Collage Postcards Using Glue Sticks

Collages showcase one of the best uses on the planet for glue sticks. What a better way to share your assemblage masterpiece than by turning it into a postcard. This project is a great way to find a use for old magazines by upcycling them into custom mailers and greeting cards.

This project is a breakout exercise from my Glue Class, a great resource for getting started with the wonderful world of adhesives (and what to do when you've forgotten to read the back of the glue bottle :D)

Step 1: Materials Needed

Materials Needed

• Cardboard or Cardstock
• Old Magazines
• Constrution paper
• Glue Sticks
• Scissors
• Exacto Blade (optional)
• Cutting Mat (optional

Step 2: Cutting Pictures and Shapes

When making collages, I scan magazines for interesting photographs, shapes, textures, etc. A lot of the times the advertisements in the magazines have the best abstract images that are great for backgrounds.

Step 3: Gluing Your Pieces Together

Mating two large surface areas are quite simple, apply glue to the surface area of just one of the surfaces you are trying to bond, you don't have enough time to apply it to both. Mate the surfaces, squishing any air that may have gotten in under your perimeter and could potentially inhibit your bond.

Step 4: Keeping It Together

When applying glue to the back of the image clipping, note how I go around the perimeter of the clipping, applying almost no glue to the center.

Because we are concerned with our edges lifting, it is important that the perimeter of your bonding surfaces gets coated with enough glue.

Step 5: Share Your Postcard

That's it! Share your paper collage below - can't wait to see your version of this project! Get creative, go beyond the size of a postcard to create some fun and interesting assemblage!

For more great glue stick tips, be sure to check out the Glue Stick Lesson in my Glue Class. Happy Crafting!

Comments

[LauraN62]

The issue is not what I should choose to use as an underlayment to "catch" unwanted glue (I agree, investment quarterlies are good choices for several reasons, some of them having nothing to do with flowers, leaves, or glue.), but how to make a thin, thin line on stretchy paper without deforming the paper while dragging the stick, and keeping the glue line very thin while using the big, clunky head of a glue stick.

[LauraN62]

I have started making crepe paper flowers. A typical petal or leaf can have two "grains" or directions in which the crepe indentations run. These petals or leaves are joined together along a central line with the grains of each side running at an angle to the central line. The actual glue line should be very, very thin, perhaps as thin as 1/16", and at times a thin floral wire is sandwiched between the sides of the petal/leaf and held in place with the glue. In the latter instance, I've found that glue sticks just don't have enough "tack" to hold a wire in place, but work with the finer (lighter weight) types of crepe paper.

Now, my question. How can I "sharpen" the end of a glue stick so that I don't waste 4/5 of the glue surface applying a thin glue line to the very edge of a petal which has been cut on the bias (and thus is stretchy). At the current time, I just run the stick top along the edge which is sitting on a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper, and most of the glue ends up on the waxed paper or parchment. How would you improve this situation?

[jsauer]

I use old catalog pages as surfaces on which to put the image I'm glueing. That way I can be sure I get glue on all the edges without getting it on my fingers. Newsprint investment quarterlies are the best.