Customer Reviews

Collage Lab: Experiments, Investigations, and Exploratory Projects (Lab Series)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the first book in the publisher's new Lab series, and its format provides an experiential and experimental approach to building your own personal and unique repertoire of collage skills and techniques.

This book is a combination of prompts, step by steps, tutorials, techniques, material lists, and examples - all put together on each full spread (book laid flat for full view of two pages) to provide a comprehensive, but not necessarily exhaustive, view of each of the building blocks. It would be nice if it could be bound with metal coil or plastic spiral instead of glue so that it could be laid flatter on any surface.

There are 52 laboratories in this book, grouped in 12 units with four or five labs each. Going through each lab is like laying brick by brick to build a pyramid-like wealth of knowledge and experience in the art of collage. It provides ample opportunities to try out different ways of using a specific technique, and encourages the learner to allow room for mistakes - instead they can be viewed as accidental discoveries.

Even thought this book seemed to be focused primarily on the beginners or anyone's first foray into the art & craft of collage, it does provide new ways or ideas even for the most advanced students. For example, I learned a new way to convert a colored photo into a pencil drawing by printing it out in black & white, gessoed it, and then fill in by hand with pencil strokes.

In summary, having this book open in front of your art projects is like having a private tutor sitting next to you as you develop and build your own wealth of knowledge in the mixed media world.

Sometimes you can be pretty disappointed when buying a craft book... especially on the art of collage! Wellllllll.. not with this beauty!
I am so glad that I went for it and bought it because this will be a book I will go to time and time again for inspiration and design technique.
Just starting out, getting your feet wet? This is for you!!! Collage to your hearts content all the time? Well this will breathe new life into techniques that you already do!

I highly recommend this book it's great quality..covers ALOT of terrain for the buck!
Happy Collage Art everyone GET IN THE LAB!!!

Bee Shay has written a seriously useful and inspiring addition to the collage/mixed media technique genre. I can't recommend this book highly enough. If you have any interest in collage, or in mixed media or just love to look through creative and entertaining books stuffed with great art and clear, inventive tutorials, this is one you will want for your personal library. I have been drooling over the projects all evening and plan to get out my art supplies and put into action some of the great ideas Ms. Shay puts forth in her projects tomorrow morning.

Collage Lab has me jazzed up and bubbling with new ideas to try. I bet is will plant many artistic seeds in your psyche, too. Try it, I think you'll love it!

I have found the book no use at all. Maybe if you're brand new to any kind of collage or mixed media you might find some inspiration so that you could go on and find out how to implement your ideas on your own. I usually consider a book worth having if I can find at least two projects that get me excited. I didn't find any here. I've been working professionally with mixed media and collage for 7 years, and I was looking forward to receiving such a well reviewed book.

There's not much "how to", just a lot of generalities, and the only images that got my attention and thinking, "Hey, now this is more like it", when I turned the page, the instructions are for entirely different pieces.

Here's one example of the instructions:

Page 78 "Handmade"
"Learning Objective: To investigate handmade papers.
Materials * Papermaking kit which should include a deckle, mold, and pulp materials as well as instructions.
or
* Plan a field trip to a paper store and purchase at least five different sheets of handmade paper.

Step 1. If the option to make paper was chosen, follow the kit instructions and make paper."

I'm only slightly irritated about having purchased the book, and I'll keep it till I clean out my shelves and donate it, but when a book just doesn't cut it, I wish reviewers would review the negatives as well. This system fails when all we do is write glowing reports about everything because those are the only ones that get chosen as "helpful".

Highly recommend! This is the best book that I have ever purchased related to teaching techniques for collage art. It is a welcome addition to my studio library. It contains a lot of very useful information in a format that is the best that I have seen in a book of this type. It teaches many collage art techniques that are very easy to follow as well as it inspires creativity. If you are interested in collage as an art form or want to include collage as a component in an art project then this is a must have book. You will be amazed at how much this book teaches you! I agree...It is like having a private session with an experienced artist as your teacher, right in your own home or studio. Wish all "how to"/technique books were written just like this one.

"Collage Lab" is a beautiful book, printed on heavy, quality paper. It jumped out from all the other collage books we have read, used, borrowed, purchased, or skimmed.

Bee Shay's artwork examples are elegant and interesting, with harmonious colors chosen for each section. The book is actually quite a different, and visually more sophisticated, book inside than its hot pink cover would indicate.

Even though Kay and I have been collaborating on collages for over six years, we were inspired by the idea of 52 weeks of collage techniques. We also loved the idea of being organized and keeping a record of what we learn.

In fact, we liked this book so much we have launched a blog dedicated to "Collage Lab" called Collage Lab by Two. We plan to complete all of Bee Shay's weekly labs and publish our findings, opinions and creations as we go.

Get yourself a copy of "Collage Lab" and join us on our journey!
Nan and Kay

This is the first of the "lab" books I purchased but I loved the format so much I bought other lab books. It is set up to use as a step by step learning process or you can skip around and do whatever exercises interest you. It not only gives specific instructions but suggestions for further experimentation. The book includes beautiful examples as well.

As a former visual arts teacher with a large and diverse collection of art books, I found this one to be a standout!! Many books turn me off with a bland cover - this one immediately pulled me in! It made me feel like I was in the classroom again!

I like everything about it - from the quality of the cover and pages, to the sequence of each chapter, the clear instructions (both in words and pictures) along with the gallery and resource pages. I will be looking for more of this series!

Each section of this book deals with a particular area of collage from colour and gesso to images, tools and line. It's compact and thorough and suitbale for both beginners and old hands alike. It makes everything crystal clear, which is much appreciated. Nicely presented and very useful, this book should lead you to experiment. Get the basics, the techniques and ideas to develop on your own. Full of mixed media projects and superb examples of work that will stir the creative side. Recommended.

Collage Lab: Experiments, Investigations and Exploration Projects offers artists and crafters a fun approach to making art. Some 52 different labs that can be explored on a weekly basis and worked in any order provide new techniques and inspirations for themes, showing how artists can learn through play and experiments. Full color images offer a visual key to learning art techniques making this a pick for any crafter's collection.