DISTRESSED COLLAGE ELEMENTS – GRAPHICS FAIRY

I subscribe to the Graphics Fairy Premium Membership site and recently watched a video by one of their designers. He used some of their printable collage strips to make into an unusual little album, and distressed the images by sticking teabags on top. The effect was brilliant and I knew I had to try this.

Collage Printables

While at the printer, I printed out some other sheets, and I shall probably use most of these in a project I am currently working on. These pages came out a bit too bright orange. My colour laser printer often does this and I am not sure how to change it. I managed to dull down the colour with the application of a layer of watered down gesso and left them to dry. I later added some inking, but decided that tea dyeing might have been a better option for this.

Collage strips with teabags

Before I cut out the strips, I overlaid the whole sheet with teabags, sticking them down with matte gel medium.

I had torn open the teabags along three sides, so that they laid flat as elongated rectangles. This meant that there was one seam that was visible, but in this case I didn’t mind too much as it added to the texture.

Later, I prepared some more teabags, and this time, I removed all the sealed edges.

I like the rough ripped edges of the teabag pieces, which blend in very nicely when they are collaged. I kept all the torn off pieces and put them in a bag. These can be glued down randomly as collage texture, either on a page, or perhaps on a translucent material such as tissue paper or vellum. Nothing needs to be wasted! Tearing up the teabags is a nice little job that I can do while watching TV.

All covered with teabags

Here are two pages of collage strips, and a sheet of ATC-sized collage elements, all covered with teabags and left to dry.

There is quite a bit of texture on the surface, partly from the teabags, and also the brush marks in the gel medium. Later, if I want, I can add further colour with ink or paint, and gilding wax and other elements to build up a rich texture.

All cut up

Here are some detail shots.

These strips were originally quite brightly coloured. I love how the teabags have given them a really aged and distressed look. If you look carefully, you can spot the teabag seams, which do add a bit of interesting texture.