Japan Blue

 This collage was done on a vintage Japanese book cover that I mounted on a wood board. The board has layers of paper from a vintage Japanese book. I also used patterned Japanese papers, an old label and a Japanese envelope with a vintage stamp.

Collage Re-do

Sometimes I do a collage that after a while I look at it and think to myself, "I could use that canvas for something better". You won't see the before, but here is the after. 

I used some vintage Japanese documents, washi paper, and a piece of a damaged print by Keisuke Serizawa (1895-1984). Serizawa was a master of katazome stencil dyeing and in 1956 the Japanese government made him a National Living Treasure. I have several of his limited edition calendars and have posted them previously (although it may be time for another post!)

Collage Tag Challenge

This week for my collage challenge, I did 3 tags all with an Asian theme.  All use a variety of hand made and vintage papers. I dyed the string a muted peach.

Tag 10

Tag 11

Tag 12

New Collages

I've been in a collaging mood so here are two new Japanese inspired collages.

The first one is made from a vintage photo of a Geisha layered on a page from a vintage Japanese book, combined with handmade paper and an engraving of a moth.

Geisha and Moth

The second one is also layered on a page from a vintage Japanese book. In addition, I used  hand made papers, some old labels, and a tea pot letterpressed from my own illustration.

Japanese Tea

New Collage

I purchased some vintage Japanese pharmacy labels (from Etsy seller ApricotCircus) in a lovely shade of lavender and was inspired to do this collage. I also used some pages from an antique Japanese book, a sample of one of my old note cards, handmade papers and vintage stamps. The postage stamps aren't Japanese, but the colors went really well.

Japanese Ephemera Collage