Accidental Collage Texture

I usually keep my process very simple when I create collages. I basically use scissors and a glue stick. My little trick to avoid wrinkles is to place each collage between pieces of wax paper and under a stack of books for a week.

This week I tried a new technique that uses gel medium and an iron to fuse the papers together. The process is explained in detail on this website.

This is how I did it:

1. Use gloss (not matte) gel medium to coat the front of your base paper (either card stock or watercolor paper).

2. Choose glossy magazine images and coat both sides with gel medium. Allow to dry thoroughly!

3. Cut and arrange your images on your base paper. When you are happy with the arrangement cover with a piece of freezer paper (shiny side down) and iron on hot. Make sure the steam is off.

4. Voila! You have a fused collage!

I am an impatient artist so I didn't let the gel medium dry thoroughly. I rushed through it and ended up with a crackled distressed look -- The ink on the magazine ironed off on to my freezer paper. Luckily I was pleased and intrigued with the results. Once I uploaded this photo Google Auto Awesome made it even more awesome by giving it the snow globe treatment. Mistakes are so darn fun sometimes!

The collage on the left also buckled because I was impatient but as often happens with "mistakes" ...  I got a good idea. I'm going to transfer this image onto silk to emphasize the watery ephemeral feeling.