Rachel Rosina Davison

Hi! I hope everyone had a joyful Christmas with family and friends.
 Today I'm showing a framed fusion collage done at "Creating Bliss" craft camp, (organised and run by Julie http://timetocreate-handmadetreasure.blogspot.com.au/  ) in May this year (and it was a blissful and creative camp with many new techniques learnt and passed on to others). This is also my entry for http://anythingbutacard.blogspot.com.au challenge,  anything goes or favourite project of the year.

Framed portrait of Grandmother

Enlargement of section showing details of lace and fabric leaves

The photo is of my grandmother, Rachel Rosina Davison (nee Harvey). We believe that this was taken at her wedding in 1901. This is one of two wedding photos I have of her, and since it was taken from a copy of a copy of the original, some of the finer details of her dress have been lost in the reprinting processes.
Julie has called this a fusion technique, because much of the adhering of fabric and lace to papers, and papers to the backing card was done by ironing on Steam a Seam 2. Various vintage style papers were used to go with the photo and the era in which it was taken. These were distressed slightly by smooshing on stains and adding stamped images that seemed to fit. The mat under the photo was embossed to give the piece some additional texture. The fabric leaves were stained and misted with glimmer mist before applying the Steam a Seam 2, and then fussy cut before ironing on to the background. The lace which I had in my stash begged to be used for this as it reflected not only the fashion of the day, but also the lace on Grandma's dress. The only other embellishment was the stick-on pearls, again another fashion statement of the era.
I don't remember my grandmother very much, being only about 3 when she died. However, I think she would have liked the treatment of this portrait as she apparently loved sewing, particularly embroidery, as well as making clothes for her children. A photo of  all of the children showed her use of lace on the frocks of the girls in the family.
I loved this technique and will, hopefully, make a similar piece showing my mother at a similar age.
Thank you for stopping by and Happy New Year! Here's to more creative crafting in the coming year.
Cheers, Di