Collage in terra technology style. Making a floral collage using the terra technique

Almost everyone loves to make crafts from natural materials, but after this there are a lot of leftovers. For example, dry branches, leaves and plants, fruits, shells, acorns, fragments of porcelain and glass - this does not mean that they should be thrown away. You are simply not familiar with the Terra technique. A collage using the terra technique will help create a special atmosphere of comfort in your home.

Floral collage terra technique. Compositions in the “terra” style are made using collage techniques. Almost everything that is perceived as garbage in life has its rightful place in collages. Crafts made from tree branches are rarely particularly beautiful. But such objects, being built into the work, become part of art in which they are assigned a significant role. Paintings using the terra technique fascinate with their naturalness.

Crafts made from waste natural materials easily become masterpieces. Use the “terra” technique, this will allow you to reproduce volume, depth, color, as well as a variety of textures. There are many things that connect terra collage with painting. A color tone is applied to the dried solution. Tone is the main color of the entire composition or any part of it.

Terra technique master class. Great importance in collages, “terra” is assigned to such a concept as texture: the nature of the surface, the method of processing.

To complete the work, we will need a container for mixing the solution, a spray bottle for wetting, a spatula, latex gloves for work, a palette for diluting paints, brushes for applying paint. Painting brushes with artificial bristles of sizes 20, 20, 58 mm are used to paint the background; with art brushes from sizes 2 to 12, details and small fragments of compositions are painted.

You will also need an awl, wire, paper clips, scissors, and pliers. And, of course, we will use various “garbage”, the choice of which will depend on your vision of the picture. It can be dried leaves, scraps of paper, shells, buttons, rope. It is difficult to predict everything that can be used in a creative impulse.

Collages are usually heavy, so you need to choose a thick base. Of the paints, gouache is the most suitable. Only dry plants can be included in the collage. You can’t dry it under pressure, as the plants and leaves lose their shape and volume. That's why plant material air dry. Bizarre shapes will even be to your advantage.

Light materials are attached with a solution, heavy materials: nuts, cones, chestnuts, acorns are tied with thin wire (it is advisable to purchase floral wire). When composing compositions experienced artists Even insects are used. Dried, of course. For these purposes you will need entomological pins. Regular needles and pins are not suitable. It is easier to use rag insects in your work.

Beads are used in a bunch, so that individual peas are “lost” in the plot.

Material such as fabric is rich in its expressiveness.

Background making technique

The main techniques are grattage, fottage and decalcomania.

Scratching technique.
Scratching is a way to “translate” the pattern of any surface - wood, metal, textured glass: randomly folded strings, etc. - onto canvas. How to make scratch paper: spread the canvas over the object, then you need to apply paint on it - and the texture of the material will be imprinted on the base. The resulting abstract drawing will suggest a plot or theme future painting. The artist completes a random pattern in accordance with his associations.

Decalcomania technique. The decalcomania technique is used in a manner similar to grattage. The paint is poured onto a sheet of paper, covered with a second sheet on top, and then separated. Peering at the abstract drawing printed on paper, you can see figures, landscapes, and images.

Frottage technique. Frottage is another way of making a print. Paper is placed on a textured surface rubbed with graphite and an imprint is obtained on it that repeats the texture pattern. The techniques described for creating a background are used in many floral collages. For example, plant materials are glued onto a base created by the decalcomania method, forming a panel that is harmonious in color.

Otherwise, a background is created in “terra” collages. The base used is not fabric, paper or glass, but a sheet of fairly heavy building material(hardboard, plywood, etc.). The working solution is applied to it. You can apply the solution either with a spatula or with your hands, either in a fairly thick layer or in a thin one.

Distribution feature additional material in collages, “terra” is that it is not pasted on or secured with special devices, but is “smeared” into the solution, introduced into the background. After this, the excess solution is carefully cleaned off and the collage dries.

Basic work techniques

The sculpting technique involves working with the solution itself, creating shapes and objects with your hands, without additional material.

The base solution is characterized by plasticity, which allows you to create volumetric images. Additional portions of the solution are applied to the applied base and the intended shape is formed.

Panel using terra technique. When creating compositions, various plants are used: leaves, flowers, bark, branches, berries, etc. In “terra” collages natural material does not stick to the base, but is fixed with a solution. You need to work with natural elements very carefully in order to preserve the texture of a leaf or flower, since the solution hides the relief of the material. If you fill them with solution, the work will become poorer and lose its expressiveness and liveliness. Therefore, they use the indentation technique, which requires special care, thoroughness, and experience.

Beautiful patterns, unusual textures and reliefs are easy to create using the imprinting technique. A variety of solid materials that can be fixed by pressing into the solution are suitable: and pasta, and dry berries, cereals, seeds, and beans. Since this material contains moisture or easily absorbs it from a wet base, after drying it easily falls out, leaving a very interesting relief pattern.

“Terra” collages are suitable for frames with complex, but not bright, relief. Because the baguette should not distract from the work itself; rather, it should emphasize the merits and individuality of the composition.
Collage gallery

We have touched upon only a small part of the basics of making collages using the terra technique. But this, at first, is quite enough to evaluate new technology. Then it's up to you. Try, experiment, search.

Five homemade plaster and putty boards are reinforced with cotton fabric, decorated on both sides and connected to each other in a box with a leather cord. Box size 20cmx15cmx15cm.
Materials: building gypsum, water-dispersion putty, black acrylic paint, dark silver, light silver, white, burlap, inflorescences and leaves of astilbe, sedge, chrysanthemums, hydrangeas; clematis boxes, hazelnut, ornamental sedge roots, melon seeds, elements of a Vietnamese curtain (apparently bamboo), semolina, dragonflies and butterflies (decorative elements on a self-adhesive basis), birds.

(Part II).

First my brain started boiling!!! Because we had to figure out how to fasten the boards together? It will not be possible to glue them together, because... they are very thin! I decided that I would tie them together somehow! How? I'll think about it later, but in order to knit them later, I need to make holes.
So, first, I sawed the boards with a hacksaw so that one of them turned out to be the bottom, and the rest - the walls. But since I still “disposed” of the hamster supplies so that a minimum of material remained for further storage, the walls turned out different heights! Well, okay, then I’ll figure out how best to adapt these different sizes! I cut more small squares - like legs for my organizer.
Then I drilled holes one from the other at an equal distance: at the bottom along the entire perimeter, at the walls on three sides, stepping back from the edge a couple of centimeters.

Then I glued burlap onto all the boards on both sides with PVA glue, spreading it out a little at the edges. When gluing the burlap, I tried to move the threads apart so that they did not obscure the drilled holes.

Next, what will be inside the organizer was decorated on top with butterflies and dragonflies on self-adhesive tape, melon seeds and elements from a Vietnamese curtain (probably bamboo).

These elements (rings) were too big for me, so I soaked them for a while in warm water, and then braided them raw the way I needed them, then dried them. This spiral was made like this: I wound the loose and damp “bamboo” around a pencil along its entire length, secured it with threads and dried it. I pasted it for a Super moment.

I kept putting off the moment when I would have to start TERRA directly! It was very exciting to get started, however!!!
So, I found time so that no one and nothing would bother me, surrounded myself with all sorts of “tops” and began to get wise! First, I estimated my drawing on each side and decided where it would be placed. I applied a not very thick layer of a mixture of putty (1 cup), PVA glue (1/2 cup) and sifted, washed and dried river sand (2 tablespoons) to the approximate location of the compositions. At the same time, I used a spatula to rub the edge of the stain and, as it were, reduce it to nothing, so that later the putty would not stand out against the background of the burlap. Next, on the still damp putty, I placed the elements of my compositions and pressed them a little with my fingers so that they would sink a little into the putty. I waited for all this mess to dry completely. I was most worried about the hydrangea, it’s too tender! But it’s okay, I got stuck like a native! It even looks like a hydrangea!
Now I had to try the very process of “smearing”, as I understood it. I put a little putty (mixture) on a flat brush (bristles) and, as it were, painted my “herbariums” on top, ultimately making sure that they and the background looked like a single whole, and not separately glued elements. At the same time, she depicted something with all sorts of different ways along the edges of the background so that it is not flat and boring. I was satisfied with the intermediate result: all the elements were decently legible, remained convex and, importantly, rigid, like a thin shell! Hydrangea also passed the “smearing” test and remained similar to hydrangea: so airy. Then I ruined everything, but about this sad moment - very soon!

All this time I wasn’t just creating! I was painfully wondering how I should connect my future structure? I decided that I would join it with linen twine - which means it all should look in eco style - which means I’ll smear it with bitumen! Although all my experiments with bitumen ended in complete failure, I still decided to take a risk and went to paint my boards with white acrylic.

Thank God that although I didn’t paint the inner sides with butterflies, I was just fiddling with the bitumen late at night. I waited until the white acrylic dried, coated the top with acrylic varnish, that too dried, and then I smeared it all with bitumen. After a couple of hours, I went over the boards with a cloth soaked in white spirit, highlighting the bulges. It turned out to be the creepiest!!! Universal dirt! The result was the texture of a dirty, sometimes smoky bone, on which some dirty grass had stuck! I didn’t even take a photo of this disgrace! In the morning I finished washing off the bitumen, but it had already floated into all the cracks, from which I could no longer pick it out! But the main thing is that the airiness in the herbs has gone, they have become thick sticks, and the hydrangea has become some kind of shapeless piece of I don’t know what! But I had to paint it all with another layer of black paint! Which is exactly what I did this morning!
Why did I decide to paint it black? Because there was no time to reinvent the wheel, and I followed the beaten path: on a black background - lightening from dark silver to white. A kind of imitation silver that has never let me down!
Each board was covered with black acrylic on both sides. Then I went over it with a sponge using slightly dark silver, then to make the relief stand out even more, I tinted everything with light silver, and the most protruding parts with white acrylic.

What happened with inside future organizer, I really liked it: the burlap “lay down” beautifully, the butterflies and dragonflies.

But from the front side everything looked very rough! As they say: feel the difference! To somehow correct the situation, I had to pick up my favorite circuit white and walk it very subtly both over the “herbariums” and along the edges of the burlap - to make everything more elegant! Well, in general: what has grown has grown!!!

Now we had to figure out how to fasten the structure! I went to the store and bought black and white leather cord. The process of threading the cord into the holes, which after many layers of paint have shrunk in size, is a separate story! I spent more time on it than on the entire decorating process! But the design turned out to be surprisingly strong, and the lace fit like order! Two birds were taken from the hamster supplies, and I lightly brushed their feathers with black acrylic so that they matched the overall color scheme! They were the ones who delighted my child when I came to him with finished work and with the question: “Well, how?” The child exclaimed: “Cool birds!” Everything else turned out to be just a background for the birds!!! That's it!!!

For those who are interested, a separate description of what the herbariums were actually compiled from:
1. At the bottom right is a hazelnut, around it are three clematis boxes (I found out that over time they fluff up like cotton and become like lumps of cotton wool), inflorescences of astilbe and sedge.

2. Astilbe inflorescences, chrysanthemum flower with partially flowing leaves, astilbe leaf.

3. Sedge leaves, astilbe inflorescences, hydrangea bouquet.

4. Leaves and inflorescences of sedge, tubers of garden sedge, chrysanthemum flower (the leaves were preserved), astilbe inflorescence.

5. This is the bottom: on the legs are some elements found in a bag with dragonflies, there were 4 of them, but my hand didn’t raise itself to throw them away, I glued them for shock absorption.

What is this alluring and mysterious Terra?

Terra translated from Latin means earth and everything that is used in the terra technique is of earthly origin - these can be dried flowers, leaves, seeds, insects, shells, dried Marine life, pebbles, etc. Compositions using the terra technique are made using collage techniques.

Collage translated from French means “gluing” onto a base any materials that differ from it in color, shape and texture. The appliqué technique has been used since ancient times, for example, in decorative and applied arts and even in icon painting. How to receive visual arts, collage appeared only at the beginning of the 20th century. In the art of collage, the author's imagination is absolutely unlimited. Combinations can be used various materials, create any lines and color combinations. If we talk about floral collage, then this is also the ability to create a flower bouquet.

Much that is perceived as trash in everyday life has a place in collages. Objects that seem uninteresting in themselves, when built into the work, become part of a kind of mystery, game, performance in which they are assigned a significant role. The charm of the “terra” technique lies in its ambiguity. With its help you can reproduce volume, depth, color, play of light and shadow, and variety of texture. There are many things that connect terra collage with painting. Great importance in “terra” collages is given to texture: the nature of the surface, the method of processing.

The collage technique is also interesting because here everyone can use their own techniques that are unique to them, and then unique paintings are born. Working with natural materials new technology stimulates the creativity of artists. Floral collages organically combine backgrounds made in various techniques(rolling, decalcomania, designer paper, plaster, etc.) with material created by the the best artist- nature: foliage, flowers, tree branches.

When creating a collage using the terra technique, it is not always possible to accurately imagine how it will all end. This is a real creative search, where impeccable artistic taste, bold imagination, compositional and harmonious perception, with the help of which, in the course of the arrangement, a picture is formed associatively, by touch.

The use of plant forms created by nature itself with their own unique textures in their work allows the artist to achieve an effect that is not always realized in the works of artists working with paints.

Let's talk a little about the technical side of the issue:

What a master might need if he wants to make a creation using the Terra technique:

To work, you will need a container for mixing the solution, a spray bottle for wetting, a spatula, rubber gloves for work, a palette for diluting paint and brushes for applying it. Painting brushes with artificial bristles of sizes 20, 20, 58 mm are used to paint the background, artistic brushes from sizes 2 to 12, and details and small fragments of compositions are painted.

You will also need an awl, wire, paper clips, scissors, and pliers. Of course, you will have to use various “garbage”, the choice of which will depend on your vision of the picture. These can be dried flowers, leaves, tree branches, shells, etc. It’s even difficult to predict what can be used in a creative impulse.

Collages are usually heavy, so you need to choose a base that is strong and thick. Of the paints, gouache is the most suitable.

Only dry plants can be included in the collage. You can’t dry it under pressure, as the plants and leaves lose their shape and volume. Therefore, the plant material is air dried. The bizarre shapes of dried plants will even be to your advantage.

Light materials are attached with a solution, heavy materials: nuts, cones, chestnuts, acorns are tied with thin wire (it is advisable to purchase floral wire) or attached with glue.

When composing compositions, experienced artists even use insects. Dried, of course. For these purposes you will need entomological pins. Regular needles and pins are not suitable. It is easier to use rag insects in your work. Beads are used in a bunch, since individual peas will be “lost” in the plot. Material such as fabric is rich in its expressiveness.

What is used as a solution mentioned in the text:

Add glue (for example, PVA) and paint of the selected color to the putty (it is convenient to use gouache as a paint) and mix. If necessary, you can add pebbles, coarse sand, and shells to the solution.

Method for creating a background using the Terra technique:

The working solution is applied to the base. You can apply the solution either with a spatula or with your hands, either in a fairly thick layer or in a thin one. The peculiarity of the distribution of additional material in “terra” collages is that it is not pasted on or secured with special devices, but is “smeared” into the solution and introduced into the background. After this, the excess solution is carefully cleaned off and the collage dries.

The main techniques used in the Terra technique:

Modeling.

The sculpting technique involves working with the solution itself, creating shapes and objects with your hands, without additional material.

When creating compositions, various plants are used: leaves, flowers, bark, branches, berries, etc. In “terra” collages, natural material is fixed using a solution. You need to work with natural elements very carefully in order to preserve the texture of a leaf or flower, since the solution hides the relief of the material. For example, the leaves have veins that form a unique pattern. If you fill them with solution, the work will become poorer and lose its expressiveness and liveliness. Using different techniques By applying the solution, an impressive volume and depth of the composition is achieved, but the material that is built into the base solution also has its own relief and volume that must be preserved. Therefore, they use the indentation technique, which requires special care, thoroughness, and experience.

Plants should not be spread over the surface of the collage. By maintaining the volume of a leaf or bud, arranging the elements of the composition at different angles to the surface, you can achieve a feeling of dynamism and authenticity of the picture.

Imprint.

Interesting patterns, textures, and reliefs are easy to create using the imprinting technique. Light, fragile floral materials are not suitable for this purpose: they break easily. A variety of solid materials that can be fixed by pressing into the solution are suitable, for example, dry berries, cereals, seeds and beans. Since this material contains moisture or easily absorbs it from a wet base, after drying it easily falls out, leaving a very interesting relief pattern.

Any solid object with a raised pattern will leave an original imprint in the solution. The unexpected texture resulting from the imprinting technique is used both to create a background and to depict individual objects. Using the impression technique you can achieve high degree realism.

Advice. Buckwheat, unlike heavy beans or pasta, can serve not only as a material for imprinting. It is easy to fix in solution. But you can’t paint it: if you touch it with a brush, it will fall out.

Each genre in greater or less to a lesser extent this or that technique corresponds. Modeling is used in works with architectural and landscape motifs, indentation is mandatory when creating still lifes, and imprinting allows you to form a background for abstract compositions.

But mixing techniques often also produces remarkable results—an impression of complex unity, depth of design, and variety.

For panels with “terra” collage, frames with complex relief are suitable. At the same time, the baguette should not distract from the work itself; rather, it must emphasize the merits and individuality of the composition.

This is just a small part of the basics of making collages using the terra technique. I hope this will be enough for you to appreciate the new technology. In the works of our line prerequisite is a combination of two techniques - terra and decoupage, and this further expands the scope for flight of imagination. Then it's up to you. Try, experiment, search.

For your inspiration, I am posting a gallery of works using the Terra technique (clickable):

Collages using Terra technique:

Works using the Terra + decoupage technique:

Design: Tatyana Kudryashova. Photo: Dmitry Korolko

Materials:- Frame with glass, mat and back cardboard (RUB 2,200) - Fresh monstera leaf, hydrangea inflorescence - Tilancia (bromeliad plant roots) - Anise fruits, roots and branches of shrubs - Pebbles, coarse sand and small shells - Primed cardboard, 45 x 60 cm (50 RUR) - Universal PVA glue (30 RUR/0.25 kg tube) - Floral white spray (260 RUR/400 ml bottle) - Aerosol blue paint for all surfaces (70 RUR/bottle) - Fine-grained white construction putty Sadolin MAXI (250 RUR/1.75 kg tube) - Acrylic paint metallic (40 rub./40 ml) - Glycerin, 2 bottles (10 rub./piece) - Set gouache paints(150 rub.) Total price – 3060 rub.

Tools: Brushes with hard and fine bristles, rubber spatula, glue gun

Description of work

1. Place a fresh monstera leaf in a glycerin solution for 3–5 days. For the solution, take 1 part glycerin and 1.5 parts boiling water. The solution should completely cover the sheet. After the soaking period has expired, place the sheet between two sheets of newspaper for 2-3 days to remove excess fat from the surface. Cover a sheet of cardboard with one layer of PVA glue and leave for 20 minutes. Add glue and brown and terracotta colored gouache to the putty and mix. 2. Add pebbles, shells and coarse sand, mix the primer, adding brown paint. 3. Using a rubber spatula, coat the surface of the cardboard with primer. Slap the mixture in places where you want to emphasize the texture of the soil, or smooth it for a smooth surface.

4. Mix another portion of the primer mixture of putty, glue and yellow paint. Apply it to the cardboard over the first, darker primer in places where there should be lighter areas. The soil layer will acquire additional color new volume. 5. Place the monstera leaf on the primed cardboard and press it into the wet solution. Add roots, twigs and inflorescences of hydrangea to the composition, pressing them into the soil. If necessary, add under decorative elements a little soil. 6. Apply a thin layer of blue spray paint to the dark areas of the composition. At the same time, direct the stream of paint over the work from the side to highlight the texture of the soil. In the same way, apply a layer of white paint on top of the areas of the collage where the lighter areas are marked.

7. Apply strokes of brown paint to the dark areas of the composition. To prevent the collage from looking monochrome, add additional color to the composition by making light strokes of blue paint in the transition areas from light to shadow. 8. To emphasize the texture of the monstera leaf, apply a thin layer of putty to the surface, smearing it into segments with your fingers. Leave the composition for 2-3 days until it dries. 9. Highlight the volume and texture of the branches. Cover them first brown paint, after drying, apply strokes of putty. Emphasize the contours of the monstera leaf by tinting them with black paint. Use a glue gun to secure the anise and tilancia fruits.

collages can be purchased at any specialized florist store, for example, at Business Bouquet.

Pay attention to the time the leaves are kept in the glycerin solution. A longer period gives a darker color. By reducing the impregnation period, you can achieve light shades, but the leaves will be more fragile. Wrinkled after soaking and removal excess fat the sheet can be smoothed with the hottest possible iron with steam or through paper.
When mixing the soil mixture, keep in mind that its color after drying will be much lighter.
Sprinkle with water reverse side sheet of cardboard before priming - after 15 minutes it will straighten.
The primer solution dries the skin of your hands very much - use thin medical gloves when working with it.

Let me tell you about how I make paintings, panels in a collage terra technique. This fascinated me at one time; everything that was at sea, in the forest and at home found its application there.

Therefore, if you have, as you think, all kinds of garbage from branches, leaves, dry grass, shells, pieces of porcelain and other rubbish, and you want to throw it out, don’t rush, you’re just not familiar with the Terra technique. Collages from natural materials will help create a special atmosphere of comfort in your home.

By the way, your children will be delighted to create magnificent paintings and it will be a kind of therapy, it is calming and inspiring!

Compositions in the “terra” style are made using collage techniques. A color tone is applied to the dried solution. Or we “implant” materials into the raw solution, and when it dries, we apply a background.

Tone is the main color of the entire composition or any part of it.
Great importance in “terra” collages is given to texture: the nature of the surface, the method of processing.
To work, you will need a container for mixing the solution, a spray bottle for wetting, a spatula, rubber gloves for work, a palette or disposable plate for diluting paints, and brushes for applying paint. Painting and art different sizes for writing out details and small fragments of compositions.

You can apply the solution in different ways, using a palette knife, a spatula, a brush, or your hands. Even gloves will have a peculiar pattern.

An awl, wire, paper clips, scissors, and pliers will come in handy. Of course, you will have to use various “garbage”, the choice of which will depend on your vision of the picture. It could be dried leaves, scraps of paper, a piece of glass, a shell, a button, a ribbon, or a string. It’s even difficult to predict what can be used in a creative impulse.

Collages are often heavy, so you need to choose a thick base (plywood, MDF, hardboard). Of the paints, gouache is the most suitable. But I also work with acrylic with great pleasure.

Only dry plants can be included in the collage. You can’t dry it under pressure, as the plants and leaves lose their shape and volume. Therefore, air dry the plant material. Bizarre shapes will even be to your advantage.

Light materials are attached using a solution, heavy materials: nuts, cones, chestnuts, acorns are tied with thin wire (it is advisable to purchase floral wire).
Material such as fabric is rich in its expressiveness. With its help you can create a texture for the future background.

The peculiarity of the distribution of additional material in “terra” collages is that it is not pasted on or secured with special devices, but is “smeared” into the solution and introduced into the background. After this, the excess solution is carefully removed and the collage dries.

As a solution, you can use putty diluted with PVA, textural and structural, relief and volumetric pastes.

Basic work techniques

Modeling technique involves working with the solution itself, creating shapes and objects with your hands, without additional material.

The base solution is characterized by plasticity, which allows you to create three-dimensional images. Additional portions of the solution are applied to the applied base and the intended shape is formed. The photo shows my very first terra - on it I sculpted a ship and a chest. In the photo gallery below it is already in finished form. Hangs at home and makes me happy :-)

When composing compositions various plants are used: leaves, flowers, bark, branches, berries, etc. In “terra” collages, natural material is not glued to the base, but is fixed with a solution. You need to work with natural elements very carefully in order to preserve the texture of a leaf or flower, since the solution hides the relief of the material. If you fill them with solution, the work will become poorer and lose its expressiveness and liveliness. Therefore, they use the indentation technique, which requires special care, thoroughness, and experience.

Interesting patterns, textures, reliefs are easy to create using impression technique.

A variety of solid materials that can be fixed by pressing into the solution are suitable: pasta, dry berries, cereals, seeds, and beans. Since this material contains moisture or easily absorbs it from a wet base, after drying it easily falls out, leaving a very interesting relief pattern.

Frames with complex relief are suitable for “terra” collages. At the same time, a baguette should not distract from the work itself; rather, it should emphasize its advantages.

In general, try, create and inspire others with your works! :-) Everyone chooses their own technique, their own shades, colors and styles.