Layered Portrait TAP™ Project by Lesley Riley

Posted by Lesley Riley on Jun 13th 2010

This beautiful and unique portrait was created by author and creator of TAP™Lesley Riley. In the project below, she shares how to create this artistic effect with your own special image. This won’t be just another dusty portrait on your wall. Great Granny will be stylin’! 

Layered Portrait

By Lesley Riley

Materials:

  • 4 - sheets of TAP™ Transfer Artist Paper
  • 8” x 10” photo
  • Iron
  • 4 - 9” x 12” sheets of watercolor paper
  • Ruler or straight-edge
  • Low-tack tape
  • 1 - sheet of clean copy or parchment paper

Instructions:

1. Print 4 copies of your portrait (in reverse) onto TAP™

2. Transfer each portrait (following manufacturer’s instructions) to a sheet of watercolor paper

3. One image becomes your base. Set aside.

Note: To create the white torn edge, always place the tearing edge of ruler toward the outer edge of the photo.

4. Measure and tear one inch from each of the 4 sides of the 2nd photo. Note: Always measure from photo edge, not paper edge.

5. Measure and tear two inches from each of the 4 sides of the 3rd photo.

6. Consider the placement of the facial features in your photo and the positioning of your final layer to determine the size of the 4th photo. It looks best to keep the proportions similar to the other 3 photos. My top layer measures 2-1/2” by 3-3/4”, so I tore 2-1/2” from the top, 3-3/4 from the bottom and 2-3/4” from each side of the 4th photo.

7. Brush a thin layer of white (PVA) glue on the backs of the top 3 photos to within 3/4” or 1” of each edge of the top 3 photos and glue in place. Use a book as a weight until glue dries completely.

All those torn edges? Add them to your paper stash to use in another project!