by Elvira Sanchez Kisser, Woodburn Public Library
This summer I showed the Woodburn teens an interesting technique used by many artists to incorporate collages in their paintings or drawings and that photographers have used to mount their images on different materials like glass or wood called an image lift/transfer using acrylic medium. The image and ink are suspended in the acrylic medium enabling the removal of the paper backing and transferring of the image to other material backings.
In our maker session we created luminescent glass jars with collage images printed from the laser printer or cut out from magazines. The process took the full two hours we had planned which allowed them to spend some time on the computers printing out images they wanted to use.
Here are the steps and materials needed for this project.
Materials:
- Preserving jars (usually easily found on sale during the summer months)
- Acrylic gel medium (matte or glossy, I used matte for this project)
- synthetic bristle brushes
- Hair Dryer
- Tray, plate, or shallow tub for soaking the paper
- Scissors
- Magazine pictures or printed images from laser or inkjet printer
Distribute small amount in paper cups of acrylic medium, brushes and shallow dishes of water to each teen. Begin by brushing a thin coat of acrylic medium evenly across the image in one direction, then again in the other direction. The image should be coated with two coats then blow dried on the cool setting until the image is dry. Repeat the coating and drying before moving onto soaking the paper.
Make sure to trim the image to the exact size wanted on the glass before soaking the image.
After trimming lay photos image side down in shallow trays of warm water. The warm water will help soften the paper and removal will be easier. Soak the image between one and five minutes before rubbing the paper backing.
Once the image has soaked, leave print in the water and start gently rubbing the paper side removing the backing. This will take time and patience. The gel film that remains will be fragile and if torn can be pieced back together when placing on the glass jar.
Once all the paper backing has been removed, brush a thin coat of matte medium on the glass jar. Carefully remove film from water and blot excess water off. Then place image side up on the coated area of the glass jar. At this time you can carefully piece tears together and move until in the correct spot.
Continue to add more images to the jar until it is filled and they can also place images on top of each other in a collage form. Once completed, a thin coat of matte medium can be varnished on top of the images, this is optional. Then let the jars dry.
The completed jars can be used as a lamp with candles or with a LED light. Variations on the candle holder include punching holes in the lid to create a starlight pattern, the center can be removed for the flame, or adding a thin bendable wire wrapped around the jar lip create a handle on top for hanging.
OYAN - Oregon Young Adult Network 