Creating Collage Mandalas
If you like cutting papers with scissors, create collage mandalas! And if you need more inspiration for cutting, read this post first: 5 Reasons to Enjoy Cutting Paper with Scissors)
Circles Are Everywhere
For some people, mandalas have spiritual meaning. They usually represent universe or unity. As the word “mandala” means “circle” they can be almost anything and seen almost anywhere. I am often inspired by the circular shapes that I see in nature. Mandalas are usually symmetric, so they are surprisingly fast to make. The mandalas that I made are very straight-forward, yet eye-catching.
Basic Instructions for Creating Collage Mandalas
1) Cut a centerpiece and other pieces (3 to 5 different shapes, 6 to 12 pieces each) from decorated papers. I cut the pieces freely with scissors not worrying too much about their similarity.
2) Glue the pieces on the solid background paper. I used Golden Soft Gel Gloss gel medium, but you can use almost any glue. Measure the middle point of the background paper and start attaching the pieces from there.
3) Draw some more shapes with color pencils.
4) Doodle the finest decorations with a white gel pen and a thin black marker.
If you study my mandalas carefully, you’ll see how carelessly I have cut the shapes. They are not identical or perfect. I think that the result is more human when using scissors instead of cutting machines or shape cutters. Look at that photo of the daisy flower again, doesn’t the flower look more like hand-cut than machine-cut?
I made my mandalas as greeting cards. I think they would make great gifts!
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5 Reasons to Enjoy Cutting Paper with Scissors
I wrote an article about cutting paper with scissors to the Finnish paper crafting magazine “Paperilla.” The collage shown here was made as an illustration for the article. It is called Fruit Tree. For the collage, I picked some solid colored papers and cut them to pieces. After glueing the pieces, I added a black background and thin decorative lines with black markers. So simple yet effective!
I have nothing against die cutting machines but still – think about the possibilities of plain old scissors! It is like all the stencils and cutting files of the world are packed inside of them!
There are at least five reasons to enjoy cutting paper with scissors!
1) Hand cut pieces are 100 % You
People often worry that if they cut by hand, their circles are not perfectly round or their squares perfectly rectangular. I like to call my irregular cuts “organic.” To me, they look unique and full of potential, especially when combined with the other imperfect ones. They are a little bit like my plants – marigolds and geraniums which I grow each year. They might bloom a bit late, and they would not probably be accepted by the finest of the garden centres, but I love them.
2) While hand cutting Your subconscious guides You
When you keep on cutting those odd shapes, your imagination begins to work. Sometimes it takes less time, sometimes more, but when that happens it is like reading an interesting book, like taking a personality test … It is so much fun to find out what those scissors reveal each time!
3) You can repeat Your favorite shapes
Here are the six examples of mine! I have cut them so many time that they come out naturally. I also know a lot of ways to use them. Because of their familiarity, I can easily make variations from them. Finding your favorite shapes can even create the base of your unique style.
I also love to decorate the shapes with some doodling. That makes similar shapes look different from each other.
4) You can use Your own papers – or any papers!
As you know I love to make my own decorated papers. They are often as curvy and irregular as my hand cuts but no worry. With scissors I can cut any paper, thick or thin. I can spend time with fabulous papers or make even the ugly papers fabulous when I cut them thoughtfully. (The papers seen here are the best solids I know – my own watercolored papers where I have used several layers of watercolor to increase the color intensity. There’s gel medium in the jar for glueing the pieces.)
5) You can always think about hand cutting
You can take couple sheets of paper and the scissors with you wherever you go. Or you can just take the scissors and re-use paper from the magazines, tickets, leaflets, etc. Furthermore, I promise, you will begin to see interesting shapes everywhere. (Feel free to copy that crocus shape – a long stem with an oval shape on the top!)
6) Bonus! You are one step closer to being an artist!
Just wait, your art journal, card collection or whatever you do with the hand cut shapes will begin to live and breathe. Just keep on adding those elements!
Think about how this spread would look if I had cut the shapes using a die-cut machine. Nothing alike! Without even mentioning the differences in the experience of cutting and assembling. Art needs freedom, and your scissors can take you there!
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How Does the World Look Like?
When I was a child, I used to draw with my sisters. My sisters are over 15 years older than me so I asked a lot from them. One winter day I asked my oldest sister: What color is snow? And my sister answered: snow reflects a lot of colors so you can use a rainbow of colors. That’s a brilliant answer! It answers any questions of what color to use for nature-themed art. Yes, you can use a rainbow of colors! Like I did in this forest themed card.
I take a lot of photos just to learn from the nature. Here are a couple of them just to prove how realistic my little collage is. There really is a lot of colors and variety in nature!
Speaking of rainbows …
My advice is: when you create, stop repeating and start adding variety.
Use combinations of various papers and colors. Add layers and create elements and group with various sizes. Let your art grow and change like the plants and trees do.
What do you think? How does the world look like to you?
P.S. Here’s another card that uses the same principles.
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Tribute to the Old Watercolor Set
I loved my old watercolor set. I bought it at the time I thought I should learn how to use watercolors. I also bought a book about watercolor painting. It would explain to me how to do it in correct way. That meant: merrily paint those landscapes and still lives in a row like all watercolor artists seemed to do. Soon I realized that even if I admire all those great artists I got nothing out of painting like that myself. Partly blaming my watercolors for it I put them away.
They must have been sad. All those beautiful things that they held inside was in the dark for years. How happy and thirsty they must have been when they were finally able to see the light again. They persuaded me to give them another try. They promised to be ready what ever I would assign them to. “Come on, stroke us with those soft brushes you have”, they pleaded.
I gave them a stroke, and another… After many long and hard discussions I realized that all I had to do is to let go. Not only put away my assumptions about their purpose but also their nature. These were social guys. Ready to talk not only with me but also with my color pencils, acrylics, inks, markers, you name it.
Now the pads are all gone. But even if the tray is empty, the beloved colors can be found in my art journals and display books. I kind of think that I have set them free. To celebrate their freedom and the happy moments spent with them I made a tribute for them. I even dressed their favorite brush and their water cup.
With this tribute I let my watercolors speak to you: use your art supplies and let them show you where art can take you. Art is not a competition, neither any other predefined experience. Art is not too noble or too serious. You have the privilege to fly to the world of imagination and your art supplies crave to help you with that!
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