Reading Glasses

Finally, to finish out the week of collages from the past, here is a collage that got its start because I wanted to use an old, broken pair of reading glasses!

The background is my favorite tissue paper over a book cover, with layers of paint and glazes. I wanted writing on it, so I found some Italian on the internet, and handwrote it. I hope it's saying something nice, because I have no idea what it means!

The glasses are glued down with E6000, a very strong adhesive which is good for things that won't lie flat. The flower is one left over from my daughter's wedding reception, with a couple of beads in the middle.

The curly wire pieces started out very differently from what you see here. I had in mind to use a piece of wire, curled, with beads strung along the length. It turned out awful! Well, I hated to throw it out, so I got some wire snips and began cutting it apart. I liked the way the cut apart pieces looked, so I flattened them out somewhat and glued them down.

This is a brighter piece than I usually do, but that was driven by the reading glasses. I didn't think something subdued would work too well.

Happy creating!
Immi

Collages

The inspiration for this collage came from the Jan/Feb 2006 issue of Somerset Studio (one of my favorite mixed media magazines). One of the articles featured Lynne Perrella's Paper Doll Assemblages. While mine is not as elaborate as hers (I don't have the patience for too much fussiness), I did enjoy trying something new.

The base is - you guessed it - an old book cover. For the background, I used some white mulberry paper (wonderful stuff!!) which I'd painted with pastel shades of watered down acrylic. I followed the instructions in the magazine to create the doll body. Then the fun part! I pulled out stuff from my stash to create her clothes, and found a head I liked from an old book illustrating clothing styles throughout the centuries.

The rest of the ephemera is old-looking stuff I had in my collection that I thought fit with the theme. I glued everything down, and that was that!

This collage was inspired by a book I have titled Paper Quilting. The background covering the base is tissue paper, painted with glazes once the glue had dried. The leaf shape I cut out of paper and hand stitched to the layer just underneath. Additional hand stitching is done on subsequent layers as well.

I added some old brown trim on the left, and a key sticker at the bottom. Very easy!

Happy creating,

Immi

Amour

It's Monday morning, and I'm home, fighting the first cold of the season. I hope it's also the last! I thought I'd post photos this week of collages I've done in the past. I'm so lucky to have a great supply of images to use for these, along with lots of old book covers, which are almost always the base I use.

For this collage, I glued tissue paper over a painted board book. When it was dry, I stamped various images and the word "love" on top in black ink. I printed a reproduction of an old poster (check out Dover books for weekly free downloads of great stuff) on a transparency, and glued that down with Diamond Glaze. The embellishments include a black ribbon along the left side, a scattering of beads and a few artificial flowers (all glued with Diamond Glaze.

I enjoy collages; it's so much fun to take unrelated objects and bring them together in an interesting composition. It's also fun to find ways to make use of things I already have; I didn't buy anything new for this project. Plus, I like the fact that you really can't make a mistake, since this is all throwaway stuff anyway!

If you're interested in trying your hand at something like this, start some files with illustrations from old books, or check out sites like Dover where you can download free (and copyright free)images. Also collect odds & ends - stuff that might otherwise be thrown away.

Happy creating!
Immi

More ATCs

These are for a swap with the theme "Layers, Texture, Glazes". Each participant has the option to send one or two sets of three cards. I chose to do two sets.



The first photo has a piece of watercolor paper as the base. I had fun painting layers of acrylic paint mixed with glazing medium (awesome stuff!). When that was dry, I found a poem in Italian on the internet, and hand wrote it diagonally across the page in black Sharpie. Next I adhered a piece of tissue paper from an old pattern (the sewing kind) on top. I added a little more layering of glazes.

I cut the background down to size and added a little bit of ink stamped through some sequin waste in one corner. The strip of paper across the middle is from a neat envelope I got in the mail once, made from some kind of textured plastic. I painted over it with some Lumiere acrylic paint and cut strips with deckle edge scissors. The flower is one from a package I won in a drawing (thanks, Tim!), with a little acrylic bead called a dew drop on top.



The next photo is a piece of chipboard I used as the base for the other set of cards. Do you remember the post with the alphabet stickers on chipboard? I did one that really didn't thrill me at all. The stickers were very small (what a pain!!!), and a weird striped design (they were given to me; I certainly didn't buy them!). I thought I try using them up this way, but it was so blah and boring! But then I thought it might work to provide some texture.

I tore strips of masking tape and placed them randomly over the whole thing. Next came a layer of red glaze; pretty intense color, but it already looked more interesting than before. I thought I'd do a layer of yellow glaze next, but then I decided to try scraping the paint over rather than smoothly painting it. I loved the way it looked!

After cutting it down to size, I adhered a small piece of gauze for additional texture and interest. Then I dug out some odds and end, and glued those down. I had lots of fun experimenting with these!

Later,

Immi