Mixed-media collage artists are embracing, unearthing, and reconstructing the flotsam and jetsam of modern life with abandon, integrating discards along with a range of art materials and novel techniques to create compelling, new works. Original, idiosyncratic, and delightful, this catch-as-catch-can approach to making art is inspiring and can have eye-catching results. It can also have its own set of technical challenges.

Mixed-Media Collage takes readers into the studios of 5 talented mixed-media artists: Laurinda Bedingfield, Barbara De Pirro, Paula Grasdal, Sharon McCartney, and Teesha Moore, where they reveal their own step-by-step processes, offer tips on working with unconventional materials, and share their insights on creativity and finding inspiration. A deluxe gallery features 40 never-before-published mixed-media pieces, complete with detailed descriptions of the work and the materials used to create them.

Included are techniques for making faux encaustics out of acrylic gel medium (no hot palette or wax required), adding stitching to paper, layering surfaces, finding inspiration in texts, building shrines and book-page panels out of sew-through interfacing, using simple printmaking techniques to create one-of-a-kind collage materials, and building three-dimensional photo collages.

Also included is a special feature by best-selling author Jennifer Crusie, who shares her thoughts on the connections between writing and collage, as well as several previously unpublished assemblages she has used as a tool to plot and edit her books.

A humorous essay by best-selling author Alisa Kwitney shares her thoughts on the connections between writing and collage, and an explanation of why she can't use collage as a tool for anything!

Author — Holly Harrison.

Paperback. 128 pages. 8½" × 11" (22 cm × 28 cm).