A Sketchbook Practice: Collage Fodder

As a creative practice, I've been playing around in my sketchbook. Most of the time, I make watercolor paintings, work on some experimental portraits or create travel sketches.

But I learned another exciting way to dress up a blank sketchbook page.

It's called FODDER or Collage Fodder. 

Fodder School (yes, it exists!) defines collage fodder as "anything that can be used in the creation of a collage. Collage fodder can be collected (think old vintage book pages or ticket stubs) or handmade (think gelli prints or handmade pattern papers)."

I've done a lot of the paper collecting over the years, filing them randomly in plastic folders. The "handmade fodder" part really got my attention. 

I was introduced to the collage fodder concept when I attended Sketchbook Revival hosted by Karen Abend and Fodder School teacher Tiffany Simply Sharpe.

The first step is to make the focal point. In this case it would be a mushroom.

We started painting mushrooms (I don't think I've ever drawn mushrooms in great detail before). I chose this color palette: green, blue green, purple and fuchsia. Then when the paintings were dry, I outlined the edges with a fine-tipped black marker.

Tiffany used watercolor paper. To make it my own, I repurposed an empty cardboard box, turning it from blah to TADA! The back side won't be seen anyway because it will be glued down.

Cut around the mushrooms to remove the excess white border.

I also made toadstools and flowers using the cardboard.

The second step is to assemble the background using a collection of paper remnants, fabric, packing tape, magazine tear sheets, gift tissue and gift wrap. Perhaps you have old magazines and catalogs or a library of collected papers? These are a good place to start.

Narrow down your paper choices to a color story. I chose greens, blues and purples to complement the mushroom I painted.

Using the page of the sketchbook, try out different layouts before committing to anything. Tiffany calls this the audition process.

The third step is to glue things in place (I used a glue stick).

The final step is to add some journaling or finishing touches like designs from cling stamps and an ink pad. 

Here is what I made...TADA!

This is another version using both the mushroom and flower that I painted...TADA!

And finally, this fairytale toadstool collage.

Collage fodder is another way we can turn a blank sketchbook page from blah to TADA!  

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Rescued Paper Notebook

It's lovely to see you! 

Rescued Paper Notebook

I saw these Rescued Paper Notebooks at a museum shop and I just had to check them out. Inside are pages of discarded paper, each sheet is blank for writing on one side, and covered with printing on the other side, a peek-a-boo of its former life. I love the intentionality of it -- scrap paper bound together for jotting down ideas.

In the past, I've made something similar using packaging paper and paper collected from various notebooks that I bound together by hand. 

Let me show you a new one that I made:

I call it the Rescued Paper Collection inspired by the Rescued Paper Notebook. It's a book full of hand-painted pages. 

The pages all begin with this. Brown paper used to stuff boxes from online shopping. Time to turn it from blah to TADA!

After each page was painted, I bound them together with glue. I used binder clips to keep the spine in place as the glue dried.

Here is a flip through.

As you can see, the papers vary in size.

The colors and prints made from watercolor are pretty wild.

I also snuck in some printed tissue gift wrap and plain ones that I painted.

This can work as a scrapbook.

Or I can use the pages for my collage and scrapbooking needs (just cut the desired size of paper).

I also included an envelope filled with handmade fodder (fodder = anything you can use for collage).

Fodder samples include these hand-stamped quotes and hand-drawn flowers (use glue to attach them to a page).

Why buy when we can D.I.Y.?

And that is how I turned brown packaging paper from blah to TADA!

*****

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Postcards made from Cardboard Boxes

Hello everyone!

I love to repurpose materials that I find around the house and transform them from blah to TADA!

These were originally food boxes. Shaping them into birds and decorating them with acrylic paint gives them new life as greeting cards or classroom decor...TADA!

This little booklet is made of junk mail envelopes, dressed up with scrapbook paper and rubber stamps...TADA!

These envelopes are fashioned out of brown paper bags and the liners are magazine pages...TADA!

So you see, we can start crafting with items that we already have on hand. All we need is some imagination. Let's see how we can re-imagine these:

They are cardboard boxes and I think you'll agree that they look quite blah. 

But when we add a few coats of paint, they look more presentable.

Trim them into rectangles and they become postcards...TADA!

Here are several ways I gave them a new look: 

Adding some paint splatters and gluing on some hand-drawn fodder flowers make these postcards extra cheerful!

Apart from hand-painted fodder flowers, hand lettering, and handmade confetti, I used floral gift wrap tissue to decorate these postcards...TADA! 

Quotes and words of encouragement done in hand lettering or calligraphy can easily turn these blank postcards from blah to TADA!

And these postcards are made extra colorful using paint, rubber stamps, and flowers drawn with a pointed nib pen...TADA!  

That is how I turned cardboard boxes from blah to TADA!

*****

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Painted Paper Projects

I'm pretty excited with today's craft because anyone can do it. Let's begin!  

We will turn a brown paper bag from blah to...

...TADA! Our very own gift wrap!

Simply paint the brown paper bag in any color you want. I used acrylic paint (orange with streaks of yellow) and a big paint brush. Cover the entire sheet and let the paint dry. Then paint on a motif that you like: robots, hats, fruits, hearts, or rainbows. Of course I chose flowers!

I painted different kinds of flowers and used different colors for variety.

I also experimented with using just white paint. Once I filled the paper with my design, I left the paper to dry.  

Here are some of the things I made using my gift wrap:

I made an envelope...TADA! I used this template kit or you can make your own using this tutorial. 

Here's a closer look.

Here's the flip side. Cute, right?

I made a smaller envelope, still using one of the templates in the kit. 

Two envelopes I can use for my letters and birthday cards...TADA!

I'm saving this sheet to wrap a small gift. 

I can also trim the flowers to use as fodder to decorate my art journal, scrapbook, and gift boxes...TADA!

For the paper remnants, I won't waste them! Using a paper punch, I made these confetti hearts...TADA!

And for even the smaller paper scraps, I used a hole punch to make more confetti...TADA!

That is how I turned a brown paper bag from blah to TADA!

*****

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