Collage & Cutting

A collage is a picture made by gluing pieces of paper, fabric, or other materials onto a background, and cutting helps us make those pieces the right shape and size.

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Definition

A collage is an artwork you create by cutting or tearing different materials and gluing them onto a flat surface to make a new picture or design. Instead of drawing everything, you build your picture by choosing, cutting, and arranging pieces until you like how it looks, then you glue them down.

Remember the rule

Cut, Arrange, THEN Glue — always try your pieces in place before you stick them down so you can move them if you change your mind.

Key words

Collage: A picture made by gluing cut or torn pieces of paper, fabric, or other materials onto a background.
Background: The big flat surface, usually a piece of paper or cardboard, that you glue everything onto.
Scissors: The tool you use to cut paper and other materials into shapes. Always hold them with the blades pointing away from people.
Glue: The sticky stuff that holds your cut pieces onto the background so they do not fall off.
Overlap: When one piece of paper sits on top of another piece, like shingles on a roof.
Texture: The way something feels or looks up close, like bumpy, smooth, rough, or fuzzy.
Arrange: To move your pieces around on the background and try different spots before you glue them down.
Tear: To pull paper apart with your fingers instead of cutting it, which makes a rough, soft edge.

Worked examples

You want to make a sunny day picture. How do you make the sun?

→ Cut a yellow circle from yellow paper for the sun, then cut several short yellow strips for the rays. Arrange the strips around the circle on your background, then glue the strips first and the circle on top. · Gluing the rays first, then the circle on top, makes the sun look like the rays are coming out from behind it.

You want to make a fish but the scissors are hard to use. What can you do?

→ Use your fingers to tear a rounded oval shape from orange paper. Tear a small triangle from the same paper for the tail. The torn edges actually look nice and scaly on a fish. · Tearing works great for animals and clouds because the soft edges look more natural than a sharp cut line.

You have a piece of red paper that is too big for your apple picture. How do you fix it?

→ Hold your scissors steady, put the paper in between the blades, and make slow snips to cut the paper smaller until it is about the size of an apple. Keep checking by holding it up to your drawing to compare. · Cutting a little at a time is safer and more accurate than trying to cut off a huge piece all at once.

Your collage has a blue sky, green hills, and a yellow sun, but it looks empty. What could you add?

→ Look around your paper scraps for other colors. Cut small white puffs for clouds, a brown rectangle for a tree trunk, and green triangles for leaves, then arrange and glue them in the empty spots. · Overlapping some pieces, like putting the tree trunk over the bottom of the hill, makes the picture look more real.

You glued a piece down in the wrong spot. What do you do?

→ If the glue is still wet, gently peel the piece off slowly and move it to the right spot. If it has dried, cut a new piece from your scraps and glue it on top to cover the mistake. · In collage, you can almost always fix a mistake by adding another layer on top.

Common mistakes

Using too much glue — a thin layer or small dots of glue are enough; big blobs make the paper wrinkle and take forever to dry.
Gluing pieces down right away without arranging them first — always place all your pieces on the background first to check you like the layout before you glue anything.
Holding scissors sideways or upside down — the thumb goes in the small hole and fingers go in the big hole, with the blades pointing forward, not toward your body.
Cutting too fast — slow, steady snips give you a cleaner, more accurate shape than rushing with big choppy cuts.
Forgetting to press down after gluing — after you place a glued piece, press it flat with your whole hand for a few seconds so it sticks properly and does not curl up.

FAQs

What materials can I use in a collage besides paper?

You can glue on fabric scraps, yarn, dried leaves, tissue paper, paper towels, newspaper, foil, or even small flat buttons. If it is flat enough to lie on the paper and your glue can hold it, you can try it.

How do I cut a circle? Circles are hard!

Start by cutting the corners off a square piece of paper to make a rough circle shape, then keep snipping off the pointy edges little by little, turning the paper as you go. It gets rounder with each tiny snip.

Does it matter what order I glue things down?

Yes! Glue down the pieces that go in the back of the picture first, then glue pieces on top of them. For example, glue the sky first, then the hill on top of the sky, then the tree on top of the hill.

My paper keeps sliding when I try to cut it. How do I hold it?

Use your helper hand to grip the paper firmly about one inch away from where you are cutting. Keep your helper hand fingers curled back so they stay away from the scissor blades.

Can I draw on my collage too?

Absolutely yes. You can draw details like eyes, windows, or flower petals on top of your glued pieces using crayons or markers. Many famous artists mix drawing and collage in the same artwork.

What if I run out of the color I need?

Try mixing colors by layering torn pieces of tissue paper on top of each other, or look at your scraps for a color that is close enough. You can also use crayons to color a plain white piece of paper the color you need and then cut from that.

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