Check out how I created this ombre collage using ripped-up magazines. The inspiration behind the page, supplies, and how-to are included below.
THE STORY
This visual journal page was created for my husband.
Sometime in 2012 while heading home one night and incident occurred that I think still haunts my husband to this day.
This visual journal page was created for my husband.
Sometime in 2012 while heading home one night, an incident occurred that will haunt him forever.
He was approximately a quarter mile from our house, almost home. He was making a left when a dog suddenly darted across the road in the middle of his turn. He swerved to miss the pup, but the recently rained on pavement cause him to hydroplane into the curb. You may think to yourself, no big deal, right? Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for the BMW that he dreamed of owning, finally found, worked on, and babied for a short couple of years.
His car so perfectly hydroplaned into the curb that it bent the frame of his car. According to our insurance company, a 1997 M3 BMW wasn’t worth the damage to fix it and it was totaled. Nick’s dream car was gone in an instant, at least the dog was still alive to tell the tale.
I have seen my hubs devastated a handful of times in our relationship, and this was one of them. He mourned the loss of the car he wanted so badly. Apparently, you can’t just pick up a twenty-five-year-old car just anywhere, a phrase I heard often in this dark time.
There would be another black M3 in his future, but at this point, neither of us knew that Zwei would eventually find his way into our lives. In the meantime, I created a memorial page for his lost BMW. A friendly reminder that it would all be okay.
Nick, I know it’s sad but I know he is in a better place. Car heaven has to exist for all those car enthusiasts out there, right?
SUPPLIES
- Visual journal
- Magazines
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Fine point sharpie
- Rubber cement
- Elmer’s glue
- Packaging tape
- Laser printed images
- White tissue paper
HOW TO
When I started this visual journal page I had a rough concept. I knew I wanted a road to heaven and his BMW somewhere included in it. I opted to start with the base, since I had a better idea of what I was going for.
I first sketched out the horizon line and road with pencil and then started to hunt for magazine images to construct the background. I pulled any magazine page that had sky colors, black, gray, and white, and grass or green ground.
I started with the sky, ripping the sunset colors into piles, working from dark blue to light blue to yellow, then white. I started gluing the pieces down from the center moving outward working to create an even fade using my range of colors. I used rubber cement to glue the pieces down.
Next I ripped the grass images into stripes and glued them down. Next, I added the road. I once again divided my ripped pieces of magazine images into piles: black, dark gray, medium gray, light gray. I then started gluing where the ground hit the sky and worked backwards.
Next, I got to work creating tape transfers of wings and his BMW to create a ghostly appearance. I printed the images on a laser printer, placed packaging tape sticky side down on top of the image, and rubbed the back. I then wet the paper and rubbed the paper away from the tape. The end result is the ink stuck to the tape with any white areas becoming transparent and light areas becoming semitransparent.
I used Elmer’s white glue to glue the tape transfers down to the background. Last, but not least, I glued a thin strip of white tissue paper to the bottom and wrote my text using a fine-point sharpie.
Read about more magazine fades here and here . Read more about tape transfers here. I also have a printable handout that walks you through the magazine fade how to and the tape transfer how to on my TPT.
CHALLENGE:
Create a visual journal page about a loss in your life. Use the magazine fade technique somewhere in your page.
Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog and visual journal page! Help me spread the word about what I do by sharing this post on your social media outlet of choice!
Interested in learning more about visual journaling or introducing them in your classroom? Get everything you need to teach or learn about visual journals, plus a ton of printable resources (including my magazine fade and tape transfer handouts) here.
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