Collage is the foundation technique used in all of my 3D handmade gifts the term Collage, as so many other art terms, is French, meaning that which is pasted together .From the French word coller, to glue. A work made by gluing materials such as paper scraps, photographs, and cloth on to a flat surface.An artwork comprising of portions of various existing images arranged so that they join, overlap or blend to create a new image

This is an example of the collage and assemblage techniques as I use them in in my range of handmade gifts Each Pages sentimental gift book design starts life as a flat digital template or collage a collection of images and words which are collected from various sources ,some I create myself ,others are donated by artists who just want to see their digital artistry take on a more real life form by being incorporated into one of my three dimensional handmade gifts ,others just arrive in the email from unknown sources.

There are no less than 9 design layers that are assembled together to create this particular sentimental gifts design

Related Techniques

Decoupage

The art produced by decorating a surface with cutouts and then coating it with several layers of varnish or lacquer

Assemblage

The three-dimensional or sculptural

equivalent of College.

Montage, which usually consists only of pictures or photos

Deshirage, when tearing rather than cutting is used.

All of the decorative techniques are displayed in this example from one of my handmade gifts designs

In the near future when I feel that I have adequately mastered the skills of paper piercing and hand embossed paper I will be including these decorative techniques into my line of handmade sentimental gifts.

In many of Pages sentimental gifts designs I also use beads and sometimes rhinestones and various other embellishments to increase the ornate appearance and 3D aspect of Pages gift books

Some of my " sentimental gifts " appear to be from a time gone by, while other of the Pages handmade gifts have a more country air about them . These effects are generally created by artificially aging or antiquing the paper usually by means of the application of used tea bags to paper , damp tea bags dabbed over the papers surface.

While the paper is still a little damp for an extra aging effect ,I screw the paper into a very loose ball to give it a wrinkled effect then very carefullyt stretch it back and let it dry. If it is too wrinkled to pass through a printer I gently iron it a little between sheets if damp paper or inside a folded pillow case. I use this method often during the initial processes of creating several of my sentimental gifts designs ,it works wonderfully and you don't have to buy it. if you would like to try it yourself Don't dip the paper in the cold tea mixture just dab one side only with a tea bag ( put the tea bag in hot water) and keep layering until you get the look you want. to add age spots used coffee grounds can be dabbed on randomly, left to dry then brushed away.This technique was used on the handmade gifts book seen to the left,this design is called garden magic in the antiqued version you see here it looks very different from its digital template.

Elmer's glue and most other white glues will give you the same effect produced by the more expensive commercial products .Start with painting a base coat in your desired color on to your own handmade gifts or craft project , allowing it to dry. Then you paint on the glue, making sure to cover it adequately where ever you want the crackles to show and allow that to dry. The next step is the most important, when you paint on the top coat of paint (the color that will crackle, and show the base color) you want to make sure that you only brush over the area once and in one direction only, if you paint back and forth the paint will not crackle. As the top coat dries you will start to see the crackle effect. When the top coat is dry be sure to put on a protective glaze to protect the crackle finish. A thinner coat of glue will give you a fine porcelain look while thicker coats will give you the distressed look seen here

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about the decorative techniques employed in Pages sentimental gifts these are just some of the decorative processes used in their creation Pages from the Heart are singular one of a kind handmade often sentimentalgifts a great gift for any occasion. To view more of Pages sentimental gifts books visit pages sentimental gifts 3D gallery or pages theme gallery where the designs have been conveniently placed into recipient catagories such as sentimental gifts for mothers or gifts for grads.

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