Sunday, August 21, 2011

Vintage Photo Page

This photo of my grandmother and her parents and sister has always been one of my favorite family photos. The original is framed and protected, but I scanned it so I could put copies in scrapbook albums. On this page, I tried several different techniques. First, I took a piece of copper tape (used for stained glass) and lightly sanded it to create a lot of rough surface area. I brushed on patina medium and let it sit until it had the effect of oxidized copper that I wanted. After lightly spraying with a clear sealer, I peeled the backing tape off and mounted it to my card stock. The other experiment was to seal a grungeboard element (from Tim Holtz's "Elements" collection) with multipurpose sealer and apply a coat red base paint designed for gold leaf application. When that was completely dry, the adhesive sizing is applied and allowed to dry until tacky. I used a variegated leaf and covered the top surface and edges, brushing away the extra leaf with a stiff paintbrush. After sealing, I had a beautiful accent piece that blends perfectly with antique photos. The final touch for my page was to add a rub-on flourish and accent with blue "gems."  This is a technique best used with copies of photos rather than originals, as the patina medium and leafing adhesive and sealers may not be safe for archival use.

Have a wonderful day!

No comments: