Bird Collage

Click image for a larger view.

So I bought Claudine Helmuth's Collage Discovery Workshop book, which is really a terrific book. I wanted to learn how to do image transfers. I have this collage idea that involves transferring images to layers of glass. This is my first try. I don't necessarily love the composition, but this one was mostly about figuring out the technique and process. I'm still not happy with my ability to get a good transfer to the glass. I try heat transfer, but the glass cracks. On this one, the bird was photocopied and then transferred via clear claulk. It works fine, but I don't like seeing the edge of the caulk around the image edge. I tried gel medium on the glass, but that didn't hold up.

Anyway, there are two layers of glass, separated by strips of board. The back is a hunk of plywood that I gessoed and textured and painted. I cemented the glass down with gel medium and then framed everything with paper coated in gel medium. The finished piece has a lot of texture and depth to it. And I like that the frame is integrated. I'm holding the piece while photographing it outside. You can see the shadow that the paper frame makes through the layers of glass. I'm excited to progess and perfect this technique. It's been fun to get my hands off the computer and get paint underneath my fingernails the last month or two.

Your thoughts are welcome!