TAG TUESDAY - VINTAGE THEME

I've had a great time making this weeks vintage tag - I used a wonderful old photograph of my Great Grandfathers friend on a Penny Farthing.  It was taken in the early days of the Raleigh Cycle company where they both worked. I've used it before in art work and just love it.

I also found a very old book called The Art and Pastime of Cycling that belonged to my Great Grandfather and I copied the title and a chart about cycling onto acetate and placed it above the collaged tag to add another layer.

Two genuine old stamps complete this happy, carefree image of the world being his oyster! 

MATCHPOT PAINTS

I was recently asked how I toughened up the pages in my Brooklyn Sketchbook to take the weight of the collage materials I used.  I gave each page of the sketchbook a base coat, using a selection of Dulux/Crown sample 'matchpots' - I just love them - they gave the pages a tougher, more manageable strength as I found the paper rather flimsy.  However, I also use them quite a lot as backgrounds on thicker papers.  I find them affordable (I pick up one or two whenever I'm in B&Q) and there is a wonderful array of colours to choose from.   

These two collages were ideas for a birthday card for someone who loves cycling.  I painted the paper with a reasonably thick layer of a dark coloured matt vinyl matchpot paint.  I then covered it in a thinner layer of cream coloured paint and let it dry thoroughly overnight.  I used wire wool (like the old-fashioned brillo pad) to rub some of the top layer of paint off to achieve the vintage look - it also gives a slight sheen to the background, as though the paint has been polished.  Both layers of paint on these collages were fairly thick - which means harder work with the wire wool!   Be careful - I have worn holes through work before now!
On the first collage I rubbed quite a lot of paint off so that more dark red showed through.  On the second collage I went for a more subtle look and didn't remove so much, so less of the dark green background is showing.