This is a very simple craft project suitable for all ages. Do you have art supplies you no longer use? Have you ever gone to a yard sale or flea market and saw old art supplies that seem too shabby to use for their original purpose? Have you ever wondered what you could do with them? Here is an easy way to put them to use in art.
Materials:
- Old art supplies: paintbrushes, palettes, palette knives, used up watercolor trays (or cake tins), empty pens, pencil stubs, used up paint tubes, pieces of chalk, small empty bottles, small empty sketchpads, used up pens, used up markers, labels, paint chip samples, outdated catalogs, broken crayons, and so on.
- Scissors
- Heavy-duty glue stick
- Hot glue gun
- Hot glue sticks
- Brown acrylic paint
- Stretched canvas, 9x12 inches
- Piece of paper the size of the interior of the back of the stretched canvas
Instructions:
- Flip the canvas so you are looking at the back where the canvas is stretched over the wood and stapled. Paint this entire area with brown acrylic paint.
- While the paint dries, cut or tear out images from the old catalogs collected (these can be supply catalogs, old magazines, or anything else that would be discarded after used up)
- Affix the images taken from the catalog to the painted canvas area, allowing the paint to show through in several areas. The wood will act as a frame. Allow this to dry completely.
- Using the piece of paper, experiment with object placement. Depending on what you have collected, this could be a very complex or sparse arrangement.
- Transfer the items to the canvas one by one, using the hot glue gun to affix each as you go along. You may need to hold the object for a few seconds before releasing in order to ensure proper hold.
Because a hot glue gun is in use for this project, it is important to use adult supervision if small children are present. Even though this is a very easy collage project, the hot glue gun still poses a danger.
There are other adhesives you can use if you are not comfortable using a hot glue gun. Check with your local art supply store to see what they have on hand, as well as to get some advice about what to use as a suitable replacement. The replacement will all depend on the weight of the items being used, so be sure to be very specific about the project you’re working on when having this discussion.
