Ephemera

with Heather Greenwood

What is ephemera? According to Merriam-Webster, ephemera are things that are important or useful for only a short time or items that were not meant to have lasting value. This includes paper items (such as posters, broadsides, and tickets) that were originally meant to be discarded after use but have since become collectibles. There are so many things that can be considered ephemera in addition to paper items, such as vintage beads, buttons, game pieces, and jewelry. The important thing to realize about ephemera is that it can be anything you want it to be and that it is a great addition to any piece of mixed-media artwork.

Materials

• Assorted ephemera (paper items, old books, magazines, sewing patterns, buttons, playing cards)

• Gesso

• Acrylic paints (assorted colors)

• Brushes

• Palette knives

• Adhesive (gel medium, matte medium, glue stick)

• Jewelry-making supplies (facets, bails, beads, findings)

• Diamond glaze resin or epoxy

• Doodle pen

• Scissors

• Stencils (optional)

• Hole punch

• Binder rings

3-D Flowers

There are so many things you can do with 3-D ephemera flowers! Paint, cut, and layer them with other ephemera to add to your projects.

Step One Cut the paper into a circle, and then start cutting a spiral to the center. Use a pencil, a small rod, a skewer, or tweezers to roll the paper from the outside edge inward, keeping the bottom edge aligned until you get to the center.

Step Two Remove your pencil or rod and let your flower naturally unwind. Glue the center to the bottom of your rolled flower, and fold out the top edges.

Tip

Add rolled flowers to the centers of cut-out flowers (A). Paint and doodle, and add ribbon or buttons to the center of your 3-D flowers for a vintage look (B).

Torn Collage Background

This technique is very similar to collage, but instead of completely gluing ephemera to the background, it is torn away at random.

Step One Using a palette knife, spread gel medium or matte over the background randomly, but don’t cover the whole background. Adhere paper ephemera to the areas where you added glue and let dry.

Step Two Once dry, begin to tear away the loose ephemera, leaving the parts that are glued down. Fill in areas with other mixed-media techniques, and repeat the first three steps to layer and build up your background.

Jewelry

Stamped Pendant

Step One Paint or stamp patterns on a road map, and then cut out a piece to use as the background behind a facet.

Step Two Glue the piece to the facet using diamond glaze resin. Add a layer of resin to the back to encase the paper and protect it. Finish the piece with wiring and vintage beads.

Albums & Keepsakes

Ephemera is a great effect for decorating keepsakes, such as mini albums and inspirational flip books. Use quotes from favorite books or shapes from old greeting cards to personalize scrapbooks and journals, or create a travel album with ticket stubs and other memorabilia to document special memories. The possibilities are endless!

Step One Create a flip book from a set of old playing cards! First, add a layer of gesso on one or both sides. Then add your favorite mixed-media techniques.

Step Two Add more ephemera, or stamp on inspirational words or quotes. To finish, punch a hole in the corners and add a binder ring to keep them together.