Layers Upon Layers: Mixed Media Art

May 27th, 2008

Mixing digital and physical art

Technique Tuesday!
Materials and Tools:
Decorative papers
Heavy piece of watercolor paper for foundation
Exacto knife, straight edge, and cutting board
Matte medium
Foam brush
Waxed paper

Create a geometric background by carefully cutting papers and gluing into place on a foundation piece of watercolor paper.
Cover the piece with waxed paper and weight it until completely dry.

Scan your piece and make multiple copies […]

By Cyndi -- 12 comments

May 19th, 2008

Digital effects posts

Make Art Monday!

I have posted so many different digital effects tips and tutorials (including those that mix physical and digital work) that I thought I’d better compile them all for future reference! Anytime you want to see all the updates to this post, you can find the link in the right-hand sidebar under “Pages”. […]

By Cyndi -- 19 comments

May 13th, 2008

How to make a torn paper landscape collage

Technique Tuesday!
These simple collages make excellent backgrounds for either more physical collage work or for digital work on a scanned copy.
Materials & Tools:
Large sheet of heavy watercolor paper
Selection of colored and decorative papers, stock paper weight
Matte medium
Foam brush
Waxed paper
Exacto knife
Clear plastic measure
Cutting board

Tear stock papers into uneven strips and arrange in an overlapped pattern.
When the […]

By Cyndi -- 12 comments

May 8th, 2008

Ceiling rafter storage

Art Attack Thursday! 
What a great DIY project! If you’ve got exposed beams in your house, how about putting the space to good use and building in some bookshelves? Thanks to Apartment Therapy (more specifically, thanks to Dad!) for coming up with and sharing this great idea. Apartment Therapy’s tagline is “Saving the world, one […]

By Cyndi -- 4 comments

April 23rd, 2008

Collage techniques

We’ve explored lots and lots of fun collage techniques here on Layers Upon Layers. I figured it was past time to compile some of the methods. This post doesn’t include all fo the techniques like image transfers and making background papers…those posts have been compiled elsewhere!  You can always find an up-to-date list […]

By Cyndi -- 0 comments

April 22nd, 2008

Making an assemblage with resin wells

Technique Tuesday!
It took several days to make Now, Not Later. First, there were a couple of steps that needed time to dry overnight before moving on, and second, it just took me awhile to figure out what all I wanted to include in the assemblage. I tend to pull out all my possible materials that […]

By Cyndi -- 12 comments

April 16th, 2008

Image transfer methods

We’ve gone over a LOT of different methods for doing image transfers here on Layers Upon Layers, and I thought it might be handy to compile a list all in one place!  You can always find an up-to-date list in the Pages section in the right-hand sidebar.
Polymer medium transfer film
Paper image transfers - plain and […]

By Cyndi -- 0 comments

April 15th, 2008

Replace your straps

Isn’t this a great idea? Thanks to Lenore of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, we’ll all be out cutting the seatbelts out of unlocked cars. Just kidding! You can get them from junkyards legally…

Even better, Lenore shows us how to make the swap. Sweet!
Tags: Fabric & Fiber, handbags, Mixed Media, tutorials, Wearable […]

By Cyndi -- 0 comments

April 9th, 2008

Creating backgrounds for artwork

Here are some of my favorite methods for creating background papers to use in mixed media art, both physical and digital!  You can find an up-to-date list of these techniques anytime by clicking on the link for Creating Backgrounds for Artwork in the sidebar under “Pages”.
A photographic collage
Multi-stamped background papers
Freezer paper background papers
Frottage background papers
Paper […]

By Cyndi -- 4 comments

April 1st, 2008

Making a paper weaving

Technique Tuesday!

This is one of those really fun little projects that you can do in practically no time, or that you can spend a lot of effort and thought on to make it *really* spectacular! I opted for easy and fun ;-)

Slice up strips of paper, both solids and patterns (or with words like mine), […]

By Cyndi -- 11 comments