Collaging: A How To Guide

Over the previous few summers, to stay off my phone, preserve the pretty pictures I discovered in magazines and scratch my creative itch to make things, I discovered the art of collaging. As a hobby, collaging can be decompressing, fulfilling, cheap and, best of all, it doesn’t require any advanced skills to create an impressive-looking product.

While you can pick up any magazine from your home and start snipping away, if you want to tailor a specific design or expand your horizon of resources, there are cheap and easy ways to do so.

In this collaging exposé, I’ll go through the steps of perfecting your creative process, enlighten you on where to find unique pictures and, finally, expose a quick and cheap way to print out whatever your heart desires.

What you’ll need

1. A thick backboard that will act as the structure for your collage: This can be several things: a few stacked pieces of paper taped together, the cardboard backing of an old notebook, a thick sheet from a magazine or an old cereal box. You can also print a backboard through FedEx. Instructions on how to do so will be listed at the end of this article.
2. Glue: You can use tape, but glue is easier. I have found that Elmer’s glue sticks work best as they don’t stain or crinkle your paper.
3. Scissors: No explanation is needed.
4. Art: Either selected and printed or from old magazines. If you plan on printing your art, you’ll probably need less than $15 depending on how big you want your piece to be.

Selecting your art

The first step in your collaging journey is selecting the art you want to use. I usually start by skimming through old magazines and I go to Pinterest if I feel like I need more content. Occasionally, I’ll use any old photos I’ve taken.

Pinterest can be pretty overwhelming, especially when you have the task of selecting pieces that complement each other. To get started or set specific themes, you can target your searches around these categories:

• Colors: Going for a statement piece? Something bright? Or maybe something more neutral?
• A statement photo: It’s anything that catches your eye that you may want to be the main attraction of your work or even just an object to base the rest of your selections on.
• Background: When selecting photos, it’s best to choose a good handful of background pictures to fill the majority of your white space. Background pictures can be intricate, minimalistic or an animal print.
• Specific quotes: Think of anything you may want to read daily as an affirmation or reminder.
• Anything meaningful to you: This can mean old pictures, nostalgic websites, plane tickets or movie stubs, dried flowers, match boxes and more.

Magazines, or even newspapers, can be useful for cutting out letters or grabbing text to use as a background sheet; they often harbor plenty of unique and cute graphics or photos, too. Make use of what you already have in front of you before brainstorming what you want to print.

Printing cheaply through fedex

Linked here, or found by going to FedEx’s website and typing in “Sales Sheets,” is the hack for printing any pictures you want for a very low price — typically less than a dollar. 

I find that printing a variety of photos and pieces at once is most efficient and resourceful. Typically, I screenshot the pictures I want and size them up on a Google Doc (or Word Doc, if that’s more your thing).

I then download the doc to my desktop and upload it to FedEx. You will most likely get a pop-up that your resolution is too low or that your prints will be blurry; I have always gotten these messages, but it’s never been a problem for me in the end.

Last time I was trying to print, the website was only letting me submit orders of four or fewer at a time, so that was a bit annoying. As long as you’re aware of it, the problem is easily avoidable. 

Once on the sales sheet portion of the website, feel free to select a variety of different finishes.

• For printing a backboard: Upload a blank doc and select any paper with a weight over 60 pounds. This will ensure a solid structure of the paper and your future collage.
• ‘Gloss text’ will give your pictures a slight sheen
• ‘Laser’ will have a simple paper look and feel, recycled or normal works, and 32 pounds is best.

I like to incorporate both textures for a more diverse-looking end product. This printing method also works well if you want cheap, mid-size posters.

Getting to gluing

Here is where our journey together ends, as there is no one right way to throw cut-up pieces of paper together. Create whatever your mind desires! I hope this how-to guide has been helpful in jumpstarting your collage journey.

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