Collage Kits

Don't you hate it when you get to a class and realize that you don't have enough stuff to choose from or what you brought is not what you really want to do? Well, I am happy to provide an option for people to supplement their stash, I have made these fun kits for my Mixed Media Copper Book retreat in August.

I have made six different theme packs containing 3 pages of vintage black and white images, two sheets of tissue weight art paper, a printed color paper image and several color image transfers printed on Lesley Rileys's TAP transfer artist paper.

Wanna get away?

and spend a summer weekend in the woodlands of Wisconsin making copper and canvas mixed media books with me? I have been invited to share my process for making these books at Whispering Woodlands in Verona, WI August 8-9, just outside of Madison.

Besides having a fun, relaxing weekend doing collage, painting, working with fabric transfers and learning to emboss and color metal, you will also get a Creative Metal Tool kit courtesy of Walnut Hollow.

So come spend the weekend sharing stories, laughs, ideas and nurture your creative spirit, I would love to see you there.

Birds & Bees copper book

This is the finished copper book that I worked on embossing during Open Studios.
I decided to make a change to the books by backing the copper covers with painted grungeboard for extra stability. I really like the addition, giving the books a sturdy and clean finish.

Little Canvas Books

I began by tearing canvas into 4" x 8 " pieces and painting both sides with gesso. I think if I were to start again I would tear them into 4 " x 8 1/2" pieces to allow for the bulk of paint and collage. When the pages were folded in half the book got fairly fat and the pages were a little short in width.
I painted the pages with fluid acrylic washes.
These are the semi finished pages for two books, the blue on the left will be Birds & Bees the yellow on the right is Flora.
There are images that are drawn, painted and transfered onto tea bags, pieces of rice paper, printed tissue paper, wrapping paper, pieces of painted fabric, scraps from other projects, transfers on fabric, painted canvas and a sewing pattern. All adhered with gel medium and machine stitching.

I folded the canvas pages in half and clamped them to help set the fold.
I tore 4" x 2" strips of canvas to use on the binding. Since the canvas was not painted I did some zigzag stitching around the edge, then positioned it over the center of the stack of pages, taping it in place to secure it for stitching.
I stitched through the four layers on my Bernina sewing machine (my Janome would not sew through the bulk).
I clamped the stitched book again to help it hold the fold.
Walnut Hollow sells a very strong double sided tape to adhere the metal to other surfaces. I found that it will even stick to canvas. I attached the tape and burnished it well to the canvas and then peeled away the paper backing to stick it to the metal, burnishing it to make a good bond with the metal.

I finished the binding by adding some cloth book binding tape.
My next post will show the whole book page by page.