under... where?

this week's challenge at collage obsession is called "under". it won't take you any longer than it did me to realize there are about a ZILLION ways to go with that: under the sea, under pressure, under the weather, under the table, undercover, understanding, underground... well, you get the idea. the point is, with so many awesome choices, only a real weirdo could wind up with "underwear". yeah. that'd be me. :0

(vintage: magazine clipping, newspaper text, sheet music, lingerie lace, sewing pattern, book page; found objects: japanese rice paper, postage stamps from a direct mail solicitation; doily patterned paper: amy tangerine, american crafts)

in my defense, i've been "saving" this corset illustration from a badly damaged but still very lovely 1907 copy of "the delineator" ladies' magazine, ever since i found it stuffed into a box of old record albums at a book sale a couple of years ago. it was the very first thing that popped into my head when i read the prompt. then i realized-- almost simulaneously-- that i had some beautiful fawn colored vintage lingerie lace, and they'd be perfect together. see?

i'm still somewhat obsessed with the "stapled collage" idea i started playing with over the summer during the index card a day and daily paper prompt projects via the daisy yellow art blog. i hadn't intended for this to be an example of that technique, but it just sort of happened, so i went with it. since i had the layer of super-wide lace towards the back of the collage, this one is held together by more than just the one staple... (i've sewn along the left and top edges of the lace, echoing the stitching on the patterned paper) ...but pretty much all of the rest of my ephemera is held by that one staple in the center, where those butterfly stamps are.

i don't know why that makes me so happy, but it does! another thing that makes me smile is seeing all the different ways the other players at collage obsession will interpret this theme, so that's where i'm off to next. wanna come with? ♥