Sue Drake c-s-drake@worldnet.att.net
I've been experimenting with using some of my stash of needlework supplies for layers/textures in collage. A lot of my stash relates to canvaswork, so those are the things I've started with first, such as: Mono canvas -- 16 & 18-count as well as 24-count Congress cloth can be inked successfully as long as you don't get them too wet (too much moisture begins to `melt' the sizing on the canvas and it starts to lose its structural integrity-which can produce some interesting effects in its own right!). So far, I've had good luck with laying the canvas flat and patting the inkpads on it-the smaller "cat's eyes", individual "petals" from the Colorbox `flowers' and the little square guys give interesting effects. I've combined darker colors with metallics overlapping somewhat, and really like the results- especially on some of the darker-colored canvas (18-ct comes in all kinds of really cool colors these days; Congress cloth is mostly more pastel shades and the range is limited). I leave a fair amount of the canvas un-inked because I want the plain background to show, but you could certainly do fuller coverage.

Since I also have a Giant Hoard of exotic threads & fibers-Balger metallics, Watercolours overdyed cottons and silks, Rainbow Gallery rayon & nylon ribbons, etc., I've been playing with them, too. They look really nice draped & glued on top of a collage piece or wrapped/coiled to form a loose `nest' effect, but I'm working on using them with the canvas-withdrawing some of the canvas threads (tedious, but worth it, IMHO) and replacing some by `re-weaving' the empty areas with the specialty threads. Of course, just leaving the empty areas alone makes neat textures, too. A 4" square of canvas done this way can be cut up further-into four (or more) smaller squares/rectangles to be scattered on the piece, or from corner-to-corner, giving four triangles. These can be used as-is, or cut again into smaller triangles, which I think look pretty cool as corner-mounts for the stamped image (like those little photo-mount guys).

I'm sure there are all kinds of other ways to use these materials that I just haven't come across yet! The main drawback to using these materials is that they are expensive and most of them are specialty items-available in good needlework shops rather than general craft stores. That said, I don't see why fabrics like burlap or some of the larger-count cross-stitch fabrics wouldn't work in a similar way, and those are often much more available. (NOTE: if you want to try withdrawing fabric threads, you must use a fabric that is a mono weave-one thread over one thread [or two over two, such as 22-count Hardanger fabric] -- Aida cloth is an interlocking weave and will not work!)

You can use part of those misstamped or blurring images / cards for making a collage (sometimes the mistakes just make the final piece much more interesting!).

Also, whenever I stamp on a scrap paper for any reason (practice with my new stamp, want to try out different colors or alignment, etc) I always keep these pieces. They are in a big basket (intentionally just thrown in) and when I need an idea, I go through the basket and use something from it. BTW, that basket has some strange content as well... If you are in collage, try to look at every single scrap or other paper / non-paper product in a I-might-be-able-to-use-it eye and just toss it into the collage-basket / box (you want to have a bigger container soon, you'll see!). It is an endless source of inspiration.. When You get overwhelmed (or your container is totally full, go through the stuff: discard the ones that you don't like at that moment - don't worry, you won't need them! - and at the same time, you'll discover long forgotten pieces that you might want to use right away!)

Let's see some of the things I have in my basket, just to give you ideas:

nice wine /beer bottle labels coin wrapping paper pieces (the one you get when you ask for change; or you use if you roll up coins interesting clothes labels, textile ones from the neck part gold metallic wine bottle-neck wrapper; it is embossed on the top foreign currency (bills and coins) candy wrappers (I used the chocolate US coin wrappers several times in my 4th of July theme and other Americana topic with big success....) nice paper clothes labels (the price tags)

paper napkin pieces

plane tickets, other admission tickets

pieces of a wide variety of wrapping stuff:not just wrapping paper; I also

have pieces of cardboard boxes, corrugated boxes, etc with interesting

printing / pictures

seeds

hardware netting

zillions of junk-mail clippings (interesting picture or typeface) Another tip: in garage sales, your public library's annual sale (if they have) you can come across a lot of fantastic things to use in a collage: many oldish art books, pictures of the year type books, etc that you are not sorry to cut up, also: sheet music, foreign language books (I just bought a bunch of oriental language booklets; I can't wait to use them). Ask your relatives and friends not to throw out anything and set up a junk-box for you; time to time you go through their stuff and decide what to keep.

Oh, geee, and it is just more or less the paper-like stuff... Just wait till I get into the 3D type of things... :)

If you want to use acidic paper in your collage but still want it to last longer here is a way how (I learned this tip from Nita Leland and Virginia Lee Williams).