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Text Box: Microscope Slides

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Text Box:   Creating collages with microscope slides can become very addictive. These tiny works of art are quick, easy and creating in a smaller scale is so refreshing. With limited room and a tendency to a complete klutz, soldering just wasn’t an option for me, not to mention burnt finger tips.  I have come up with a few solutions that are kid and klutz friendly.  Start by gathering papers and images you want to collage, then assemble your mini collage using your favorite techniques. Clean two microscope slide with glass cleaner and allow to dry thoroughly. Microscope slides measure 1” by 3” but any two pieces of glass the same size can be used.  I sandwich the finished collage between two microscope slides, trim any paper excess that is outside the glass.  Now you will need to hold the glass together. I have two favorite edge treatments. First is copper foil that is used by stained glass artists and can be found in any hobby craft store that carries stained glass supplies. This foil tape has one sticky side and quite works well.  Another favorite edge treatment of mine that I use a lot is car pin stripping tape. It is cheap, easy to find and comes in tons of color options. Plus this gives you something to shop for in those automotive stores, you can never have too many shopping opportunities!  Getting the tape on the slides and covering both sides of the glass evenly can be a bit tricky. The following method is what I have found to work the best.  You can start with either the short edge or the long edge; it really doesn’t make a difference.  Cut a piece of copper foil or pin striping slightly longer than the length of the edge. Pull the paper backing off the foil or tape and place sticky side up on the table.  Holding both pieces of glass together with the collage sandwiched between, carefully hold and then  align the glass edges along the tape. You can always lift up at this point and re-align. Press the edges onto the tape and carefully lift up so you can then press the foil or tape over both sides of the microscope slides. Trim excess tape off ends and repeat for the other three sides.  There are so many uses for finished slide collages. You can attack a pin back to the slide, use the slide in an altered book or add as an extra element to a collage. To make into a necklace, you can cut a length of craft wire and fashion a loop at the top and then twist around the slide. This may take a bit of practice to get the look you want but it is a fantastic way to add beads and twisty wire elements to your slide collage art.  A fun way to finish the ends of the wires is to hold them with a needle nosed pliers and twist, add beads and twist some more.  With the variations of pin stripping available and add to that the many colors of craft wire and beads, the sky is the limit on the variations you can achieve. I hope you are inspired to create with slides and have fun with these little slices of art.  

 

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