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Starting Collage
Collage (From the French word, coller, to stick) is the
assemblage of different forms creating a new whole. This
section will help get you started with collage and give you a
few ideas. While you can use oil-based materials, most
artists use water-based material, especially acrylic, for
collage.
Base surfaces
You can collage on about any surface. Popular base
materials include paper, canvas and wood panels. If you use
paper, try 300-pound watercolor paper or rag mat board. The
thicker surfaces are less likely to buckle. We use a lot of
gallery wrapped canvas. The cradled Ampersand panels are
one of my favorites, but they are somewhat expensive.
Adhesive
Since we are going to assemble our items, we need to
attach them. The best overall adhesive is Golden Matte
Medium. Matte medium is essentially acrylic paint without
the colored pigment. It's archival and holds very well. You
will use a lot of it, so buy a 16 or 32 oz. jar. Use an old or
inexpensive brush, a 1" or larger flat brush or a foam brush.
It's somewhat hard on brushes - don't use your best sable
watercolor brush!
To attach, simply coat both the back of the piece to collage
and the work surface. Brush it on, place it down and hold it
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for a few seconds. If you have a small piece to stick down,
an art knife helps position it.
For thicker paper, such as 140 lb. watercolor paper, use
Golden Soft Gel (Matte). It has more holding power. For
even thicker paper or lightweight 3-d articles (keys, buttons,
etc.) use Golden Heavy Gel (Matte) medium. Other
professional mediums by Liquate and others should be fine
too.
Source material for collage
Painted paper - You can paint original collage source
material using watercolor or acrylic paint on paper. I find 90
lb. Arches hot or cold press works the best. It's thick enough
not to buckle, and thin enough to easily paste down. It's a
great way to experiment and sling some paint! I'll put a full
sheet over a sawhorse outside and pour acrylic paint with
one hand and spray water with the other. Fun! Or try some
texture with acrylic and alcohol spray or watercolor and salt.
Collage is the perfect way to recycle less than great
traditional paintings. Tear them up and paste them down!
You can also draw with non-water based drawing materials
such as charcoal, oil stick, colored pencils, or wax crayons
(Ciaran DO Ache Neocolor I).
You can also enter many juried watercolor shows with hand
painted paper collage. You can also use water-soluble
crayons such as Caran DÕAche Neocolor II or watercolor
pencils. Just don't use any found paper. A few groups, such
as AWS will not accept any collage. Read all entry
requirements very carefully.
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Photography - Being a photographer, one of my other
favorite collage elements is an original photograph. I don't
paste down the original gelatin silver (B&W) or color-coupler
prints, but a reproduction. It works better and I usually want
to scale up the size.
Low-tech approach - Simply takes color photos to a copy
shop or office supply store and get black and white
photocopies made at the size you desire. It's inexpensive
and works great. Want color? Just glaze a thin coat of acrylic
paint and hand tint! If possible, copy on 100% rag paper. I
have been using Southworth 100% cotton 32 lb. Resume
paper. It will go through the copy machine and is fairly stiff.
The copier toner is carbon, and archival.
High-tech approach - Scan in your print (or negative) or
download your digital camera to a computer. Modify the
image and scale it any size you desire with Photoshop or
similar software. Print it out on a black and white laser
printer. A laser printer has a copy machine engine inside.
This approach is very versatile. We have a HP 5000N laser
printer in the studio, which prints 11" x 17", which is very
handy. Laser printers are as low as $100! Need a larger
image? Just tile it manually or automatically if your software
supports it. Add color, as described above, if desired.
Color - I have also been using color computer prints as
collage material. Most ink jet printers are water-soluble and
will run. Some Epson printers use pigmented ink (called
Ultra Chrome or K3) that are archival and can be directly
attached with matte or gel medium. Plus you can coat or
paint on the image surface. It will not run or fade! It's very
versatile. These printers start at $400. Printer technology
changes rapidly, there be other brands available.
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Found paper - To get the most original art,
use original source material! However, much of the charm
and funk of collage is found paper. Found paper has a patina
that is difficult to reproduce. You can use the above copy
machine and computer resources to duplicate, modify and
scale found paper and objects as well.
Found paper can be anything of interest. Here are some
ideas: Books, calendar pages, calligraphy, candy wrappers,
craft paper, documents, drawings, engravings, envelopes,
foreign printed material, game boards and parts, labels,
graphs, graph paper, gold foil, letters (especially handwritten), labels, ledgers, tags, tissue paper, maps,
matchbook covers, magazines, marbleized paper, money
(especially foreign), music (sheet music, music books),
newspapers, patterned paper, paintings, postcards, receipts,
rice paper, postage and postal marks, signage, theatre
tickets, other tickets, wallpaper. And of course, Dover and
other clip art books.
3-d objects - beads, bottle caps, buttons, cigar boxes,
charms, fabric, keys, lace, jewelry, toys, shells, and yarn.
Sources of found paper and objects include antique stores,
dollar stores, flea markets, garage sales, garbage cans,
library book sales, thrift stores, and the street! I get a lot at
annual library book sales and thrift stores.
Important note - Found paper is it is often copyrighted! See
the Copyright and Public Domain pages for more
information.