   All images 8" x 8" painted papers on watercolor paper 12" x 12" with yarn and machine stitching In going through my studio journal for June, I came across these questions/ideas:
* Is there a way to use yarn and machine stitching together to kind of "batten down" the collage pieces? (I like what the machine stitching does to organize everything and make it look neat and clean.) * Amish "Chinese coins" idea. " Is there a modern day equivalent of the embroidery sampler concept? (And do women need such a thing anymore, anywhere?) * Embroidered circles, intertwined yarb/stitching. * Finished collages need adjustments just like a painting: adjust lights and darks, chroma, point of interest, balance from all sides, hierarchy, direction, etc. * Soft cover binding versus hard cover binding; coptic stitch difficulties. * Soft paper versus hard paper for coptic bound notebooks. _____________________________________________________________________________ I would say that if you have any interest in keeping track of what you actually do in your studio, journaling would be a good idea. I am sure people do this online or with their phones but I am way old school about this. I have been keeping a sketch book /journal since I started making art. I can't think of a single thing during this whole time that has served me better in terms of keeping track of the trajectory of my art making experience. I can go back (and have done so) to re visit ideas and experiments, to see what influences came to me, and to remember highs and lows that really did help me grow. (The only thing that might be as important is to revisit old art work.) But for sheer helpfulness that is immediate and direct, a journal just can't be beat. And at the end of the day, long after I have tossed work, I still have my sketchbooks to show what I have been thinking and doing. The one really important idea that came through very loudly this past month is what the machine stitching does for me. The collage itself is not glued in any way. The glue makes the papers buckle which I find tedious and unacceptable. You can flatten things between two heavy objects but, see above-tedious! I use tape on the back of the papers to put the pieces together (no buckling) and to affix the finished piece to the WC paper and board. Tape however, is not the same as glue in terms of being able to organize all of those loose pieces. Glue flattens out paper onto a substrate. Tape really doesn't do that in the same way. In any case, the machine stitching comes to the rescue. It really tamps the final collage down in all of the right spots just like the glue would have done, only without the nonsensical machinations needed to keep the paper flat and wrinkle free. Incidentally, all of these collages that I have shown this year use what I call a dry process. Glue is a wet process as are things like using matte medium, glue sticks and varnish. When I made collages with strictly solid color paper or printed paper (all varnished with sealant) and glued them to a painted and sealed matboard, I considered that to be a wet process. Any time moisture is introduced to a collage, I consider that to be a wet process. In using these mono printed papers, I switched over to a dry process to avoid buckling. (Buckling really occurs because there is a disparity in the match up between the paper and the surface it is being glued to. The disparity comes in terms of moisture differences or tension differences or something along those lines.) The papers are still varnished for protection from UV rays but they go together with tape which is dry. I guess I have strong feelings about the glue situation. I have spent a very long time testing out what works for me and figuring out what I find acceptable in terms of results. Despite being a bit sloppy in areas of my life, I really appreciate neatness, cleanliness and precision in artmaking. I fall very short of my ideals but am generally satisfied with how things look. I suppose you have to pick and choose where you are going to put your efforts. Alright! Let me know about these new pieces via email: [email protected] And if you use a journal, I want to know about that too! Thanks, Libby |
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