Wanderlust: May book pages (image transfers with sticky tape)

I'm running slightly late with my Wanderlust book pages. The May prompts were (a) What I'm grateful for and (b) What I have to let go of. I must admit, originally, I didn't start these pages with these prompts in mind, but I kind of developed them along the way to fit the challenges. I also experimented with image transfers, specifically, using sticky tape (aka scotch tape, cello tape). I'll demonstrate this technique at the end of this post.

Here's my page for the first prompt. The large dragonfly is a gel transfer, the smaller one was done using sticky tape. The title of my page is "Adaptability" which is one of the things I'm grateful for. It's an important skill which allows you to adapt to your situation whatever life throws at you. The symbol for adaptability (amongst other things) is the dragonfly.

I started my second page by writing down all the negative things I want to let go of on a collaged/gessoed background, written in water soluble pencils, which I then dissolved, so they disappeared in front of my eyes. This is a great exercise to get rid of negative thoughts and influences. Then I printed the opposites of all those negative words to feature on my page. I used sticky tape transfers for these words and my main motif of the butterfly. Here are a few photos:

 

If you're not familiar with the sticky tape image transfer technique, it really is very simple. All you need is a laser printed image or an image from a magazine. Place the sticky tape over the top of your image (right side up) and burnish it, making sure there are no air bubbles. Cut it to the desired size and place it into a bowl of warm water. After a minute or two, rub off the paper from the tape. As if by magic, the ink will have transferred to the tape, leaving you with a transparent background. 

The tape usually retains its stickiness, just enough so you can stick it on your page as is, or you can use a thin layer of gloss gel to adhere it. Sticky tapes come in different sizes. The widest I could find is a 3" Scotch tape by 3M. This is great for transferring larger images, while you can use the smaller sizes for words, borders, etc. The challenge is, how to get rid of the glossy shine of the tape? Enter Ultra Matte Medium by Liquitex! A couple of coats of this stuff will eliminate the gloss and mattify the surface. It does tone down the colours slightly, but it's not a problem. The edge of the tape will pretty much blend into the background. This is by far the quickest and easiest image transfer technique I know! Here it is in pictures:

3" Scotch tape by 3M

Image transfer after removing the paper

The ultra matte medium will tone down the glossy reflection of the tape

Have fun playing and thanks for visiting!