Hobby Talk

In high school, I loved to make my boyfriend big collages on poster boards. Though they featured girly imagery and kissing people, like a boy in love, he willingly hung them in his room.  I have never stopped making collages. In much the same way that cream soda or sweetened earl grey are my favorite things to drink, collage has stuck as my favorite thing to make.

I have sold several of my collages, but the majority end up being given to school auctions or as gifts to people getting married. Most hang in my house somewhere. One time I made a collage for my hairdresser's nursery in lieu of a tip.  I've only ever sold one thing in my currently empty etsy shop, to my mother-in-law.  She also graciously purchased a bunch of collages and pillows once during a visit then returned to Michigan, her suitcase stuffed with Tia-made gifts, and her luggage was lost and never recovered. Who knows where those creations ended up.

I am still figuring out how to make my collage-crafting a HABIT, occurring often rather than cyclically. My next goal is to figure out a way to make prints of the collages I make because that will allow me to sell them for less and ship them for less. I have a few sources for printing in my back pocket. I am reading a book by Lilla Rogers, an agent to artists, who has all sorts of good information about how to put yourself out there and find a market for the kinds of things you create.

Here's a few of the collages I've made over the past few years......

This was a collage I made especially for my husband. One of my more recent ideas was to make collages based on cool old houses I'd seen on some of the urban hikes we've taken in Portland. These were actual houses I saw in the Ladd's Addition neighborhood. I took pictures of them and then piece by piece created them again out of paper. I like how they turned out on a birch background, too.

This was it before, and then here it is after......

 This is the largest collage I've made. It's now enhancing our playroom walls. 

This hangs in our bathroom

 I've made a few cards......

My next idea is to make educational posters with positive messages for use in elementary classrooms. I made this design on a large canvas to hang in the space I share with two other teachers. The letters are made of children's book illustrations (I snatch the large copies when the library has a sale) and then I did a color photo-copy of the spines of books for the bottom.....

The joy continues. I love this hobby of mine.