RUBBINGS:
This is one of several methods of arriving at rubbings that can be used in collage.
The materials needed include: Textured objects such as leaves, water soluble block printing ink, brayer, glass, marble or flat pan to use as a paint palette, plenty of newspaper and a variety of papers to receive the rubbing such as mulberry paper or tracing paper.
Option one: Place paper on top of the leaves (or other object) and using the inked brayer go over the paper. Rubbings are usually done this way and you can use pencils, craypas or other media than ink.
Option two: Place the leaves on top of the receiving paper and roll over the leaves with the inked brayer. Doing this gives you a ‘ghost image’ or outline of the object plus an inked background.
Option three: Ink one side of the leaf. Place inked side down on top of the receiving paper and roll with inked brayer. This way gives you the detail of the leaf as well as an outline of the leaf, and an inked background.
Option four: Ink both sides of the leaf. Sandwich the leaf between two sheets of paper and roll with a clean brayer. Using this method you get a beautiful detailed image of the leaf but with a plain background.
LASER PHOTO COPY TRANSFERS:
The idea here is to transfer a laser printed image to another paper (substrate) by gluing the image and substrate right sides together and then, when dry, rubbing the paper off the image with a wet finger.
Materials needed include: Laser printed photo copy, gloss or mat polymer medium (this is your glue), brush or sponge brush, water, heat sealing iron (only if you are using gloss medium and adhering the image to the substrate with the iron when dry)
1. Apply mat or gloss medium to the image to be transferred (right side only) and on the substrate where it is to be placed.
2. Place the wet image face down on the wet substrate (medium to medium) and let dry completely. Make sure the image is totally adhered and hand press or roll it with a clean brayer to remove any air bubbles. (tip: when wet the glued image will feel cool, and when dry will feel room temp.
3. Once dry, gently rub the paper off the image with your wet finger.
4. Once you have removed most of the paper let it dry. If hazy you may want to wet rub it a little more. Finish with a coat of mat or gloss medium which will bring up the color even if it is a little hazy.
5. If you are using gloss medium you may let the medium dry on both image and substrate and then iron the image to the substrate when dry. Proceed with rubbing the paper off. This method I learned from Jonothan Talbot. (his work may be seen at www.talbot1.com.
6. Note well: DO NOT get the medium on the backside of the image as this will prevent you from being able to remove the paper from the image.
CRUMPLED PAPER PATTERNS:
Materials needed include: Brown wrapping paper or bags (can use white), white glue such as Elmer’s or Tacky glue, water, liquid acrylic paints in whatever colors you want and including metallic paints, brush or sponge brush.
Crumple the paper and immerse it in a mixture of glue and water, (1 oz glue to 1 cup warm water thoroughly mixed.) After about 3 minutes remove the paper from the water and squeeze out the excess water. Lay paper flat and pour some of one color on the paper, pushing it around with the brush. While still wet, add a second color and/or the metallic paint over all or part of the paper. Let it dry. Because the paper has been crumpled and squeezed, some of the paint will accumulate in the cracks and give a wonderful texture. I have one piece that I painted with gloss medium after it was dry and it looks like leather. Can be very exciting. Now it is ready for collage.
DOORS:
Using the thicker pages (2 pages glued together) I cut a double door into one. Then a print of Hokusai’s “Great Wave” was glued on the page behind, positioned so it would be seen when the door was opened. Then that print page was glued to the door page (except for the door area of course). Two pronged paper fasteners became the door knobs, although you can use buttons or a host of other objects instead.
BOXES:
6 pages were glued together (if you do not glue 2 pages together to make thicker pages as I did, you may need more pages to make your box…the number required is just enough to make the box as deep as you need. 4 rectangles were cut out of these glued pages, using an Exacto knife. Actually I had measured and cut the rectangles before gluing since the cutting would be easier. An additional uncut page was then glued to the back to make the floor of the box. The box was ready for the sample knots I wanted to display. Actually a better way of making the box is to clamp the needed pages together and paint the edges with polymer medium which will glue them together without having to glue to entire surface of the pages. This is better for the deeper boxes especially.
POCKETS:
Pockets can be made in several ways. Fold back the page from the top outer corner to the spine, forming a diagonal edge. This page may be decorated and then the edges glued to the page behind, only on the side and bottom, leaving the diagonal edge as the opening of the pocket. The side and bottom edges can also be sewn or you can use ribbon or cord woven through punched holes. Ribbon punches are available at the hobby store, or just use the old fashioned round variety.
A second way to make pockets is to tear 1, 2 or 3 pages horizontally across to the spine at different heights, the shortest being the first. Tear away the top/remainder of each pocket page. Decorate the pages or edges. The side and bottom edge of the 1st page is then glued to the 2nd, and the 2nd to the third, and so on until all pockets are glued to the page behind. The same multi-pocket concept can be done tearing the pages vertically.
WINDOWS:
To make windows figure on using at least 3 pages. The window shape, your choice, is cut in the 1st 2 pages. A clear or transluscent paper, vellum or plastic is sandwiched between the 1st and 2nd pages, which are then glued together. The 3rd page will have the subject the window9s0 look upon.
SANDING AND STITCHING:
Words or images can be sanded off the pages of a book depending on the strength and quality of the paper, using a medium grade sandpaper. Color or images of your choice can then be added. Paper, fabric, or objects can be hand stitched to the pages using thread, cord or ribbon appropriate to the book. I used an overcast stitch around the pages that had been glued together to form my box that held the knot samples. Because it was a thick section, I used an awl to make the holes before stitching, a large eyed needle and heavy twine. The pockets at the end of my book which held the instructions for all the techniques, were single pieces of paper tacked to the double sheet behind and sewn with the twine using a straight stitch.
CONTACT PAPER TRANSFERS:
Use clear contact paper. Use an image printed on typing paper (doesnt have to be cotton paper). Magazine images do not work well unless copied, as they are a shiny coated paper and printed on both sides. Cut a piece of contact paper about the size of the image to be transferred. Remove the release paper from the sticky side and lay the contact paper on the table sticky side up. Next, lay the image right side onto the sticky contact paper. (You put image to contact paper rather than contact paper to image unless you have a way of keeping the image paper from moving as you apply the contact paper). Rub with a bone folder to remove any air bubbles. Dampen the paper, and with a wet finger rub the paper away leaving the image only stuck to the clear contact paper. You can put a second piece of contact paper on the back but this isn’t necessary for the altered books since you will glue or rivet the image to a book page. It would be necessary if you were making very tiny images to be put in slide sleeves which could be used in a slide projector for a slide show.
ALCOHOL REDUCTION:
This is a method I read about being used on clay board. I used the pages I tore out of the altered books I was making. Starting with the lightest color and working to the darkest,paint layers of liquid acrylic color on the papers. Use up to 8 layers of color. Too many layers may make it impossible to ever get down to layer 1. A layer does not have to be completely dry to apply the next color. When finished you drop a few drops of rubbing alcohol on the paper and using a paper towel, cotton ball or cloth rub away the layers. Rub away until you are happy with what remains. Your paper when dry has a lovely smooth patina with some of each color coming through. It is ready for collages.
