JO REIMER: lace

Friday, June 11, 2010

Once Upon A Time

Daily Collage

5x7"

I used 6 pieces from my Bit Basket today plus some lace from my wedding gown.

Yes, I cut up my beautiful wedding gown and the sky didn't fall nor did our marraige dissolve on the spot. Several years ago we were invited to an anniversary party for those in my church who were married in August. I dug out my wedding gown to see if it still fit. The lace sleeve ripped as I pushed my arm into it.. so I didn't wear the dress to the party but have now cut into it to salvage some of the lace to use in my artwork and I'll save some for my grandchildren in case they get nostalgic.

I used YES glue and it's holding the lace to the paper but I think the best way to add glue may be to iron the lace onto some fusible interfacing. Then I can cut the lace at will and iron it onto collages or journal pages.

Art Tip: brush cleaning

As I work with acrylic medium for glue or with acrylic paints I stand my brushes in a bucket of water on my work table and give them a soap and water cleanup every day or so. But eventually my brushes get gunky and sometimes I forget to clean them. That's when I clean them with Murphy's Oil Soap. I keep an inch of MOS mixed 1:1 with water in a tall plastic tub (Feta from Costco) and put caked brushes in that solution overnight. By the next day the soap has softened the brush and with a bit of elbow grease I can get the brushes back to useable. This also works for brushes used with oil paint. I gave up using oils but wanted to save those good brushes and Murphy's Oil Soap came to the rescue. Get it at the grocery store.