Layers Upon Layers: Mixed Media Art

Making a packing tape transfer collage

by Cyndi on September 25th, 2007

Welcome to Technique Tuesday!

1. Paint a small canvas with the acrylic color of your choice.
   Cut or tear out pictures from a glossy magazine or catalog. Apply packing tape and burnish well. (more details on making packing tape transfers can be found at this tutorial.



2. Cut the transfers to the sizes you need and arrange them on your canvas. Soak in water and remove the paper backing.



3. Moisten the canvas with a thin layer of matte medium and apply the transfers. Top them with another thin layer of matte medium to cut the shine. The shine you see in this photo is from my flash…the surface has a satin look, not glossy.



4. Without waiting for the top layer of medium to dry, paint around and in between your images to soften the lines. Add any colors that you want.



5. Make a tape transfer of a phrase that you want to add to your collage. The nice thing about this style of transfer is that you don’t have to reverse the printing before making it. I applied mine to an ochre piece of cardstock, topped it with matte medium to cut the shine, and layered it on top of black cardstock.
6. My final step, which is totally optional, was to pour self-leveling gel overtop of the entire piece in order to seal in the images a bit more securely. Tape can be somewhat unpredicable over the years, and sealing it into acrylic keeps it from drying out and curling, stiffening, or changing colors.

Materials and Tools:
images
scissors
packing tape or contact paper
water
canvas
foam brushes
acrylics
matte medium
liquid or self-leveling medium (optional)
cardstock

Related Stories

Collage techniques
Collage techniques
Collage Techniques
Contact paper transfers
Consider the lilies

POSTED IN: Collage, Mixed Media, Paper, Technique Tuesday, Tutorials & Techniques