Paper Collage: The Easiest Way Back Into the Studio (You Already Have the Supplies You Need)

There have been plenty of times when I intended to make art and did something else instead.

(If you want to go straight to more advanced supplies list, click here)

This time, I didn't. But I almost did.

I sat down to work with paper collage ( a medium I'd dabbled in but never really explored) and I noticed myself procrastinating even in the chair. It had been a while since I'd sat there. So I pulled out my Art Session Planner sheet anyway and filled it out, to see if I

could flesh out what I was avoiding.

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That one small act changed the whole session. And it taught me something I didn't expect: the paper collage supplies that actually matter aren't the ones on a shopping list. They're already in your recycling bin.

What You Actually Need (Paper Collage Supplies You Already Own)

Here's the thing about paper collage: it might be the lowest-barrier entry point back into a creative practice that exists. You don't need new supplies. You need paper you were probably about to throw away.

• Construction paper, notebook paper, notepad paper

• Magazines

• Post-its, notebook paper, office paper

• Food papers — parchment, aluminum foil, thin cardboard boxes

• Junk mail

• Wrapping paper

  
  

I save this stuff throughout the year. Any paper or piece (even a chopsticks wrapper) somewhat interesting, anything with some texture or print, I keep it. The pieces I used for this session came from a gift bag I'd had for seven years (I remember exactly where it came from, which is a little strange), my favorite striped tissue paper, patterned tissue from a shipped shirt I'd bought, solid-color junk mail, and a kraft paper grocery bag.

All ephemera. All things that were headed for the recycling bin. None of it bought for this project.

Before: Setting the Intention

I wasn't going to sell these pieces. I gave myself permission for them to just exist.

That's not nothing. I don't always give myself that permission, and this medium was new enough to me that I wanted to actually explore it instead of perform it. Pressure off.

One really helpful thing I've learned about practicing art or approaching a new medium: work on more than one similar piece at a time. So for this, I planned to make two simultaneously. Doing two concurrently instead of focusing on one keeps me from getting too married to the outcome of either. And that, weirdly, tends to make both of them better.

I chose pears as my subject. Pears are what I go to when I'm trying to get comfortable entering something new or just wanting to get back into the groove. I've painted them enough times to know their light patterns well, so the subject wasn't the unfamiliar part. The medium was.

Sorting and Starting

Playing with a color scheme with collage papers.

Before I glued anything, I sorted my papers by value — light to dark. That sorting is what told me what would go where once I started building the piece.

I started from the center out, then went back in toward the middle to layer in more of the glitter tissue dots, because I liked how they caught the light — like they were reflecting it back.

The Actual Making

This is where it got messy, in the useful way.

For my base paper, I used a kraft paper grocery bag. Wrinkled it, wadded it up, then straightened it back out running it back over the edge of a table several times. I used a mix of fussy-cut pieces, torn pieces, scissor-cut, and deckled pieces.

Intentionally-crumpled kraft paper for the background collage bases, cut to around 8' x 10".

A "fussy cut" is a quilting term — cutting deliberately to isolate a specific shape or piece you want, like a single flower in a printed fabric. A messy cut is the opposite: no shape-following, just cutting. I found myself doing both. Fussy cuts around the edges of the pears, and on other pieces, cutting one side clean while tearing or deckling the other, just

to get texture.

A few things I learned along the way:

• Thicker paper tears into nicer edges. Some of the cardboard backing showed through when I deckled or tore it, and I liked that — it added a dimension I hadn't planned for.

• Tissue is thirsty. It takes glue differently than heavier paper, and it can texturize in a way that's worth knowing before you commit to a layout. But the texture also adds interest.

• Glue stick vs. brush-on glue matters. Glue stick goes on thicker. For chipboard pieces, that was okay. for some of the thinner stuff, not so much.

• Mistakes are recoverable. If something goes wrong, you can usually just paper over it. You don't have to peel anything off and start again. Wonderfully forgiving and part of the fun.

  

  
  

One problem I ran into: I wanted to draw the pear shape onto my paper before cutting, but the pencil mark ends up hidden underneath once you're working with layered paper (duh). My solution was to make a template of the shape, lift the paper off, and cut from the template. It worked. Then at the end, you can either glue your pieces onto the template shape and adhere that whole shape to the paper, or skip the template entirely and glue your pieces directly onto the paper.

What Deckling Taught Me

I never knew the word for this technique for years, but I was always drawn to it — that soft, torn-paper edge instead of a clean cut. I finally looked it up, found [a deckled edge ruler], and never looked back.

Work in progress.

I use it constantly for collage now. And it turns out the same instinct applies beyond collage — I use deckled edges when tearing finished paintings too. Those torn edges, framed in a shadowbox-style frame, elevate the whole piece.

Sometimes I'll deckle an edge with this ruler and then tear it slightly further anyway, just so it doesn't look too deliberate.

For this piece specifically, I challenged myself to build the table, shadow, and background entirely out of paper — no mixed media, no acrylic paint filling in the gaps, which is usually where I'd go next. For the other pear, I mixed it up and used my Staedler ink pens for the table and shadows.

After — The Exit Interview

I paid close attention to how I was feeling throughout this session, which isn't something I always do. There's something about naming a medium as new to you that makes the whole thing feel lower-stakes and more interesting at the same time.

Both pieces turned out well. Genuinely well enough that I might list them on eBay, just to see. And here's the thing: I know I said I wasn't going to pressure myself thinking I'd make to sell. That doesn't undo the permission part. I made these to just exist, with no outcome attached. They turned out well enough that I might sell them anyway. Permission and quality aren't opposites. Sometimes giving yourself room to just play is exactly what gets you to something good.

(Shameless plug: The Art Session Planner includes a small debrief for every piece. And next time you pick up your supplies, you'll know where to begin again - no more wasting 20 minutes trying to figure it out.)

Additional Collage Supplies List

All mediums challenge you to improve. If you collage and want to keep going, there are better supplies to help your craft. Here's what I bought next to keep my collage practice going:

1. A fussy cut shape cutter, for those specific pieces you want to glue.

2. Great paper scissors, small and large: to sharply and cleanly cut through papers. It's important to have the right tool dedicated to the right medium.

3. A deckling edge. Creates those straight rippled edges.

4. Matte medium. This is the best 'glue' and Liquitex Basics is the best all around.

5. A better wrinkle-free stick glue - sometimes a stick works better than brushing on medium, and these help thinner papers lay flat.

6. A brayer. A roller with some heft to smooth paper over glue.

7. A mixed media pad. I have ten of these for all different mediums. It takes moisture well.

8. A smudgeless pencil - 2H is my choice for blocking in backgrounds.

9. Sealer. Gloss for a shinier, interesting finish (or you can use the matte medium from above).

Your Turn

If you're looking for a way back into the studio and the idea of "new supplies" feels like one more barrier between you and starting — this is it. You don't need a shopping trip or a supply list. The paper collage supplies that work best are the simple, easy paper collage ideas hiding in your recycling bin right now — a gift bag, a grocery bag, yesterday's junk mail.

If you want a more structured way back in to your art...something that walks you through exactly this kind of low-stakes, permission-first session, that's exactly what the 5-Day Creative Comeback Challenge is built for.

Join the Creative Comeback Challenge →