Trust The Collage Magic

My Friends,

please, help me welcome one more new member of my Creative Team - amazingly talented Gayle!

Today, she is sharing step by step her stunning collage journal cover - delicious juicy colors, textures, empowering words and... a jellyfish. ;)

Hello! I am very excited and a little nervous to be here today, sharing my first project with you.

I love to work in art journals and I have several that I use for different purposes.

Although the insides are worked on regularly, I have never done a cover for any of them, ever… till now. Art journal covers are usually heavy duty cardboard, and they make a perfect, sturdy base for using all sorts of mixed media on.

1.Finnabair has a beautiful Vintage Vanity art journal that would be perfect for this project.

Firstly remove the cover from its spiral binding so it’s easier to work on. Cover it with Art Basics Gesso. Apply it thickly with a palette knife and then dry.

2. Next add a thick coat of White Crackle Texture Paste around the edges and in the corners.

This is what it looks like once it has dried……..yummy.

3. Using a stamp from Finnabair’s new Old Town Cling Stamp, I stamped and then embossed with black powder down one side of the journal cover.

4. I love to collage, I find it very ‘therapeutic’ and here I’ve laid out some torn book pages, patterned paper, napkins and magazine image.

Art Basics Soft Matte Gel is perfect for sticking down all these papers.

Collage tip -> apply the Gel with your finger or use a really cheap brush - Gel Medium builds up and might clog up your brushes.

I prefer to use a brush as it gives me more control. I also have lots of small squares of baking paper handy that I work on top of in order to keep my craft mat clean and free of “Gel build up”.

Book pages and patterned paper stuck down. Sometimes when you use lots of layers in your work, it goes through an “ugly” phase, before the really good top layers go on... this is it here. But know that this underlying “groundwork” is important for the overall, finished effect.

5. Now, the best part - adding colour. This time I have put acrylic paint diluted with water into small mister bottles and sprayed it on, but you can use any kind of mists or sprays or Distress Stains to add colour.

Just be aware that whatever colour medium you use, it needs to be “waterproof” so that when you add more wet medium on top of it, it won’t run.

Let the colours pool and run… I love how it soaks into all the little cracks...

6. Now add the paper napkin images using Soft Matte Gel.

7. Add Finnabair’s new clear stamp “Messy" and the beautiful patterned circle stamp from “Trust The Magic” Set.

8. What a beautiful, organic shape is the jellyfish, with a central core and all those amazing flowing tentacles, maybe a little like a human brain. This image was begging me to fill the hollow core, to trust the magic and to embrace the possibilities…

So, using 3D Matte Gel as my adhesive and sprinkling on lots of beautiful Ruby coloured Glass Beads, the core of my jellyfish was filled.

Let nature be your inspiration… it can be like turning on a tap and letting your creativity flow.

8. Beautiful Finnabair metal Mechanicals and Glass Beads all attached using 3D Matte Gel.

The words are from Finnabair’s cling stamp “Trust The Magic”set.

9. Some more surface texture using Modeling Paste through a stencil.

When the Modeling Paste was dry, I used Teal Mica Powder mixed with water in a mister and sprayed over the paste. It creates a beautiful soft shimmer.

10. Next some gold highlights using Sunflower Silks Acrylic Glaze.
Finally, I wanted to continue the flow of red so I added some Carmine India Ink dribbles.

And here are some details of my finished cover:

I hope you like my project and feel tempted to try the magic of collage...
Gayle

Materials used: