Category: Gluebooks

The Body
collage in composition book

Today’s glue book entry. I had another bad weather day stuck at home, so I spent the time going through a box I’ve been carting around with me for about ten years. I had no idea what was in it–it was just labelled “Collage Junk.” Oh my. It was the motherlode. There were tons of pages cut from old Sotheby’s and Christie’s catalogues, post cards, art exhibition posters, some magazines from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and a bunch of nifty things I’d cut out of Interview and Details magazines. This piece includes fashion ads, a picture of the skeleton of conjoined twin babies, some movie stills (one about a transsexual and the other a porn movie), and an article on do-it-yourself trepanation.

The Boat of Dreams
collage in composition book

Today’s glue book entry. The blue background is Neocolors II, the water is made from the last piece of the groovy blue holographic wrapping paper from H and T’s wedding. The stone birdbath is a photo I took at a friend’s house, and the painting of the people in the little boat came from an art magazine.

With all the rain we’ve gotten lately, boats and water have been in my thoughts and dreams.

We recently received our new phone books at work, which means figuring out what to do with the old ones. It seems a shame to dump all that paper in the recycling bin, so I tend to hang onto them (yeah, my cow orkers think I’m odd, but that’s their problem, not mine).

What do I use phone books for?

My favorite use is for blotting brushes while I’m painting (saves on paper towels!). The paper is soft and absorbant, so it sucks up excess liquid nicely. I also like to use phone books while I’m working on collages. The pages are great for placing under small items while you’re painting them or applying adhesive to them. When a page gets yucky, just tear it out or flip to the next page.

You can also use the pages as a collage base. Tear them up to create visual interest. Paint them. Ink over them or use some of the blotter pages you’ve gotten paint on. You can then seal the paper or you can draw or paint directly onto it. It takes charcoal, ink, and oil pastel nicely (just like newsprint).

Here’s a quick and easy example from one of my glue books. I tore out several pages, then tore them into vertical strips. The lettering was done using a Pitt brush tip pen. The page was then inked by gently rubbing an ink pad directly over it.

collage in composition book

Margaretha Knows
collage in composition book

I’ve been trying to do a glue book spread a day. I don’t always manage it, but I’m not far from my goal. In this spread, the Elizabethan woman in the three portraits on the left is Margaratha de Geer. She was the wife of Jacob Trip, a wealthy Dutch merchant. The painting of the three nudes walking down the street came from an old copy of Interview Magazine. I think the photo of the acupuncture mannequin came from a recent copy of either Jane or Bust.