Gallery of past work

Thursday 24 November 2016

Cropping to advantage

On Tuesday, I spent the morning turning unhappy prints into much happier cards through use of a window and selective cropping to produce small images which I then mounted on hammer finish card stock.




This process brings double advantage and is one I often use on left over photos and small pieces of stitch. It makes something useful out of a piece that might otherwise have ended up in the wastepaper basket and it makes me look at those parts of the print (or other work) that worked well, thus giving food for thought for the next time.


10 comments:

  1. I love these!!! And as you say, what a great way to use up all the bits and to give them a new (and beautiful) continuation!!

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    1. Thank you, Marny. I really enjoy doing these - and it's extraordinary how the outcomes almost always suggest landscapes, no matter how they begin life. I guess that says something about the way I think and where my interests lie.

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    1. Thank you, Mary-Anne. I have quite a pile waiting ... and a Christmas present idea or two in mind as well?

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  3. Love these, amazing what you can get out of pieces that haven't quite worked.

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    1. I cut out all the bits that didn't work and focused on those that did ... the power of the cardboard window!

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  4. These are really lovely. So often I've found that I like pieces much better after they're cut up into small pieces - postcards or ATCs.

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    1. Thanks for your comment, as always, Connie. I've had the same experience with cutting up so often. Maybe it's because with the small size and the feeling that there is nothing to lose, I'm not frightened to go for simplicity and the 'less is more' approach? Mmm ... something to think about, maybe?

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  5. Well, isn't that a useful idea. Lord knows I hate to throw that kind of thing away but can't always think how it could be put to use. Using the window reminds me I have a big piece of silk with a dragon painted on it, done by a friend and passed along to me because she wasn't that keen on it and knew I liked silk. She pretty much gave me carte blanche to do what I wanted, and as I folded it back up, I noted I rather liked the bit of design serendipitously framed by the folding. I marked that area with pins and then never got back to the idea of cutting the piece up by finding more areas like that first one. I'm not a Chinese dragon fan so this would not be hard for me. I need to get this out now that you've reminded me.

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  6. I love these pieces! Collagraphs are a favourite technique of mine.

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