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Quick altered photo collage ideas

Writer's picture: Jane ChippJane Chipp

Grab a few minutes for some quiet creativity this Christmas


Christmas is nearly here and, if it's a festival that you celebrate, it can be a time when we get caught up in the busy-ness and have little time to ourselves. For me, just a few minutes at my desk is essential now and then for a little breathing space.

 

In case you're short of inspiration, I'd like to share an idea for ways to create some altered photo artworks using supplies around you in very little time.

 

This is not a full tutorial, but hopefully, it will give you some ideas.


What you'll need:

  • Old photos: I used sepia antique portraits but use anything that you have... this is about the relaxing process more than the end result.

  • Paper scraps: old books and pictures. Any paper ephemera will be good, even Christmas wrapping paper if you'd like to make colourful compositions (don't be limited by my colour palette!). I used scraps that were already on my (very messy) desk.

  • Tracing paper

  • Pencil

  • Scissors

  • Glue stick


How to create collaged backgrounds


Use your tracing paper to sketch around the edge of the subject in your photo. This will be your template for creating a collaged area that will fit around the subject of your photo.

 

Use a piece of paper as a base that's about the same size as your traced area and collage pieces of your ephemera on top.

 

Place your traced shape on top of your collage and cut around it so that you create a collage with the same shape.

 

Glue the collage onto the photo.



I traced a shape to the left of the woman and created a collage using randomly placed pieces of ephemera.


This was a similar idea to the one above, but I looked for scraps of paper with abstract shapes to give a slightly more designed look to the background.


This gentleman's fabulous headdress is created from a single piece of paper as the collage; a print from an old gardening magazine.


In this one, I used an etching from an old book, which I think creates an interesting new narrative for the photograph.

Have fun!

I hope this gives you some ideas for some creative sanctuary over the Christmas break. I'd love to see what you make so please share on Instagram and tag me @janechipp


Finally, thank you to everyone for your support, kind words, attendance at my workshops or Zoom sessions, and purchases over 2024. It means the world to me; I've made incredible friendships and I am very grateful. Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and a great year of creativity in 2025!


Warmly,

Jane


For more altered photo ideas see my book 'Artful Memories: how to create unique art with old photographs' available in hard copy on Amazon or immediately as an e-book.




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