Week 14

Symbolic Collage on Wood

BY COREY MOORTGAT | from The Art of Personal Imagery

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This week's project allows you to use acrylic paint in various ways by adding washes to mute papers, providing detail and changing the hues of elements. While you play with these new paint possibilities, explore the idea of collaging onto three dimensional surfaces.

Materials

illustration block of wood 2″ × 4″ × 13″ (5cm × 10cm × 33cm)

illustration strips of different patterned scrapbook papers or vintage wallpapers

illustration decoupage medium

illustration paintbrush

illustration acrylic paint

illustration scissors

illustration glue stick

illustration tissue paper

illustration collage images and words

illustration Golden Artist Colors glaze (Yellow Ochre)

illustration wire cutters

illustration thin craft wire

illustration heavy-duty all-purpose cement adhesive

illustration 6″ (15cm) length of ball chain

illustration beeswax

illustration 2 ceramic doll heads

illustration hammer

illustration nails

illustration 14″ (36cm) length of ribbon

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1. Adhere papers to the wood

Cut strips of decorative papers and adhere them to the front, sides, top and bottom of the block using decoupage medium applied directly to the wood.

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2. Apply paint to mute the colors

Brush a translucent or watered-down off-white acrylic paint over the patterned paper on all six sides. Allow a few minutes of drying time.

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3. Adhere collage elements

Cut out the collage image of your choice and use a glue stick to position it on the front of the board. Here, I used a photo of a little girl. I then cut out a tissue-paper dress, which I layered on top of her image with a glue stick. I glued the word “apprehensive” on her dress to complete the main subject of my collage.

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4. Layer the glaze and paint

Paint random stripes with the Yellow Ochre glaze to balance the color of the tissue-paper dress. To finish, splatter white acrylic paint over the surface of the collage.

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5. Apply the wire and chain

Use a wire cutter to cut pieces of wire and begin to form the shape of a birdcage around the girl. Use a heavy-duty cement to adhere the pieces of metal to the collage surface. Lay a length of ball chain from the top of the cage to the top of the block and cement that into place as well.

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6. Paint the wire

Using a small detail paintbrush and blue acrylic paint, very carefully paint all the metal wires and chains. (Another option would be to buy wire in the color you want so you can skip this step.)

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7. Attach the ceramic figures

Stand the block of wood up on its end so the front of the collage is facing you. Melt some beeswax in a pot on the stove, in a mini pot for heating potpourri or in a specially designed melting product. Dip the bottom of each ceramic head into the wax, and adhere them to the top edge of the wood block. Then use a paintbrush to drip melted wax around the heads, letting the excess drip down the front and sides of the collage.

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8. Attach a ribbon

Hammer a nail into each side of the board about ¼″ (6mm) from the top. Tie an end of the ribbon onto each nail to create a hanger for the piece.

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