The College of Collage

Expensive Butter by Enormous Wings Ridiculous Greeting Cards

My friend, Heather Mordecai, has always had a strange and twisted talent for collage. She has a curious ability to effortlessly bring random images together in the most bizarre compositions – marrying them happily for time and eternity. In doing so her work invokes a sense of confusion, beauty and humor.

My overt obsession with her collages prompted me to request that she detail the method behind her genius for Dahlight in hopes that it might inspire us to try our hands at this quirky art. She kindly obliged.

in case you’d rather skip the gluey fingers and trouble of collecting the perfect images, you can have Heather’s fantastical cards sent straight to you. As of today, we’re selling them in the Laura Dahl E-Shop.

I hope you love this crazy collage stuff as much as I do!
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HOW I MAKE MY COLLAGES
By Heather Mordecai

There are a million ways to make a collage, and a lot of different types of collages which is why it’s such a great medium. You can make one with practically anything you can find, and do it anyway you want. Truly, the sky’s the limit.

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The Images

I generally use printed matter; magazines, catalogs, books and assorted ephemera. I try to snag free magazines anytime I see them. Sometimes antique stores will sell old magazines, photos, letters etc. that are great. I also try to pick up flyers and brochures that look interesting. The publishing company Dover makes these fantastic books of vintage images that I love to use as well.
Old-Time Halloween Illustrations CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art)
Old-Time Anatomical Illustrations CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art)
Baroque Ornament CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art)
Classic Children’s Book Illustrations CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art)
Full-Color Vintage Advertising Illustrations CD-ROM and Book (Full-Color Electronic Design Series)
Decorative Silhouettes CD-ROM and Book (Dover Electronic Clip Art)

If you want to take a short cut, some craft stores and sites like Etsy sell “ephemera bags/packs” that will have a random collection of items already gathered for you, usually of a vintage nature.

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The Process
I will go through and cut out any images that look interesting to me and I sort and store them by size. I try to keep a large stockpile on hand. For me, the key to a good image is anything you can see most of, without any text on it, and that is relatively easy to cut out. Of course sometimes there are images that I really want but are complex to cut out without ruining it. I keep little nail scissors on hand or sometimes use a small exacto knife to make those cuts. It just takes practice. Sometimes I do have to cut through the image to get it, but I know I’ll be gluing it back together so it works out. If you are going to manipulate the image – stick another image through it etc… – you will have to cut through it anyway.

When I am ready to make the collage I make piles of all the images I have found according to the size. I use 4 different sizes. My collages tend to be small, usually greeting card size, so 4 is usually exactly what will fit and be interesting.

I will close my eyes and choose one image form each pile. Then I am forced to make a collage from the 4 random images I have chosen. I absolutely love trying to put the pieces together, to make them fit. I feel like I am writing a story, creating relationships between the random objects. I will often have some sort of running narrative in my mind of how these things

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got together they way they did and what is going on. Everyone really seems to want to make sense of what they see and they will try to come up with a story themselves. I think that’s just a very human thing to do.

If I have chosen 2 things that are from the same source, I will switch them out. I really want the variety of the look of the images since there are only 4.

Sometimes of course the random images are not working, the colors won’t be right or I just can’t make a relationship work and I allow myself to switch one out. Sometimes I will also add in one more small image if I feel like I need it to balance a scene out. I feel like my background in set design and theatre really influence how I “set the stage” of the collage.

It takes me quite a while to complete one. I will try a million combinations of the images before I am happy. Sometimes I will glue and unglue. Sometimes they will tear and I will have to repair them. It can be frustrating but it is always worthwhile when I have it exactly how I want it.

Once I have the images how I think I want them, I use a glue stick to put them together. I will glue the images together before I glue the finished piece down to anything. Glue sticks are great because they will stick enough to hold the pieces together, but if you want to change them, which usually happens, it will come apart easily. I like Uhu brand as well as good ol’ Elmers. The kind that is one color when you put it on and then dries clear is fantastic.

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After the images are finally how I know I want them, I then glue them to whatever they are going on. Usually cards, but more recently, canvas, wooden boxes, cake boxes, lampshades and walls. Mostly it’s going to be paper or wood. I like to use Mod Podge Paper glue and sealer. I paint the back of the collage with the glue using a paint brush, and then I paint over the whole thing with the Mod Podge as well to seal everything.

And that’s it!

The Inspiration
I don’t really have a specific place where I find inspiration. Once I see my random images I get a natural inspiration for the challenge ahead and I get excited to see what is going to happen. But to get in the creative mode, I like to see other artists’ work. Any kind of artist, not just collage. I just like to see as much art as possible, because you never know how you may react to something. I also like to listen to music. I always make up a little story about what’s happening in the song and that’s good mental exercise for creative thinking with the images. History is really inspiring to me. Particularly, American history. If I find a image of an old soldier or any vintage image it really helps to be familiar with the period and definitely influences my little narrative for the images.

Books on Collage
Collage Techniques: A Guide for Artists and Illustrators
Urgent 2nd Class: Creating Curious Collage, Dubious Documents, and Other Art from Ephemera