‘Being creative – means trusting your own purpose and having an attitude of unbending intent in your daily thoughts and activities.’
I have been busy the last little while trying some new techniques to incorporate into my collage art. One of the techniques that really intrigued me was making little fun foam forms covering them paper mache toilet paper using diluted soft medium gel with water. I learned this technique from Pam Carriker’s book ‘Art at the Speed of Life’. It was really fun to do, I designed my little dresses and cut them out in sticky back fun foam and then attached some detail to the top of the forms attaching them to another larger piece of foam to keep them from moving around. I then took sheets of toilet paper and separated them so they were single-ply placing each sheet individually on the forms spraying them with the diluted gel medium to adhere together. Approximately 8 – 10 layers – as I added each layer I gently pushed out bubbles forming the paper around the details and shapes of the dresses. You have to let them dry for at least 24 hours and then it easily lifts of the form – gently and carefully tear off any excess along the edges.
Paper mache and collage come together
I had painted and collaged a 8 x 10 flat canvas that I had purchased at the Dollar Store and when I finally got it to the point where I liked how it looked I added a little clothes line to attach the dresses to. Before attaching the dresses I used some distress inks to add a little more detail and depth to the paper mache dresses and attached with these little clothes pegs I found at the Dollar Store. The Dollar Store is a great place to find items to use in your collages! I also glued the dresses to the canvas with some gel medium and I am going to attach a saying of some sort to it to finish it off – there is a temporary one in place in the pic in the post. I am very happy with how it all turned out. The border outline I did with black paint and tar gel to just give it a bit more pop.
So this was an experiment that turned out the way I hoped it would and I am excited to try it again very soon.
Stay tuned for more on my collage adventures shortly.
Til next time happy creating!
Michelle
creativityblossomsafter60 