Collage Unleashed [Paperback]

Traci Bautista (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2006

The funky, colourful projects in "Collage Unleashed" encourage readers to turn off their inner critics and tap into a childlike sense of wonder and imagination. With projects from art books and fabric journals to mixed-media paintings this book: showcases three of the most popular trends in papercrafting - collage, altered fabric and journaling; features a wide range of techniques for crafters at every level, including crayon transfers, funky embroidery, freestyle hand lettering and creative bookbinding; and, combines paper, fabric, beads, dyes, paints and more in unexpected ways. Everyone from collage artists and book-making enthusiasts to paper crafters will want to out this title at the top of their personal wish list.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A popular art retreat workshop teacher, Traci Bautista is the owner of treiCDesigns and the creative force behind an eclectic line of hand-painted papers, custom invitations and art kits. She lives in Fremont, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books (May 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581808453
• ISBN-13: 978-1581808452
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #35 in Books > Arts & Photography > Other Media > Mixed Media

More About the Author

After a successful career climbing the corporate ladder in Silicon Valley, marketing high-tech start ups and brands like IBM and Animal Planet, Traci left the corporate world to pursue her passion for art. 2011 marks the 10-year anniversary of launching her creative business endeavor treiC designs. Prior to becoming a full-time artist, she worked as a graphic designer, event planner, marketing director, professional cheerleader, elementary art teacher, fashion designer, and web designer--to name just a few positions. Experiences that she gained through these positions, coupled with her innate drive to explore and create without boundaries, are what contribute to her success as a mixed media artist. Her passion for sharing art has led her on a worldwide tour, teaching mixed media workshops in handmade books, art journaling, collage, art marketing, and surface design.

Traci is the author of the bestselling book, Collage Unleashed, and is currently working on her next book, Doodles Unleashed which will be released January 2012. Her art has been featured in over 15 art/mixed media books and 40 craft magazines, including Somerset Studio, Altered Couture, cloth.paper.scissors, Art Journaling, Art Quilting Studio, Belle Armoire, and Craft. Her column "Creativity Unleashed" was featured in Somerset Studio Magazine. She has been a regular guest on DIY/HGTV Craft Lab. Her creative business includes designing licensed product lines, Collage Pauge adhesive, and {kolLAJ} paper crafts. She has developed business partnerships with numerous craft manufacturers, and has built her online presence solely on her own, designing every aspect of her brand and marketing strategy. Follow her at www.treicdesigns.com and her blog http://kollaj.typead.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The cure for art inertia is at hand !, August 24, 2006

By 

Ellen Etc. (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Collage Unleashed (Paperback)

This is quite a fantastic book. If you've been a fan of Sabrina Ward Harrison's books, for example, but couldn't figure out how to achieve those kinds of effects, this book will help you. I'm a novice but there were so many projects and ideas I wanted to try. Actually, it became overwhelming, especially at the end with the more advanced techniques using stitching and bookbinding, but there's plenty here to keep everybody going for a long time. Mainly Bautista shows us how to layer, layer, layer, and reminds us not to worry about finished effects. Also, she's a great fan of "leveraging" her art, which means to make numerous photocopies at various stages and keep the copies so that she always has a ton of stuff to work with and can build on previous ideas with new work.

I started to feel depressed and enervated as I went through the final chapters, but eventually it dawned on me that I had to go make something ... RIGHT NOW! This book is just so stimulating and serves both as inspiration and encouragement, and as an idea sourcebook. Bautista is funny and light, in contrast to some of the self-serious, angst-ridden artists. She believes in experimenting and having fun, and her enthusiasm is wonderfully infectious. Thanks, Traci!

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very impressed, August 13, 2006

By 

selketine (Maryland) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Collage Unleashed (Paperback)

I used to buy just about any art journaling book that came out because 5 years ago they were few and far between. Not so anymore and I've gotten more picky - trying to match my purchases with my tastes a bit better.

I had stayed away from this book because it seemed many of the reviewers seemed to know the author or took her classes - which would make them perhaps more biased to like her work. Some books on collage just drive me nuts too - if I see another collage done with someone taken from an old timey photograph wearing a pointy clown hat I will puke!

I picked up this book at a local store though and looked through it and immediately knew I had to have it. You might not exactly want to copy her style but she has a TON of good ideas. She does combine many techniques and maybe you don't want to use them all (like fabric and sewing) but you will probably be tempted. I love her doodling style. The back of the book even has some pages meant to be photocopied and used in your own artwork and pages to use to make stencils, etc. This is one of the best books on collage I've seen - maybe THE best book.

59 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars HARD TO FOLLOW, June 30, 2006

By 

Randy Cooper (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Collage Unleashed (Paperback)

I like Traci's art, and there are several interesting techniques in this book. Be warned, though: Traci begins by recommending you set aside a day for projects, and you must take her seriously: the projects in this book are, for the most part, messy, involved, and complicated. People should know that they will be told to "just" crochet this, latch-hook that, sew here (in a flower pattern), embroider this on-and then, there will not be how-to photos, but just small pictures of snippets of the finished product, with a hard-to-read caption. I guess I need to take one of her classes, as others keep saying, because in several places, I just could not follow Traci's book. This book really is not about collage. This book is a few of the author's magazine articles combined: one about tie dying paper towels, another about using sewing in collage, and another about doodling.