I've always been a avid crafter...of a large variety of crafts...from sewing, spinning, weaving to painting and many other crafts that I see on Facebook. If I see it and like it...chances are, I can make it. I have a talent for recreating most any craft that I see...usually with no pattern or direction. I just have a knack for studying the craft, dissecting it in my mind...and then create either a drawing or a prototype before making the final item. I have created some original items...but I'm much better at seeing the finished item and then breaking it down and recreating. My finished craft item is generally similar to the one that I saw, but with my own personal artistic touches.
Currently my craft of choice is creating paper/picture collage, many people create digital collages and that is fine. I personally like the long process of finding pictures that I really like, detail trimming around the picture and then experimenting with positioning of all of the images. I do tend to create very busy, layered, intertwined collages. This method that takes quite a bit of time. After selecting all of the pictures that I want included in the college, I temporarily place them on the canvas. Then the harder, more intense process begins, knowing where to glue down and where to leave open to then mesh other pictures under, over or intertwined. I am also starting to gather all of my fabric scrapes and parts and pieces of past projects to begin creating a fabric collage.
Anyone can collage. You can use magazines, old books, greeting cards, really anything. Because I have a really great printer, I tend to look for pictures on the internet that I like, print them off and use them in a collage. I have also created a lot of junk journals for many years that are currently all sitting in a big wooden box. So, I thought I could take some of the parts and pieces out of those journals...to repurpose for the 2nd time. The junk journals were created out of used materials...bags, ripped paper, damaged books, bits of lace, fabric, buttons...really anything that appealed to me...to use in my favorite kind of junk journals to make. Which was always a nature theme.... ones that I made look old - tea stained...made to look like they had been up in an attic in an old dusty chest for many years...
I have made a variety of collages. I tend to create based on my color mood...and I also love the Fairie Realm...so, lots of woodland, magical type collages...but they really can be anything. Something kicks off a theme in my mind...and then, I develop around that feeling. It can be a theme of characters or colors or mood. It can be funny, serious or anything that you want to put together in one picture.
So, basically there isn't much more to say about collages...except show a few that I have made...
Start collaging...it's a great winter or anytime, hobby....So fun to create your own picture out of beautiful artwork...
