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Making a packing tape transfer collage


Materials and Tools:

images
scissors
packing tape or contact paper
water
canvas
foam brushes
acrylics
matte medium
liquid or self-leveling medium (optional)
cardstock



1. Paint a small canvas with the acrylic color of your choice.
Cut or tear out pictures from a glossy magazine or catalog. Apply packing tape and burnish well. (more details on making packing tape transfers can be found at this tutorial.


2. Cut the transfers to the sizes you need and arrange them on your canvas. Soak in water and remove the paper backing.


3. Moisten the canvas with a thin layer of matte medium and apply the transfers. Top them with another thin layer of matte medium to cut the shine. The shine you see in this photo is from my flash…the surface has a satin look, not glossy.


4. Without waiting for the top layer of medium to dry, paint around and in between your images to soften the lines. Add any colors that you want.


5. Make a tape transfer of a phrase that you want to add to your collage. The nice thing about this style of transfer is that you don’t have to reverse the printing before making it. I applied mine to an ochre piece of cardstock, topped it with matte medium to cut the shine, and layered it on top of black cardstock.

6. My final step, which is totally optional, was to pour self-leveling gel overtop of the entire piece in order to seal in the images a bit more securely. Tape can be somewhat unpredicable over the years, and sealing it into acrylic keeps it from drying out and curling, stiffening, or changing colors.

Copyright 2007 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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Comments

Great tutorial! I'm featuring it on my blog posting on an ART Journal Prompt a Day, and link back to this page. This is a new endeavor for me so I'm hoping some people join me. If not, I'll get to try lots og interesting new techniques like htis one! thanks again.