description

If you have boxes of snapshots, old family photos and Polaroids you found on the street you have the makings of a unique personal artwork. In this project we will transform photos with collage and findings, learn how to distress, age and alter snapshots with sanding and shellac. Each photograph becomes a small work of art. We’ll make a collaged portfolio to enclose our collection. Your portfolio can have a theme such as a person, a pet or a trip, or it can be a random assortment of images. The collaged portfolio can be lined with fabric or paper, and closed with a ribbon, or secured with a button, a buckle or with Velcro. Examples will be available for study.

Snapshot Portfolio

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bio

class photo 1

class photo 2

class photo 3

class photo 4

kit fee: $10        supply list

• Bring an assortment of photographs you would like to work with.
• You’ll need at least ten for the portfolio, but bring a larger selection.
• One option is to choose a theme for your portfolio, such as a trip, a pet, a person or place, which will dictate which photographs to include.
• A variety of types and sizes is preferable: B&W, color snapshots, polaroids, crushed photos found on the street, or vintage family photographs all offer good subject matter. Images should be no larger than 6” x 9”, the dimensions of the finished portfolio.
  
  
• You’ll need small bits of assorted papers, fabrics, ribbons and trims
• Half a yard of fabric to line your portfolio
• One yard of ribbon for tying the portfolio
• Buttons, beads, rhinestones, grommets, any kind of flat finding you can imagine attaching to a photograph
• Needles and thread for attaching trims
• Material for backing the photos: anything from finely woven metal, rubber, fur, feathers, papers, etc. You need only small (8” x 10”) pieces of these materials. Use your imagination.
• Collage materials, such as maps, decorative papers or images you’d like to combine with your photographs.
• Adhesives: glue sticks for collage, or PVA or Elmer’s, Sobo, whatever you like to work with. Spray adhesives are OK.
• Scissors and utility knife, ruler.
• A fine tool to scratch with, Wide Black Permanent Markers for altering photos,
• Small jar of semigloss acrylic medium and brush for coating your portfolio.
  
  
• Optional: A Sewing machine is useful but not necessary. The entire project can be glued. I usually embellish with machine stitching but this part can easily be done later.
  
  
• Materials fee:  $10
• One sheet of Canson paper for the portfolio    
• A matrix for the portfolio
• Acrylic glazes and brushes
• Sand paper
• Velcro

printable version

Sas Colby has more than thirty years of experience making, exhibiting and teaching art. Her nontraditional mixed media artwork has been exhibited and collected nationally and internationally. Sas made her first artist's book in 1972, and is a pioneer in the field. She is one of fifteen artists featured in “Living the Creative Life”, by Rice Freeman-Zachery. She has inspired many with her ability to make the creative process come alive.