2 Projects: Collage Scrap Exchange & Envelope Project

It's been several months since I've blogged. Seems like a lot has happened since the last posting plus I have several projects on the go. Here are two in particular that I wanted to mention and share with you. 

Project #1 - a Collage Scrap Exchange that has been organized by a woman in the U.S. and with more than 1000 people registered. The organizer selects a partner for each registered person (we had a choice of a domestic or international) and put us in touch. We then assembled and mailed to our partner a package of papers, ephemera, fabrics, embellishments etc. that the partner uses to create a collage piece. 

The theme is "New Landscapes"  - how each of us interprets this theme is completely up to the creator. It can be anywhere on the scale from realistic to very abstract.

We can also incorporate our own materials into the piece, and use our own techniques to collage, sew, glue, paint, etc.. The package I received from my partner includes a variety of buttons, pictures of people, a large poster (one side with a print, the other with writing), paper doily, peel-off shelf paper (various colours), computer paper, overhead acetates with drawings on them, and more. 

I've started laying out my piece - we have until February 15th to finish it. I've arranged and re-arranged and re-arranged, and have decided that simple is best. Still lots to do to embellish this but it includes a paper doily, 2 acetates and a picture. Ribbons, thread, buttons and so much more to come still. I'll post in progress and finished pictures in the coming weeks.  

In progress - still lots to embellish - more pics to follow in the coming weeks

This is the vellum envelope that kept wrinkling. It's been rejected in favour of a paper envelope.

Project #2 is an Envelope project with the Ottawa Valley Chapter of the Canadian Bookbinders & Book Artists Guild. There are 20 of us participating - we each are making 21 envelopes 5-1/2" x 5-1/2", decorated in any style we wish, plus contents which could be a postcard, poem, letter, folded piece, as long as it is flat and fits in the envelope. We will exchange our envelopes at our meeting in February. 

Once all 21 different envelopes are received, the next step is to bind them together into a book format. Any kind of binding can be used. All the books will be unveiled at our May 13th meeting. 

Already I've run into challenges with this project. I started out using vellum envelopes that one of the other members had made available. That seemed easier than having to make 21 envelopes. However when I started to collage, there was far too much wrinkling (see picture to the right). Even after flattening the envelopes under a stack of books, the wrinkles came back right away and simply were not pretty. Hence I decided to make 21 envelopes. That part is now done and was easier and faster than I thought it would be.

The 2nd challenge I ran into was that the collage materials I used (decorative paper napkins) stuck to the parchment paper I had laid the items on to dry. Usually parchment or wax paper does not stick to collage items, but it seems that napkins like to stick to wax paper. I then tried laying them on styrofoam meat trays to dry. That seems to be working much better, as long as I let one side dry before collage the other.

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3 of the finished envelopes

I have now completed about 1/3 of the envelopes. Good thing I have about 6 weeks left to finish the rest. Lots of time before the exchange and before the binding process takes place. 

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