Project

Step by Step How I did it - products used from the Bmuse site are linked.

All three of the above Artist Trading Cards were done using images from the Muses of Antiquity Vellum Collage Sheet. If you haven't worked with vellum and transparency images you might want to read the "Art Tip" below for recommendations on glues and sealing.

The first card was done first by covering an ATC blank with a piece of floral wrapping paper. Note: When you want to cover an entire ATC with some sort of background paper it is best to cut your background paper a bit oversized, cover the entire ATC card with glue, press down on the back of the background firmly wait a couple minutes for the glue to set and trim off excess - perfect alignment every time. There is a more detailed description of this on the Collage Backgrounds Technique Page. I then tore strips from a piece of sheet music and a piece of French text and glued them on the top and bottom of the card. Next I cut and glued down the vellum image. Using green metallic paint and a small brush I outlined the image and the outside edge of the card to give both a "frame." I then took gold and green metallic paint mixed with some gloss medium to make both translucent and very lightly smeared it with my finger in random areas of the card to make the image appear more blended together.

The second card started with a background of handmade paper that had a gold stamped design, using the same process described above I covered the entire ATC blank with the paper. I centered the image of the woman and glued that down..I wanted a more unusual frame on this one so rather than use paint I used some nubby linen yarn. This is a bit tricky the first time but really quite easy once you get the hang of it. Use a very small paint brush and put a thin line of thick Tacky glue where you want to edge with a fiber...this glue works best because it dries quickly and the fiber doesn't move..press the fiber down on the glue line. Since this glue does dry very quickly I would suggest only doing an inch or two of the glue at a time attaching the fiber and then painting on more glue.

The background for the Third card is from the Antique Musical Instruments Black on Tan Collage Sheet as is the image of the small lute. Over the background I first cut a strip from some scarpbook paper and glued it down the center trimming off the excess length and height, then added the vellum collage sheet image. I liked how most of the edges of the vellum image blended with the background "except" for the top it was dark and had a sharp "cut and paste" look I wasn't after. So using the technique in the second card I cut a piece of coordinating gold metallic bumpy yarn and glued it in such a way to create a soft random half-frame to contrast with the card's straight alignment of images. To blend the images further I used gold metallic paint mixed with gloss medium and smooshed (technical term:) it about with my finger.

Hope some of this is useful...remember experiment and HAVE FUN!!

ArT TiP

Gluing and sealing vellum and transparency images.

You may have already noticed that the craft glue sticks that work great for paper collage images just don't cut it for the vellum and transparency film images. They stay stuck for a bit then begin to lift. The problem is that they are not paper, both vellum and film are plastic products and don't absorb enough of the glue to make an adhesion. If you own a Xyron machine this works great...for those (like me) who are a bit overly thrifty with their Xyron film or don't own one I have found that the Zig brand blue glue pens work great...and you can find these glue pens in nearly every large craft store in the scrapbooking section. So, now you have it all glued down just the way you want it. What about sealing the entire collage? I use a gloss medium (you can find these mediums in the fine art section of any craft store) to seal all my paper collage projects. This serves several purposes..it ensures that your collage won't start to come apart later..i.e. after you have mailed it off to the swap hostess:) and it protects your collage from dust and dirt. Once it has dried you can wipe off any dust or "cat hair" with a soft cloth. If you use Golden's UV medium it will even protect it from sun fading. This is also something that too much of is NOT a good thing...your paper pieces will begin to wrinkle and curl if you apply too much. I suggest pouring a small amount of your medium out on to a piece of wax paper or a page torn from a glossy magazine and applying it sparingly using your finger tip...I have tried it with a brush but I always get too much I get much better control using my finger...you only need a very thin coat this way it dries quickly and you will get very little wrinkling.

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