52 Weeks of Collage Part 2 Week 34

This week, I raided my stash of Reader's Digest Condensed Book covers for another collage base. I printed one of my linoleum blocks onto a vintage envelope. I used some decorative paper for the heart, textured green paper on the edges and a rubber stamp.

collage week 34

Merry Merry

Holiday Card 2014

Very Pink

My collage for week 49 is a cheery combination of pinks and lavender - perfect for a rainy week. I used an antique postcard from Belgium (post marked 1873), a bit of vintage wallpaper, Japanese decorative papers and rubber stamps.

Collage week 49

Tiny Little Bird

My collage for week 48 is a tiny little bird collage done on a tiny little canvas. The canvas measures 2.5" x 3.5". It's collaged with rubber stamps, a vintage letter, paper from an 19th century French ledger, star tissue paper, and a bit of handmade paper made in India. The bird is a rubber stamp from the set "Birds & Nests" by Cavallini Papers & Co.. They have lots of cool stationery items - check it out here.

Collage week 48

Collages Continue

I've finally been able to get back to my collages and this is week 47. I love doing type collages using my vintage documents so that's what I've used for this collage. It combines mostly French documents, rubber stamps and a vintage postage stamp. The calligraphy on the documents is so beautiful - I wish my handwriting was half as nice.

Collage week 47

Type Collage

I pulled out some of my vintage documents for this week's collage. 19th century French documents, a vintage ticket,  an Indian letter and a British postcard make up the background. A postage stamp, parts of a book plate and a Russian rubber stamp finish it off.

Collage week 43

Week 38

I guess I like to work with red because my collage for this week too uses a lot of red elements combined with cream. Bits of vintage documents, handmade papers and a postage stamp all from my box of scraps and a few rubber stamped images finish off the design. I always forget to mention the size. This collage was done on paper and the image measures 6.5" x 4.5".

Collage Week 38

Collage Cube 2

Way back in April, I signed on to do an art exchange. This blue cube for week 36 is the piece that I gave. I started with a coat of white acrylic and layered on patterned paper saved from the inside of business envelopes. On top went a rubber stamp and paint in blue. More patterned envelope paper,  handmade decorative papers and bits and pieces from old envelopes completed the cube.

Collage week 36

Collage Cube

This week, I did something a little different. A collage in-the-round. I got a wood cube from my local craft store and collaged each side. The theme became vintage type and butterflies and while each side could be it's own collage, they all work together when seen at an angle. I used a variety of vintage type, acrylic paint, rubber stamps, vintage wall paper, music and butterflies. The cube measures 3.5"  and is made from a really light wood (probably Balsa wood). This was so much fun to do (albeit time consuming)  that I will create more of them.

Collage week 35

Type as Pattern

I like using type as pattern in my collages. It doesn't matter to me if the type is in a language I can read because what becomes more important than the words, is the pattern the letters make. My collage for week 33 uses a piece from a 19th century French ledger, a Chinese seal, a Russian stamp, a vintage letter and clothing ad, and a bit of music.

Collage week 33

I almost forgot to post my latest collage! The collage for this week started with a vintage postcard. I added a red rubber stamped wreath (my own design) and layered on Japanese washi papers, a scan of an old book cover, and a vintage bird illustration.

Collage week 29

Collage Update

Since last weekend was a road trip, I didn't get to post my weekly collage, and yesterday I was just lazy. So here are weeks 27 and 28.

The collage for week 27 has a rubber stamp of a fern, a large vintage butterfly, vintage wallpaper, Japanese washi paper and some gold accents.

Collage week 27

The collage for week 28 also has gold accents (Japanese papers and rubber stamps) but I also used vintage music and bits of vintage type. The black and white corners are from an old bookplate.

Collage week 28

Red and Yellow (catch a fellow)

Been sick so the collage for week 24 is a tad late. I actually had it done on time but food poisoning makes one not want to work on the computer. This week's collage theme, if I had to pick something, would be red and yellow. Vintage wallpaper, a variety of tickets and rubber stamps made from erasers. It started to get a little out of hand so I had to just stop, and say "done".

Collage week 24

Patterns in Pink

This week, my collage is a little different. I used a selection of hand made papers from my scrap box and combined them with rubber stamping, pen and ink, and a bird cut from letterpress makeready (makeready is the process that gets an image ready to print. I use paper over and over again to get the color and position of the letterpress plates in the correct spot and the patterns and textures that occur can be very interesting). I'm offering this collage as a print in my Etsy shop.

Collage week 22

Yellow Stamps

I just purchased several packs of vintage stamps. There were over 1000 of them and it took  some time to organize by color. Some of my favorites are the yellow and orange ones. My collage for week 20 is done on a 4" x 4" canvas. The background is made up of vintage papers with a bit of white acrylic paint. On top is a piece of marbled paper, a Russian rubber stamps, and 3 of my new vintage postage stamps - the yellow one is from Germany and the other two are from the Netherlands.

Collage week 20

Tiny Butterfly Collage

For week 19, I've done another tiny collage on canvas. It measures just 2.5" x 3.5".  I started with a dark, chocolate brown acrylic paint, layered 3 different hand made papers and rubber stamped in gold ink. I then added a butterfly, some vintage music and my chop in Japanese characters. You would think a tiny collage would be easier than a large one, but they actually can take longer to get the layout just right.

Collage Week 19

Collage Week 11

Last week , my collage was done on a tiny 2.5" x 3.5" canvas. My collage for week 11 is done on a larger 5" x 7" canvas. It incorporates a page from a 19th century French ledger, vintage music, a piece of hand made paper from India, a vintage postcard, postage stamps, rubber stamps and last but not least, a a vintage Chinese ticket. I like using type as pattern and it doesn't really matter what is written or if it's in a different language.

Collage Week 11

Collage Week 10

My collage for week 10 is done on a tiny canvas. The back ground is acrylic paint with rubber stamped type. I then combined pieces of vintage French chocolate and perfume labels, and the border from an old book plate.

Collage Week 10

Collage Week 9

Here's another collage done on a paint sample chip - this time a single color. I used hand carved rubber stamps in the background in different shades of blue. I then used some scraps of decorative paper, another hand stamped piece cut with a scallop circle die, a vintage ticket and parts of a type sample book.

Collage Week 9

Collage Week 8

Here in sunny California, unlike most of the country, we're having warm spring weather. Of course, this does have it's drawbacks. Namely, drought conditions since it's our rainy season and not a cloud in the sky. This in turn means my yard is dead and brown and not springy green. So in response, my collage for week 8 is what my yard should look like - green and leafy.

I started with a paint chip sample card in 4 shades of green. It's combined with rubber stamps, handmade and decorative papers, some vintage music and a piece of an old bookplate. The cut paper vase is embellished with pen and ink and the paint chip is backed with vintage wallpaper and mounted on a heavy weight textured paper.

Collage Week 8