Series 5 / Class 3 ~ Borders (adding them to backgrounds)

In this class, we'll work on putting borders on a 2-page spread in our journals. The first step is to cover two facing pages with some kind of matching background. You can do this using any one of the steps we talked in our last class, which were:

1. Overlapping your writing in four different directions till the text is unreadable, but creates an interesting pattern, which you can then paint over,
2. Cutting up old text pages into evenly sized squares and then gluing them on a journal page with the direction of the text lines changing from horizontal to vertical so they make a basketweave pattern. You can soften the effect by painting over the pages either with gesso or lightly diluted acrylic paints,
3. Scraping acrylic paints across your pages,
4. Stenciling with acrylic paint, either on a scraped background or on the blank white pages,
5. Dividing up the space on the two pages, either randomly or with a grid, and then painting or collaging each square on the pages so they're different.

Now that you've got your background down, you can start looking for images, patterns and textures in magazines to cut up into squares and strips to make your page borders. Here are some tips for selecting images:

• Cut from a wide range of magazines. Notice which ones have bright, crisp images and which ones have dull, blurry ones. Magazines pay photographers well to get just the “right shot”. Let them work for you, too.
• Look for colour, texture and shape. You want: diversity, energy and contrast. Think about colour scheme later.
• Flip the page upside down so you aren’t distracted by WHAT it is. It’ll help you see the colour and texture better.
• Any image (or text) that’s in black and white can be coloured later to suit. Watch for interesting textures and patterns instead.
• Look for reflections (shiny objects), backgrounds models are standing against, clothes or objects of unusual materials (net, lace, leather, feathers, glass).
• Cut thinner strips and smaller squares than you think you’ll need (1-2” at most), it’ll help you “see” the colour, not the object. Unless you *really* like the object. But you should be prepared to cut it up later id you need smaller pieces.
• You’ll probably only ever use 30% of what you cut out, so cut out LOTS.
• Resist the urge to clip whole words of text. If you like the font and colour, cut it  into smaller sections of 1-3 letters. This works especially well for headlines and brand names. Cut between straight-sided letters to keep your pieces squarish.
• When you start to work on the collage/border, if you can’t remember why you thought the image you have in your hand was interesting enough to cut out, then FLIP IT OVER. If it still doesn’t grab you, then TOSS IT.
• If you see an interesting face, cut it out, but close crop it so the thing that made you notice it stands out. 

I wanted to give you an example of how interesting texture and pattern can be in your collage work. here's a collage I made on the spur of the moment at an art retreat only using the security patterns inside regular business envelopes. Note that ALL of the depth and contrast comes from the variety of pattern and texture:

Now, using the images we've gathered so far, we'll start to create borders on our pages. Let's start with a little bit of a glossary: 

• “Spread” ~ two pages facing each other in a journal
• “Anchor” ~ a slightly larger, darker image in a corner
• “Bridge” ~ thinner strips that connect anchors together
• “Close Crop” ~ to trim off all or most of an image’s background

And away we go ... 

• Start with an ANCHOR piece in each corner. It can be larger and/or darker than the others (but doesn’t need to be).
• Along the long edges, divide the space up with other slightly smaller anchors and images, but not right in the middle. Try 1/3 of the way along the edge for variety.
• Build connecting bridges of thinner strips and images between the anchors.
• Don’t be afraid to cover up part of a long, skinny bridge to make it more interesting or to add colour.
• Balance the colour/texture from one side of the spread to the other. An easy way to do this is to take one of your larger images and cut it in half. Try to offset these images from each other. For example: if it’s on the top right edge of one page, put it’s mate on the bottom left on the facing page.
• If you can’t remember why you thought the image in your hand was interesting enough to cut out, then FLIP IT OVER. If it still doesn’t grab you, then TOSS IT BACK (or OUT) and move on.
• Having trouble committing to gluing something down? Tack it in place with a piece of washi tape till you’re sure.
• It’s okay to let part of your image hang off the edge of the page as you work and trim it off later. Keep your focus on how the images on the page are interacting with each other and your background.
• And lastly: Don’t forget that most magazines have LOTS of plain black and white text which makes great bridges. I’d advise gluing the text in UPSIDE DOWN so you aren’t distracted by WHAT it says. Also, black and white text and images are easily coloured to match your colour scheme. But don’t colour them till you have everything glued down so you can see where it need balance and colour.

Here's how it can look on the page.

In the next post, I'll have a WHACK of information about glues and how I use them.

In the meantime, here are the handouts for this part of this class: