Creating a Lost and Found Treasure Collage

As a mixed media artist, you tend to use a lot of different media in order to create your artworks. I was inspired to create a lost treasure collage that involved an interest I have had since my childhood. It was put together using many different types of media- wooden letters, leftover foreign coins, denim, a miniature vase, fiskars scissors, vinyl gloves, stain paint, glue gun, a metal stick on, a ship tile, a metal canvas, and paper images. It was an art project close to the heart. I discovered the items around my apartment and a few at the thrift store. The only two items, from the thrift store, were the denim and the vase. The rest of the items were found around the apartment and had not been used in a long time. It was a challenging project and it turned out better than I expected.

For the first step of the collage, you need the metal canvas, the metal stick on, the ship tile, paper images, and mod podge with a brush. It is very easy for the first step. On the metal canvas, you place the metal stick on in the center. Once the metal stick on is placed, you glue the ship tile on top of the metal stick on. Let the tile dry. After the ship tile is dry, you take the map and lost treasure paper images and decoupage them on with the mod podge. After the mod podge is dry, you move onto the denim.

The denim is used to create the ocean waves and you need scissors in order to cut it out of the jeans you purchased at the thrift store. I felt that one pair of girls toddler jeans were enough to make the ocean waves. You take the pair of scissors and cut out short,wide strips of the denim. On an old cookie sheet, you can take a brush and put mod podge all over it and form the shape of the wave before the mod podge dries- it makes it very stiff and will stay in the shape if you glue gun it to the metal canvas. The denim will dry and be very stiff. After the denim is placed around the ship tile, you move onto the vase and the foreign coins.

For the vase and coins, you will be using a glue gun to attach the vase to one end of the ocean waves and ship tile. It is slightly tilted to give more room for the coins and to show the paper images. The coins are the hardest part of the entire art project. If you have trouble gluing the coins on with the glue gun, it is best to use Gorilla glue or Crazy Glue to attach them. It may take longer to dry, but it will help keep the coins in place. The last part of the project involves stain paint and wooden letters.

The last step involves taking an old cloth and dipping it into the stainer. It is best to wear vinyl gloves while putting the stain on or you might get it on your hands. Gently, rub the stainer onto each letter that spells out "Lost and Found". You can make a special effect by putting little areas of glue to dry and later putting the stainer over it. I did the special effect for the "Found " part of the message. After the stainer dries, take the glue gun and attach all the wooden letters in the order you wish to have on the metal canvas. I placed them horizontal and parallel to each other. And there you have it, a lost and found treasure collage.

For this treasure collage, it took a lot of materials and time. It was a great way to express my love of treasure hunting. My childhood was the time I thought of being a professional at treasure hunting. I am a very adventurous person and this collage is an expression of one of my human characteristics- I love adventure! I would love to make another treasure collage in the future and I would not mind learning some ideas from you. My lost treasure collage may be with me for a long time. If you would like to see some other collages I have done go to my website- www.carrie-bertschy.pixels.com. It can give you some inspiration as an artist. I look around the other sites for inspiration as well. Happy treasure hunting with a possible collage in your future!