Chicken Collage

Here's a chicken collage that was fun to make. Instead of painting a used book cover for the base, I covered this one with paper. I pulled out odds and end of "stuff" to put this together. The tag is a shipping tag, stamped with a crackle stamp. The chicken image is from a calendar, with a scrap of paper behind it. It's mounted on a piece of cardboard, with the top layer removed so you can see the ridges. A label from something is at the top. Behind the tag is a small piece of cheesecloth. This is a great material to use to add texture - works for collages, cards, scrapbooks, etc.

The three pieces of ephemera at the top of the collage are from a collection I've got. I had the great opportunity several years ago to work at a high school library that underwent a massive weeding of a very out-of-date collection. I received permission to take anything not earmarked for teacher use in the classroom. I spent hours ripping apart books to save images that interested me. I didn't spend a lot of time analyzing what I took; whatever caught my eye was fair game. I ended up with files full of great stuff for collages, as well as a large supply of book covers.
I don't remember where the irregularly shaped gold piece came from. I think it's hot glue with embossing powder over it, but I don't remember for sure. The red "t" is something I picked up somewhere and added to my "junk". I love to look through this junk (some of it received in trades) when I'm doing a collage. Sometimes I'll find just the right thing to finish a project.

Finally, some multicolored thread is strung along the right edge. There are some beautiful variegated threads in the fabric store; you should check them out.

Keep experimenting!

Immi