At the first step, it is necessary to select a motif like flower
as shown here. The motif varies from green vegetables to a memorial scenary we experienced in the past. This stage requires individual conception.
Collection of textile fabrics, usually it is second hand clothes, is the second step. Several pieces of textiles should be ready for use. In many
cases, it is difficult to find out pieces of textiles matching exactly to the motif. That's OK. It is suggestable to collect some pieces of textiles being akin to a image of the motif.
To make a background is the third step. A selected textile is glued onto a paper board. Any kind of brush used for oil painting is convenient for glueing the woven fabric smoothly and quickly. After glueing,
drying is needed in open air for 2-3 hours.
This is an essential step for fabric collage. Fabrics are cut by a scessor and placed on the background board. A careful observation of the motif is surely necessary in cutting a part of textile fabrics. Cut parts should not be glued at this stage. The work at this stage is similar to a dessin( a rough sketching) in conventional paintings. Repeated works ,cutting and placing a part, are desired until you will be self confident with the composition of frame work. However, it is not needed to do this work for any tiny parts of the collage. Only major parts of the frame should be worked. A caution is not to use any printed parts of cloth for designing.
For example, printed part of an apple is utilized for collaging an apple.
It is not a creative approach.
Once you get self confident with the frame work, glueing the cut parts be started onto the background textile. When you want to change the glued parts, it is easy to peel it off by spreading water with oil paining brush. But, wait for 5-6 minutes before peeling off. So, don't be afraid in glueing
the parts since it is repeatable. Lastly, it is recommendable to use a bamboo stick for glueing a tiny part.
Signing is commonly done for any kind of paintings. We do the same thing, but differently. As shown in the picture, a small piece of cotton
textile is used. After writing up one word of the name with a pen, cut the word off with a scissor and be glued.
The last step is matting. It is possible to do it by yourself but it is recommendable to go to a frame shop. Your fabric collage could be upgraded significantly by matting and framing.
A recommendation is that it would be a wise approach to start collage work with a simple motif like strawberry or eggplant. Complicated motifs make you felt it difficult.
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