contained chaotic curves

Except for the background, all images snipped from postcards of the fabric collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Tools used: brush-tip and chisel-tip markers. The images are thick, from postcard stock. When you work w/ thick elements, the recipient of your postcard can see the white insides of the cardboard pieces. So I hit on the idea, a few years ago, of using markers to color those white edges, before I glue them down. That way the images do a better job of "melting" into the collage. For the blue-&-white Morris pieces in the middle, I used an indigo blue marker. For all the others, I used a black marker. Usually I also color the outside edge of my collage postcard, but it doesn't seem necessary for that light background. The black marks you see in the brown areas surrounding the women, etc., are part of the fabric pattern.

You can see how especially on the blue-&-white pieces, the marker bled a little bit, giving them outlines of blue, more obvious in some places than in others. I don't consider that a problem. =smile=

Tip: When you're coloring the edges, hold the collage piece so that the white or other color of the opposite side is facing you. Why? Because if the marker slips a bit while you're moving it along the edge, it will tend to slip toward you, onto the back side of the image. That way, you don't accidentally make a stray mark on the image itself.