Scrap N Grow

Posts Tagged ‘Adhesive’

Good afternoon.  I wanted to check in with you this weekend and share a project I recently completed.  I titled it “Recycled Stamp Art”.

Recycled Stamp Art

Last summer I unmounted all my wood mounted stamps and remounted them to cling cushion. This was no small task as I quickly realized that I have a very large stamp collection.  Upon completion of the task which took nearly 3 months, I amassed quite the collection of wood blocks.  As I unmounted each stamp, I tossed the leftover wood block into a box.  Afterwards, for whatever reason, I hesitated to burn or throw them away as I thought that maybe the images on the blocks could be reused somehow, someday. Not knowing what I would wanted to do with the blocks, I stored them in our unfinished basement.

Recently, I was on a few different online forums reading various discussions about people who were in the process of un-mounting their wood stamps.  The ongoing discussions included people sharing ideas of how to possibly reuse them.  While none of the ideas really spoke to me, the discussions did instead spark me to brainstorm my own ideas.  Today’s project, “Recycled Stamp Art” is one of my several brainstorm of ideas.

My vision and intention for today’s idea was to artfully arrange select images inside a frame or onto a board or canvas in a collage style.  So on my next stop to Michael’s, I perused their framing department for ideas.  There were several beautiful frames but all seemed a bit over the top.  I moved on and continued to browse the store’s various departments and came across a viable option in the art department.  The end cap display had various sizes of unprimed wooden cradle boards 1 inch deep. I checked the depth using a wood block that I brought with and the stamp block sits slightly higher than the frame of the board.  I thought that this would be a great option to try.  I selected the largest size they had, 16X20 size, and purchased it using a 50%off a regular priced item coupon.

A few days later when I had ample time, I resurrected my lonely box of unmounted wood stamp blocks from the basement and began to sort through them and selected a few favorite images. This was more challenging than I anticipated as I liked them all.  After I selected my desired images, I artfully arranged them.  This turned out to a complex jigsaw puzzle.

After I was pleased with the arrangement, I had the idea to add a splash of color to a few for added interest. I colored select images using Distress Markers.  I then decided to add additional dimension to the collage by mounting select images to an additional block underneath. While this added additional weight to the already heavy piece, I was pleased with the added dimension.

Next, I decided to paint the board a matte black using acrylic paint to match other frames that I currently have. Once dry, I applied hot glue and mounted the stamps. Early in the process, I found that the hot glue was not adhering as firmly as I desired. So I instead decided to try double sided sticky tape. This worked well and held each block securely in place. After I completed adhering each stamp block, I attached 2 sawtooth hangers on the backside of the board for hanging. This piece is heavy and will need to be hung to a studded wall for sure.

Overall, once the images were selected, the process to complete this collage was fairly quick and easy.  I liked that I was able to re purpose  my wood blocks.  I also would like to tell you that I intended to have this collage coincide with the topic of how I store my stamps. I have quite a system that requires more time than I have today to be comprehensive.  I would also like to forewarn you that I likely will not post again till early next week as I have one more large section of my deck yet to stain, a graduation party to attend, and a few remaining decorative containers to plant. Don’t despair, in addition, behind the scenes of Scrap N Grow, I am diligently working on completion of Tim Holtz’s June Tag of 2012, Studio L3′s Compendium of Curiosities II challenge, and die cutting a giant poppies bouquet .  Lots of great projects are forthcoming, I hope that you will stay tuned.  Thank you for stopping by and I hope that you will visit again soon.

Michelle