Altered Art Project

Dominoes and other game pieces are readily available at the second hand stores. People have been altering them for many years now. On this page, I'll give some basic instructions for altering a domino using a vintage image.

Tools and Supplies

You will need a domino, sandpaper, small ruler, marker, decoupage or white glue, and a vintage image. My image came from a book of photos of children by Dover Publications. You can find a wide selection of books containing royalty free images from Dover. I cropped and sized my photo to fit my domino.

You will also need a pair of scissors, a paintbrush for the glue, and a pin. Paper towels also come in handy when you need to wipe glue off your hands before touching your image.

How to Add a Vintage Image to a Domino

Place your ruler across the width on the domino where you want the hole. Take out your marker and put a dot at the center of the width. Make sure the ruler is perpendicular to the domino. The domino I'm using is 1" wide.

The size of hole you decide to drill depends on the size of wire or cord you'll be putting through the hole. I'm drilling a 1 mm hole in my domino.

I took my domino out to the workshop and drilled the hole using my mark as a guide. The domino above is made of resin, so I use a regular wood drill bit. My tool of choice is a jeweler's drill, but any lightweight drill will work fine.

After the hole is drilled, sand the side of the domino where you'll be gluing the image. Sanding will get rid of any uneven spots on the domino. Also, I think the sanding helps the image stick better.

You'll notice that the domino has rounded corners. Photos and other images often have pointed corners. Place the domino on top of the image and trace around with my marker.

I cut inside the marker lines. I don't want the image to have any edges hanging over the sides. If the edges hang over the side, they can catch and the image will peel up off the domino.

After cutting out the image, place the image over the domino, turn it over and make sure none of the image is hanging over the sides. If the image is too large for the domino, trim it down until the image no longer hangs over the side.

Put a generous amount of glue on the domino. Using a generous amount of glue will keep the image floating on top of the surface, so you can easily position the image properly. Remember though, the more glue you put on top, the more bubbles you'll have to smooth out before the image dries. NOTE: Before placing the image onto the domino, make sure you have the top of the image at the top of the domino, i.e. near the hole.

Make sure the image is centered on the domino properly. You will need to smooth out the image and push all the bubbles out. Wait for the glue to dry.

You'll notice that the image covered up the hole you drilled in the domino. Take a pin and gently poke a small hole just to the front side of the domino.

Turn the domino over and push the pin through the hole to the back of the domino. This will push the excess paper through the hole, so it doesn't bunch up on the top of the image.

VIOLA! You have an image on the domino. Next you want to embellish a little and seal the image.

Before I sealed my domino, I embossed the side of the domino with silver embossing powder. I added 3 little snowflakes at the top using the same embossing powder.

You can seal the domino with decoupage glue. It's difficult to get a smooth surface with glue. I used a clear matte acrylic sealer.

Above is a picture of my domino after I added a little wire wrapped loop through the hole. This domino would make a great addition to an altered tag or card. You can also add a swirly hook and use it as a Christmas ornament.

Digitally Altering your Photo

I like to use photo shop to digitally alter the photo I'm using prior to printing. Below are two examples.

For the photo above I added wings and a halo. I also cropped the photo differently for this domino because I didn't want the hole to go through her face.

I decided to change the colors on this one, so I could use gold instead of silver embossing. The Dover images were all black and white (gray scale). I changed from gray scale to duotone using a gold and a brown as my two colors. I embossed this domino with gold and then tarnished it with sandpaper. After tarnishing I sealed the domino with a lacquer.

I did add some hand made swirly hooks to both of the ornaments. I added bits of a Christmas garland to the second domino ornament.