Monday, July 16, 2007

Collage

Photo Transfer comprises a great part of this project. Some images are from historic journals, and some of my artwork copied to the printer then used as a transfer. Transferring photos is tricky and patient work. Be prepared for the image not to do what you wanted. I am getting a lot of practice (which I wanted). I need as much practice in the photography department. This isn't completed. Some of the imagery tells the tale of the disappearance of the great Bison from the Plains. Indians used Buffalo's for food, clothing, and they made their teepee's from the hide...many other uses from the buffalo kept the Indians supplied. The train and railroad brought Easterners to the Plains and a great waste of a Prime commodity. This image doesn't show the details. For instance the "eyes" of the Buffalo show the bones of their over hunted carcass. And images of their uses are given.
The plan is to use rusty barb wire for the "trail". I am building a shadowbox frame. I didn't have any acrylics (but this has been remedied) so for this composition I used oils and they are slow to dry!

2 comments:

Susan Lenz said...

Hi Mary!
Thank you for the email response to my Black God Series. I very much liked reading over your blog and seeing you work. The transfers are great. Your approach is amazing.

I was wondering, however, why you called the "frame" for a piece a "shadowbox" because it didn't look like it had (or even needed) glass. The image looked like it was mounted in a "floater". Technically, a "shadowbox" is a deep frame that includes glazing (glass or plexi) that is held away from the back...it creates a space in which the artwork is presented without coming into contact with the glazing. A "floater" is a frame without a lip (rabbet). The moulding is cut to fit around a stretched canvas or article being framed and never overlaps the edges. Obviously, then there is no glass.

Anyway, about Sheer Heaven. It is a fantastic paper that I read about on the Altered Book Yahoo Group several months ago. I went to the link for the supplier and read more. Finally, I just had to try it. I love it for digital image transfers. There's all sorts of other ways to use Sheer Heaven...but I haven't tried any of them.

Instead, transferring my digital images is the only thing I do. It is absolutely SIMPLE! After printing the machine (using your inkjet print) onto the Sheer Heaven, spritz it with a wash of rubbing alcohol, place face down on the desired surface and burnish. It took about three times to "master" this...the proper amount of rubbing alcohol and pressure. Afterwards, one is a real "pro".

For the "Black God" series, I printed the same image four times on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of Sheer Heaven. I cut them apart. One went into the book "Black God". One went into another book called "Strangers in a Strange Land"...also about West Africa. One went onto the pages I removed from "Black God". I haven't used the fourth image yet. The series I completed were on the removed pages. I still have to work on the two altered books! The actual transfer process takes about 30 seconds! http://www.dotcalmvillage.net/cre8it/sheerheaven.html
This is where I purchased the Sheer Heaven!
Again, thanks for your comments!
Susan

Judy said...

Wow, this piece just blew me away. It is soooooo powerful, its awesome. it jumps right out at you, I love it!!!
I like the idea of the rusty trail too. Thanks for the information as well, I didn't know that.