Collage art with a red theme
When I began with an idea to collage a small, coffee stained book, the first interesting piece that came across my desk was kraft colored paper with red ampersands in different fonts. That's all I needed to start me on my chosen path of creating a book of collage art with a red theme.
Red is my favorite color. Red paired with white, black, or beige are great combinations. I've made one other red-themed journal and I loved how it turned out. This new one will be on a much smaller scale, but still really lovely.
When I don't really know what to do, I start with a collage of vintage postage stamps. I like to see stamps all lined up. I like the orderliness of them. It makes sense to me to see them this way.
Sometimes it's a bit of a challenge to find the correct red-themed pieces. Below, a bit of red washi tape to match the shade of red of the wax seal helped pull these pages together. The stamp with the red locomotive is really the centerpiece, though.
Of course, colorful roses illustrated in a vintage style are always a great addition to any spread, especially if they contain at least one red rose.
I had this black and white photo sitting on my desk for only a few days and knew that I wanted to use it somewhere in the book. It came with some other ephemera I received in a workshop I took recently. Its small size meant that I could feature it prominently in a spread.
It's a beautiful photo, even if the man isn't looking at the camera. I posted this photo on Instagram and asked if anyone recognized this place. Someone noticed the spire on the cathedral is very unique (the brackets on the sides) and recognized the place as Strasbourg, France -- all within a few hours of posting. That's so cool!
The only thing I'm not thrilled with is the cover. It's a bit all over the place. I had this piece of colorful scrap art and thought to use it. The red piece is striking against the Kraft color of the cover, but I didn't have much opportunity to tone it down. I did manage to get one more ampersand in there, though.
