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!)

Japanese Type Tags

Two more tags using vintage Japanese documents and handmade papers.

Tag 55

Tag 56

Japanese Inspired Tags

Oh my gosh, I'm so behind on my 100 tags. I only have 3 and a half months and still 50 tags to do! But I have been busy collaging this week. I've completed 4, Asian inspired tags.

Tag 51 uses a vintage Japanese illustration and document with hand made papers.

Tag 51

Tag 52 uses an image of a Geisha from a vintage postcard, a piece of a vintage document, and hand made papers.

Tag 52

Tag 53 uses vintage documents and a letterpress printed tea pot.

Tag 53

Tag 54 uses vintage documents, hand made papers and a letterpress printed fan.

Tag 54

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 Collage

I took a selection of my Asian papers - Chinese and Japanese and combined them with a vintage ticket from China and I stamped some Chinese characters on top. It's done on a heavy, handmade French paper.

52 Weeks of Collage Part 2 Week 49

I really enjoy doing the 3-D collages on a cube - there's something about turning the cube and having the design flow from side to side. It definitely takes more planning. This week I used hand made Japanese papers, Japanese calligraphy and images of a geisha and a butterfly.

Collage week 49 - Sides 1 and 2

Collage week 49 - Sides 2 and 3

Collage week 49 - Sides 3 and 4

Collage week 49 - Sides 4 and 1

Collage week 49 - Top

Collage cube week 49

52 Weeks of Collage Part 2 Week 7

Totally forgot to post last night... My collage for week 7 is done on a wood panel. I used vintage Japanese paper as a base and layered on a letterpressed fan of my own design, hand made washi papers and an image of a geisha from an old postcard. I scanned and re-printed the geisha image onto rice paper so the calligraphy layer shows through for a nice background pattern.

Collage week 7

52 Weeks of Collage Part 2 Week 5

This week, I did another collage on a wood panel. This one features two butterflies, Japanese calligraphy and handmade papers, and some vintage music.

Collage Week 5

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

Autumn Colors

Even though it was really hot today in southern California, my collage for week 42 uses some autumn colors of browns and gold. The Japanese calligraphy, from an old envelope, was put on decorative paper using my nifty new transfer paper. It was combined with various Japanese washi papers and a print from a Chinese Chop (seal). A chop, or seal, was used in Asia (and still is) to sign documents and art. They are usually carved in stone and sometimes in ivory or bamboo. I have one with my name carved in bamboo but the one on my collage is from a stone chop purchased in New York's Chinatown. I have no idea what it says but it looks really cool.

Collage week 42