I have always been a fan of patterns and papers, since I was a little girl. Textures and structures inspire me – I love exploring surfaces with my eyes, hands and nose, feeling every unevenness and smelling the scent that makes each paper unique.
That is why I started collecting papers and patterns. I use them on projects, but also in my sketch books. Creating paper collages is a great way to work with colors, textures and to relax while my hands are busy.
Here´s how this page came together. I had a bunch of different papers in blue and purple shades. I started by picking the papers that caught my eye right away and assembled them on a page in my sketch book. Some shapes where cut out by hand, some with a die cutting machine and others decorated with stitches by a sewing machine.
After arranging the elements, I wrote the title of the page onto a piece of white cardstock and cut it out by hand. I applied watercolor to the cardstock and stamped a few words with black water resistant ink onto the colored areas.
Most of my pages include lots of layers and dimension. I use tons of dimensional foam dots in my work to give the elements an appearance of hovering on the page. This means the sketch albums get quite thick, I solve this problem by tearing out pages and collect those. When I got enough pages, I bind them as a new sketch book.
I encourage you to start (or broaden) your paper collection, there is no need to start buying tons of paper – look around you, collect tickets, napkins, newspaper, save gift wrapping paper or keep any other paper you can find. I would love to see your projects, scribbles and process photos, so please tag me on Instagram with
Enjoy the process,
Jana
Jana
