Posting on behalf of loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com
Up at the Manzanita transfer station last spring, I spied heavy duty sealed boxes over by the little free community bookshelves. I opened a box and full sets of National Geographics from 1941-1968 were inside. They had evidently been stored somewhere dry because they didn’t smell moldy, so I took home one box and then went back for another….and another.
Cutting up old magazines was a favorite occupation of mine when I was a kid. I was sick a lot and the youngest of five girls by a decade, so I made my own fun a lot of the time. I liked to cut out pictures of people and built entire paper doll families designing their houses with the old Sunset and Family Circle magazines my mom had around the house.
As a preschool teacher, I’d make collage “story starters” and ask the kids to tell me the story of the picture. I’d transcribe their words and we’d make books of the stories that went with the images. I used the same process when I taught creative writing at PSU only by then I was collecting old photographs from thrift stores.
Once I found those magazines at the transfer station I went gangbusters—you can see some of the collages I’ve made at the library through the month of August. I guess you could say that the embroidered felt pieces that are also in the library are like collage in a way. Cutting and stitching, take a lot longer, but I love the process of making things by hand.
It’s time for me to pass on the rest of my collection so I put together bags with a few National Geographics, some paper ephemera I’ve collected, heavy duty paper and a glue stick for anyone who wants to cut and paste the old school way. You’ll need scissors and your imaginator. Add other stuff like old greeting cards and photos. Be creative—collage old oatmeal containers or cardboard packaging. The sky’s the limit!
They’re at the desk for your crafting pleasure!
Kim Rosenberg