Today I want to teach you how to make what I call a “book collage.” You will need a couple of old books to cut up (if you don’t have any yet, see if you can pick up a couple at a thrift store or from your grandparents or friends—Sometimes even libraries have books they are discarding and you can ask to take a few of them home).
Set up a small station on a desk or card table—a place that can “stay open for collaging business” and doesn’t need to be cleaned up after each visit. On that table, you’ll need:
Paper of various colors (including craft paper that is used for scrapbooks, if you have some)
Glue Sticks and/or Two-Sided Tape (the kind that make one piece of paper stick to another)
Scissors
Cardboard (to stick to the back of the paper to mount your collage)
Markers, pens and pencils
Stickers (if you have a collection of them)
Books you can cut up!
The first step in building your collage is to page through the books you’ve assembled. Look for words that jump out at you—even if you don’t really know why the word struck you. Clip it out with scissors. You might even snip a phrase or entire sentence.
Amass a small collection of words, word pairs, phrases and sentences.
Play with them—push them around, lay them on your selected sheet of paper and see what order might make meaning or sense. Don’t settle too quickly on one version. It’s okay to try several. If you are worried about losing something you designed to try something else, snap a quick photograph so you can restore the original version if you so choose.
Add details like star stickers or borders or your own handwritten words to embellish the message.
You might make a collage about a historical event (the moon landing) or your favorite sport (hockey). You might be more philosophical and design a college that features an important thought about love or the heartbreak or autumn or the excitement of new ideas.
Paging through existing books to hunt for words is an enjoyable way to write—the words are already there. All you have to do is pluck them from their context and reimagine how they might come together to create a new meaningful message!
I would love to see yours! Post photos in the comments on Substack. And you might like trying this activity with friends. It’s a great way to pass time, do art, learn to write, and socialize all at once!
See you next time!
