Collages and bleached photos

I made some collages recently to submit to a collage call for entry.

I started by scanning a bunch of rusty bolts and washers on my computer scanner.

I put two images side by side to fit an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of paper, and printed them on a transparency using my inkjet printer.

The transparency that I use makes a cool crinkle texture when misted with water.  I am using Apollo brand, and this pack is over five years old. I don't know if newer transparencies will do this.

I love it.

 
Many moons ago, I bought a bunch of 8x10 photos from a flea market or garage sale.  They are mainly of nature, some have animals like bighorn sheep, and some are scenic mountain views. There are quite a few really good ones, but most of them are a bit "meh".  When I bought these, I had read a book about altering photographs, and one technique was to use a bleach/water solution to take some of the color out.  I thought I knew which book this came from, but I was wrong, so if anyone knows, please let me know so I can reference it in this post.  Anyway, I did this in the sink, I had one side with the bleach/water mix, and one with plain water to rinse the bleach off. I love the purple blue one, but most of them went to yellow/red. If left in the bleach too long, all the color will disappear.  I hate admitting that I have had these bleached photos in a box for so long, they really are quite cool.

So I decided I'd start with the purple one, and then move onto one of the red/orange ones.

Here are the collage papers I pulled out for the purple one.  I did not end up using all of these. There are citrasolv papers, colored paper towels, alcohol inks on clear Mylar, yellow printed magenta tissue paper with resin on it, painted textured wall paper, painted brown paper bags and rosin paper, etc, etc.  I am dreading putting away all the bits I did not use.

So here I am auditioning my papers, I am using 16" x 20" piece of watercolor paper as my substrate.  I ended up adding a couple more things, and made room for the nut/bolt transparency on the middle right.

I glued the papers down, then I sewed around the edges of each paper to add some texture and stitching. I traced a stencil with a pen in the upper left and lower right, and painted around the lines. 

Here is the red one. I love how colorful this is!