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How to make paper collage cards

How to make paper collage cards
Crafts / For Beginners / Inspiration / Mixed media / Popular posts / Printing / Step by step demonstrations

How to make paper collage cards

Paper collage cards are fun and easy to make, it doesn’t take a lot of time and you could even recycle old paintings or drawings in the process.

What you will need:

  • Printed papers (see bellow)
  • Blank cards, or Bristol paper
  • Gel medium or mod podge or white glue
  • A brush
  • Acrylic paint, inks, markers… (optional)
  • A pencil

I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.

 


Canson XL Recycled Bristol Pads

The only recycled bristol on the market, these pads are designed to appeal to students, with superior construction and heavier weight covers. 96 lb (260 gsm) weight.

Start by gathering paper for your collage

You can make the paper using a variety of techniques:

  • You can make colored paper using a gel printing plate
  • You can paint directly on paper
  • You can stamp on paper
  • You can use stencils to add textures
  • You can make textured paper using various materials like bubble paper

You can also use already made paper:

  • Origami paper
  • Tissue paper
  • pages from magazines

Once you gathered your papers, it saves time to cut them into strips so you can work directly and form letters by ripping the pre-cut strips.

Pre-cutting papers into strips
Pre-cutting papers into strips
Strips of paper ready to be used for collage
Strips of paper ready to be used for collage

You can paint a background on the cards if you want to

This is optional, but you could decide to paint a background, either with fluid acrylics or with full bodied acrylic paint.

I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.

 

Blick Water-Soluble Block Printing Inks


Pigments are ground and milled to provide consistent good coverage without over-inking. Clean-up with water. 12 non-toxic colors in a variety of tube and jar sizes.

Once your background had time to dry (you could also use a hairdryer) , time for the fun part to start!

Paper collage

I recommend you place the elements of your collage before starting to fix them with medium or glue so you can check the composition and make sure everything will fit.

checking the composition before fixing the collage
Checking the composition before fixing the collage

You can use tweezers to move the little strips of paper more easily.

If you want to add a shape to fill, here I wanted to had a heart shape, draw it before with pencil.

drawing a heart shape to fill with collage
drawing a heart shape to fill with collage
Then I fill the shape with overlapping strips of papers, fixing each one with gel medium
Then I fill the shape with overlapping strips of papers, fixing each one with gel medium

I used gloss medium as a fixative, but before it makes the surface appear glossier, I spread it on the whole surface of the card for consistency.

using gloss medium to fix the paper strips on the collage card
using gloss medium to fix the paper strips on the collage card

Then you can leave your card to dry. If it becomes a bit warped, you can either iron it at a low temperature or use a paper press.

3 love you collage cards
Here are 3 collage cards , one with a blank background and two with painted backgrounds

Here is a gallery of some of the cards I made:

3/5 - (4 votes)

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