Try It Out Thursday : More Mixed Media

I thought I'd show you a different way of using lutradur in an altered book; this time, I'm using it to frame an existing image, a postcard I'd made using acrylic wax as a resist, and brusho sprays.   I added the image to the book in the right place, and stuck it down using double sided tape.  I decided to use the same method to stick the lutradur down, as you can see from the picture below of the tape before its backing paper was removed.  As you can see, I added it on three sides, but with hindsight, I should have added it at the top, too, and advise you to do so if you try this (and .  It is, of course, transparent; you won't be able to see it through the lutradur.

Then, I cut a sheet of Lutradur 70 to fit the page, and stuck it down using the double sided tape.  I decided that this would be a 'frame', so I then burned out the centre of the lutradur.  I knew that the glue would slow down the burning, so I could start from the centre, and work out the way; when I got to the point of the glue, I would be able to stop there.  Of course, that only works if you put glue on all four sides, right?  I ended up burning through the lutradur at the top left of the image.  To rectify it, I took a section of the burned out lutradur and covered up the gap... so you can see why I'm advising you do what I say, not exactly what I did!  Of course, the other option would be to treat the lutradur like mount board, and cut out a viewing rectangle slightly smaller than the size of the image, and stick it on in the same way.  That would give you nice clean lines around the edges.

Now for some colour on the 'frame', though it could have been left white.  I did consider silver, but didn't think the image looked particularly wintry, so  I started by painting the lutradur with light gold acrylic paint. 
When that dryed, I rubbed some teal blue Markal stick over it in some places.  I then decided to add some traces of dark brown, just to give a stronger contrast between the image and the edges; this time, though, I added the Markal stick to a piece of scrap lutradur and dabbed it on.  Don't scrub at the lutradur; if you do, you are likely to make the surface fuzzy.  Of course, if that's what you're aiming for, be my guest!

So, the final touch was to run a black watercolour crayon round the edges of the page, just to help give a little definition to it.  And there we are, another completed page in my altered book!

Try It Out Thursday : Mixed Media

We tend to think of spunbonded fabrics in terms of textile art, but of course they have much wider art applications than that.  It has become increasingly popular for textiles to move across into mixed media, blurring the boundaries between the two.  I've been working in mixed media for many years now, and use spunbonded fabrics in a variety of ways to get some very interesting results.

I'm particularly interested in altered books...no, don't shudder!  There is of course an argument that books are sacrosanct, and should never be harmed in any way...but nonetheless, books are pulped or otherwise destroyed every day (apparently you can have too much of a good thing).  The books I alter are books that are being sold off for next to nothing, books that are old, or falling apart or for some reason unwanted and unloved by anyone.  They make a wonderful three dimensional 'canvas' for art works.  I thought we'd have a look at using Lutradur 30 in an altered book.

There is lots of information on the web about how to alter a book;  if you have never tried this branch of art before, you might find this link helpful.  Or just Google 'how to make an altered book' to get lots of instruction!  You join me here part way through altering this book.  I have done most of the preparation, and now I'm making art in the pages.  This page here has been painted with acrylic paint; I want to add a leaf to it (no pun intended..).  So, I begin by spreading mod podge over the painted page.  I'm using Mod Podge here because it was the first glue that came to hand;  PVA is fine, acrylic mediums, book paste is all fine. Don't get hung up about adhesives...if you're stuck, fusible would do just as well.  We don't associate ironing with books, but there's a first time for everything!

After spreading the adhesive evenly across the page, I added a large, brown skeleton leaf.

I then added more adhesive to cover the leaf.  Make sure there is an even covering; this will both give some added protection to the leaf and hold the lutradur in place.

Finally, I cut a piece of Lutradur 30 to the size of the page, and stuck it down.  So far so good. 

I now want to think about colouring the lutradur...but we'll talk about that on Tuesday.  Of course, the techniques I'm using here could be applied to either good quality paper (watercolour paper is ideal) or to board, as well as to books.