art experiments (thanks, Heratyck)
I just tried the transfer technique she posted--worked best on laser printed sample, worst on one of my "white clothing" magazine images. Other two magazine images in between. I need to see what happens if I varnish over the tape--once it's dry.
Also tried gluing one of those light clothing images with text on the back page to a piece of black paper and a different one, I painted black on the back side. My concern here, especially for the former, is having the paper buckle when I glue it again onto the collage. But I think both will work. So....next time I need to avoid background text I have a plan--yeah!
Seems like with each collage, I learn something. I've gone through a whole bunch of glue experiments, finally deciding that a slight dilution of Golden soft gel matte works best (somewhat messy to use, though). YES paste also works. One problem with both is that if I don't fully coat the paper, it will buckle when I varnish the finished collage.
Finishing--matte varnish makes colors more subdued. Satin varnish is pretty good. If I don't varnish, the concern is 2-fold--a) the paper might unstick and b) the paper is sensitive to UV radiation. But if I varnish, or use some sort of matte gel, the paper can buckle. On the other hand, the brush strokes made are kind of cool.
Have also learned---if I varnish some of the flimsy paper before cutting, I have less trouble with disintegration around the edges, which was a real problem in the first landscape collage where I used bead images from a jewelry making catalog. Worked much better when I tried this for my latest collage, where I used the same material.
Another "now I know" screw-up. If I'm going to use 3D paint, don't frame with the glass right next to the collage--the paint sticks to the glass.
Still to learn--how to prevent paper from buckling (I probably still need to work on the glue issue).
How to mat my work--I'm too cheap to buy mats so I need to learn how to cut them myself....but haven't been motivated yet.
How to get good images of my collages. To date, I've been bringing them to work and scanning them in--but this is suboptimal, in that collages bigger than 11x17 don't fit the scanner. (Actually, that might not be true if I use a reduction during the scan--I'll have to check that. For printing 11" is definitely the limit.
It's all kind of fun, though. I'm hoping that eventually I'll have confidence in the technique and that I'll get more imaginative in the results.
Also tried gluing one of those light clothing images with text on the back page to a piece of black paper and a different one, I painted black on the back side. My concern here, especially for the former, is having the paper buckle when I glue it again onto the collage. But I think both will work. So....next time I need to avoid background text I have a plan--yeah!
Seems like with each collage, I learn something. I've gone through a whole bunch of glue experiments, finally deciding that a slight dilution of Golden soft gel matte works best (somewhat messy to use, though). YES paste also works. One problem with both is that if I don't fully coat the paper, it will buckle when I varnish the finished collage.
Finishing--matte varnish makes colors more subdued. Satin varnish is pretty good. If I don't varnish, the concern is 2-fold--a) the paper might unstick and b) the paper is sensitive to UV radiation. But if I varnish, or use some sort of matte gel, the paper can buckle. On the other hand, the brush strokes made are kind of cool.
Have also learned---if I varnish some of the flimsy paper before cutting, I have less trouble with disintegration around the edges, which was a real problem in the first landscape collage where I used bead images from a jewelry making catalog. Worked much better when I tried this for my latest collage, where I used the same material.
Another "now I know" screw-up. If I'm going to use 3D paint, don't frame with the glass right next to the collage--the paint sticks to the glass.
Still to learn--how to prevent paper from buckling (I probably still need to work on the glue issue).
How to mat my work--I'm too cheap to buy mats so I need to learn how to cut them myself....but haven't been motivated yet.
How to get good images of my collages. To date, I've been bringing them to work and scanning them in--but this is suboptimal, in that collages bigger than 11x17 don't fit the scanner. (Actually, that might not be true if I use a reduction during the scan--I'll have to check that. For printing 11" is definitely the limit.
It's all kind of fun, though. I'm hoping that eventually I'll have confidence in the technique and that I'll get more imaginative in the results.