Mixed Media Create Board

I started my canvas board using mixed media at THE sleepover. 🙂

I finally finished it and it is hanging in my sewing room.  (As JP commented, “Why there?  No one comes here.”)

Here is how it looked after the sleepover:

Shelly, our instructor, sent me some great ideas of adding to this.  I wanted to add a dress form and found some great choices HERE.

It is a site called “The Graphics Fairy” and the vintage sewing items were just up my alley!  However, getting the image on the board… that was the question!

I have read about image transfers using gel medium and toner-based copies but I didn’t really want the image black.  So once again, Shelly came to the rescue.  She sent me this link for making a transfer with my ink-jet printer.

First I did a practice image on a scrap of wood Phil donated to my cause.

I layered on scraps of paper with mod podge and let it dry so it would be about like my canvas board. Then I followed the instructions for doing the ink-jet transfer.  Basically, I put a layer of Elmer’s glue on a piece of cardstock, let dry, and then printed my image onto the cardstock.  I covered the image with mod podge and adhered it face down to the block of wood.   I let it dry overnight, misted it with water, and started rubbing off the paper with my finger.

I was so excited to see some of the image showing through!!

One just keeps rubbing off the paper until the image is left.  As you can see in my first photo of this, that I lost a bit of the transfer image.  I’m not sure what happened but sure didn’t want that look for the final  one!!

I decided maybe more elmer’s glue on the cardstock so added an additional layer to the remainging piece of cardstock.  When I tried to run that piece through my printer it jammed and ruined the image.  Ugh!!

So I treated another piece of cardstock with elmer’s glue but did a heavier one time coat this time.  Not that it was heavy and gloppy but a smooth layer but fully covered the cardstock.  (I knew my image wasn’t the full width of the paper so I only did the middle section.)

This time I made sure to set my printer to heavier paper and babysat it as it started through.  It coughed a little but then fed all right.  Before applying to my canvas, I trimmed it within 1/4″ of the image.

You can see the very top didn’t color correctly and that was where it didn’t feed right when getting started.  It is also mirror-imaged.

This time I rubbed off the paper a bit more carefully and only lost one little spot.

I was pleased but the board still needed help.

Next I added a zipper flower.  I used one of the old zippers taken from one of the myriad of sweatshirt jacket zippers I replace each year.   *sigh*

Here is one of the tutorials I used.  It took 3 tries but I was pretty satisfied with the result.  I added used buttons around the zipper flower and the top of the dress form.

Finally, I dusted in the sewing room >cue much laughter!< and decided where to hang it.

(yes, those snowmen & women stay out year round showing off their quilted garments!)

I feel like it is missing something still but don’t know what else to do.  Maybe I shouldn’t have added the zipper & buttons.  ???

(Phil says the blank areas allow his mind to create.  >roll your eyes here<  )