Glue, Scissors and Stitch...

This sewn accordion book was birthed from my love of magazine images. I find it difficult to discard magazines before harvesting some of their beautiful and interesting photos. I keep a ring binder with the images stored in sheet protectors. Why? It may partly be an appreciation that some very skilled, artistic, and unknown someone worked to make those images happen, and to make them so appealing. I just can't toss them. But what do you do with all those bits and pieces? Well I have a glue stick and a sewing machine, so stitched collage is my answer. I'll share my process later in this post.

I pick up magazines at our library used book shop for 25 cents apiece. Lots of them are travel or fashion magazines I would not purchase on the newsstand, but I do love to leaf through and enjoy the photography. That Tuscan building- those shells- that magnificent door- they just draw me in.

Some collages include realistic views like the ones above, while others combine fanciful elements like these. It's fun and relaxing to "shop" my image collection or to go through an issue to come up with bits that I think need to go together.

The collages begin with a background image to which I then add and arrange other elements. You can see that this book is not complete because two of these (the center image has an ornate plate added) are just the background currently. That may be enough to satisfy me, though most often I'll go back and add more.

An example is the cityscape in this one-I thought the addition of the color and graphics added to the mood, as did the lovely full moon combined with the delicate flowers in the second one. Soothing somehow.

Once I finish a group of the collages, I bind them into a fold-out accordion book by arranging them in an order I like, then butting them up side-by-side and stitching them in a long chain. Oh, and I edge-stitch each collage ahead of that, so that all have a decorative edge. Here are some awaiting further elements plus awating a few more collages to join them in a book of their own.

In case you'd like to try this yourself, I'll outline the steps I follow. First, tear out pages of images you like from the magazines. Study them to envision which part of the image you'd like to feature in your collage. I used postcard-size pieces of watercolor paper (though cardstock would work as well), so I'm looking for an area about 4" x 6". And I usually work on several backgrounds at once.

Once you locate the area you'd like to feature, turn the magazine page over and glue the paper to the back side. Aim for the area you like when placing the paper, but be flexible- you are working a bit blind here, and may not get an exact placement. Notice in the above photo that you can use more than one part of an image, depending on the size of the collage you are making. Glue tips: Use a lot of glue stick to get good coverage on the watercolor paper. Glue on top of a throwaway sheet in order to get glue all the way to the edges. Put some glue on the back of the magazine page in the area you're aiming for in order to get good adhesion. Smooth the watercolor paper in place by placing a clean sheet over it and burnishing. Remove the cover sheet and place the glued page (either side up) under a heavy book or object to dry.

Once dry, cut away the excess magazine page from the back side, using the 4" x 6" paper as a guide. Turn the piece over, and drink in your lovely background! Stop there if you love it. But I usually continue on. It is collage after all. Collage is the art of sticking various material onto a backing as per the dictionary. So more is more, and the surprising ways you can enhance your background are endless.

I've now started the collages shown above by adding at least one element so far to each one. As I look at my collages, I see that I apparently favor pink roses in a lot of my pieces. They do add a colorful and graceful feel- I can almost smell their sweet fragrance! If you'd like an inexpensive, creative, and very satisfying way to spend a couple of hours, give a sewn collage book a try. A lot of the process can happen right on a tv tray when you are watching. Try it, I'm pretty sure you'll like it. Have fun!