By Elizabeth Prata
It's summer off and time to do some different things. I have not crafted in a while. When summer break began I bought a planner from an online crafter, Margarete Miller. Inside are prompts for collages, which I find helpful. While a blank page is nothing to me when I write, when I look at a blank page to do a collage or painting or such, I freeze up. Having 5 tips to gather certain objects helps get me started. There's also a page to keep notes on what worked or didn't, or to simply jot down my reasoning for picking these pieces, or to write down feelings about the piece, etc. Ha ha as if I'd ever write down anything about my feelings. Here are pics of the book's cover-
The first page of prompts included:
Once I gathered the papers and bits matching the prompts, I dug out my tools; X-acto, glue sponge, glue, and magazines to use as glue mats. Uh-oh, when I re-organized my craft area I'd forgotten what the magazines were for, and I threw them out. OK, I'll resolve that later (see below) but for now, I'm ready to start.
First I had to watch a video on how to prep the paper with distress ink. Oops, I didn't know you needed a tool to spread the ink. I'll resolve that later, but for now I used a bit of sponge. I am trying NOT to buy anything new for crafting! I have plenty! My motto is: "use what you have".
Once the paper was dry from the distress ink, I assembled the five pieces from the prompts. IF I had been thinking like an artist, I'd have used blue distress ink instead of green to be a complementary color to the orange. Thinking as a writer is a different thought process than as a crafter. Anyway, onward I pushed. The whole point of today was to get the rustiness out and oil those creative engines.
Just to be sure, I watched one lady on Youtube put together a collage, and it seemed pretty simple. I always imagine it being a more complicated process. I do tend to overcomplicate things. As with writing, I knew that 'just writing' and 'writing every day' would make me better, so it's the same with collaging. The more practice I got, the better I'd get. A video I watched of Margarete's said the same. Practice, practice, practice.
Here is how it came out:
The pieces listed in the prompt seemed to indicate travel, so my centerpiece was the card I found that said "Land of all things". The mushrooms were a bonus because I like mushrooms
I like making collages, and I like making books. I'll practice both this summer. Meanwhile I needed to solve the glue pad issue. Magazines are good for using as a mat because they are glossy and the thing you're spreading glue on the back of won't stick to the glossiness of the page. When you're done gluing the back of some piece you want to put on your collage, you tear the gluey page out of the magazine and throw it out. No mess.
I remembered that the Library had a section of free magazines and the place was only a mile from where I live, so I hopped in the car and drove up there. They also have a section where you can buy books. I grabbed a few magazines that not only would be good for using as a glue mat but also the photos would be good to cut out and use for collages. The library even had them organized by type in a large stack of cubbies! How wonderful!
I saw that cookbooks were on sale and since I learned that I can eat Buffalo Mozzarella and I have been enjoying some this week, I nabbed this picturesque cookbook for $1, and also a 'beach read' for $1. And though I'm not a puzzle person, for some reason I picked up this puzzle for 50 cents. I am not a fan of games live like touch football or cornhole etc, or board games either, but there are two 'games' I like: word search and spot the difference pictures. I have some puzzle books of those. I'll add the 500-piece puzzle to my cache of things to do while half-listening to TV. I hope I like doing puzzles. I probably won't. I am a curmudgeon after all.
All in all, for $4 I obtained many hours of plain old, simple fun at home; crafting, cooking, puzzling, and reading.
So that is my Saturday so far. Up till now it has been drizzly and cool, a perfect day to collage and make stuff. This evening I think I'll finish watching Father of the Bride, and do the puzzle.
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