Suspended layer collage

Series: Collage Makers Summit no.5

Collage Makers Summit from Drew Steinbrecher
Workshop: Suspension layers
Host: Dar James website – Instagram

This was one of the first of the CMS workshops I started, but the last piece that I finished (there are still more that I haven’t done yet and I plan on returning to them when I have time). And most of the delay was down to the process.

It takes a remarkably long time for a thick layer of gel medium to completely dry and it is very difficult to get anything like a smooth finish. The surface would have been firm enough to work on after a couple of days, but I wanted to wait until it was totally dry and I was able to see the bottom layer of collage clearly through it. So I waited for another day or two.

Alternating layers of gel medium and collage does give an interesting depth to the end result, but it really does take a long time. I could easily see myself getting distracted by something else while it was drying and forgetting about it until, a few weeks (or months) later, I wondered what that thing was balanced on top of those books.

There are an annoying number of air bubbles which, of course, I didn’t notice until it had all dried and I couldn’t do anything about it. Other than that, I rather like the effect, but I doubt I’ll be rushing to try it again unless I come up with a project that really needs it.