Art Charm Challenge No. 2: Collage Charms

The front side of one of my completed Collage art charms.

First an apology - my intent was to get ALL of the paper chapter challenges up in January...unfortunately, my back issues flared up something awful for the last half of January, and I ended up icing my back on the couch instead. I will still post challenges, but I'll be playing catch-up for a while, so your continued patience will be most appreciated!

Yesterday's post provided you with a quick overview of how I created the collage charms - following is a more detailed step-by-step outline.

Challenge No. 2: Collage Charms

Anyone who knows me realizes that I’m all about making art accessible for EVERYONE. Due to my back issues, I recently got a crash course in “accessible art” – despite my looming art charm swap deadline, I was stuck on the couch for two weeks, icing my back, unable to walk/stand/move as I usually can...so I figured out a way to ice my back AND finish my charms.

The key to “accessible art” is thinking ahead – figure out what you need to have at your fingertips, plan for the next step, and have a couple of paper towels (or perhaps an entire roll?) on hand for disaster management.

The reverse side of one of my completed Collage art charms.

For the box:

• two 8.5 x 11 sheets of completed Mixed Media Paper
• one 8.5 x 11 piece of cereal-box-type cardboard
• paper punch, about 1” in diameter – I used a circle punch, but you could try other shapes too
• white glue or a glue stick (I used my trusty UHU glue stick so I could work sitting on the couch)
• waxed paper and cardboard rectangle on which to place glued charms for drying
• a very heavy book
• embellishments (I used punched flowers and snippets of text)
• scissors
• silver Caran d’Ache wax pastel (NOT the water-soluble type!) or MicroGlaze, if you’re using inkjet-printed text or images
• paint pen or opaque pigment ink pad to edge charms with (I used a white pearl color)
• Ranger Stickles (or your favorite glitter glue)
• your sealer of choice (I used Krylon’s Triple Thick Clear Glaze on the front [text side] of my charms, and brushed Diamond Glaze on the edges and back side) and a brush, if need be
• eyelets, setter, hammer, block on which to hammer, and hole punch which matches eyelet size
• jump rings and pliers

My pile of almost-finished collage charms

The Challenge:

1. Punch or cut shapes from your Mixed Media Paper and cereal-box-type cardboard.
2. Glue Mixed Media Paper shapes to both sides of your cardboard shape.
3. Place glued shapes between two layers of waxed paper, and put your very heavy book on top. This will press the shapes together as the glue dries.
4. Embellish either side of your charm with punched flowers, text, or something else. Make sure things are glued down well, and allow to dry.
5. Seal inkjet-printed text/images with either MicroGlaze or a scribble of a wax pastel in a pale color. The wax pastel helps to tone down the bright white paper as well.
6. Add tiny squirts of glitter glue to further embellish. I used little dots of purple Stickles in the centers of my flower embellishments. Allow to dry.
7. Ink edges of charm with opaque pigment ink or a paint pen. Allow to dry.
8. Seal all sides of charm well. I used Krylon’s Triple Thick Clear Glaze on the text side of my charms, and Diamond Glaze on the edges and backs of my charms. I would have used the Krylon for both sides of the charms, except the label says “do not use in extreme humidity” and it’s been pretty wet here lately, so that was a no-go. Looking at the finished charms, I honestly cannot detect a difference in the finish between the Krylon TTCG and the Diamond Glaze. FWIW, I will be posting a more detailed review of the Krylon in the near future.
   
9. Locate the top center of your charm, and punch or drill a hole which will correspond to the size of eyelets you’re using.
10. Add and set eyelets.
11. Add a jump ring and you’re done!

Digging through my embellishments, I came across a few different colors of eyelets and wanted to see how the charms look with the different color eyelets...meh, the colors are OK, but my favorite is still the silver. What do you think?

Sealers: Krylon Preserve It! Matte (digital photo & paper protectant) & my Collage Charms

The very small spray can of Matte Preserve It!

In my ongoing quest to find a sealer I can be happy with, I bought a small spray can of Krylon's Preserve It! Matte spray finish from my favorite art stamp store Art 'n' Soul, and gave it a shot.

The art charms I've posted here are my Asian-inspired paper charms for the Art Charms Yahoo Group January/February 2011 swap. I began with two sheets of Mixed Media Paper, then I punched circles with my 1" circle punch, and glued to both sides of a circle punched from cereal-box-type-cardboard. Punched flowers created with mixed media paper and embellished with Ranger Stickles add a little style, and for a finishing touch, I added a tiny phrase to one side of each charm. Rather than using MicroGlaze (BTW, a great online source for MicroGlaze is SkyBluePink) to seal my inkjet-printed words, I decided to try something new - I scribbled lightly over them with my Caran d'Ache wax artist's crayon in silver.

One of the nearly-completed still-unsealed art charms, ready to have its edges rolled on a shimmery white pigment ink pad.

Two art charms, sealed with Krylon's Preserve It! Matte spray.

An art charm sealed with Krylon's Preserve It! Matte - notice the not-quite-shiny, more like "satin" finish.

For comparison: an art charm sealed with Diamond Glaze - notice the shiny finish.

OK, so this is all well and good...but...how does this stuff stand up to water?

I conducted another of my not-so-scientific-but-still-kind-of-cool water tests, using a clear plastic tray that some dried mushrooms came in. I used the tray to hold my two paper charms while I sprayed the Krylon Preserve It! Matte on the charms, and as you can see, there was plenty of overspray. FYI, I sprayed quite heavily...probably not the best practice, but it worked OK here.

I put a few drops of water into a couple of the wells of the tray, and allowed the whole thing to set for the afternoon.

After I let it set a good long time, I dumped out the water and dabbed the wells dry with a towel...and found no change in the appearance of the spray finish, as compared to other parts of the tray that did not sit under water.

Based on this result, I feel fairly confident that most artwork sealed with Krylon's Preserve It! Matte spray finish will be reasonably water-resistant, though, as always, your mileage may vary.

Check out the different finish texture (more "pebbly" and "rough") on the plastic tray as compared with the "satiny" art charm posted above - I don't know that this really means anything, but I thought it might be of interest to someone.