Craft

Nature Heart Collage

THIS BEAUTIFUL HEART COLLAGE COULDN’T BE SIMPLER TO MAKE, AND THE RESULT IS BEAUTIFUL. NATURE REALLY IS THE STAR OF THE SHOW IN THIS GORGEOUS VALENTINE’S GIFT

The term collage originates from the French word “coller”, meaning “to glue”. Materials or objects are glued to a surface to create a new form or picture, in this case, a heart. Natural materials such as seed heads and feathers can be small and extremely delicate. I didn’t want any glue residue showing on my completed artwork so chose to used glue dots (I used Bostik Micro Dots) to stick down all my nature finds. The micro dots turn any object into a sticker making them perfect from the heart collage.

Materials

− Shadow box frame − Transparent glue dots (I use Bostik) or a strong transparent glue or a hot glue gun − Piece of paper for the background ( I used white) − A selection of nature finds

Steps

1. Start by taking the shadow box frame apart and sticking the paper to the back board to form of your canvas. I chose a bright white paper as I felt that would provide the best background for the natural materials. 2. To ensure you arrange your objects in a pleasing shape, you can use a paper heart as a template (or whichever shape you’ve chosen). 3. Now you can start choosing which objects you would like to place, I suggest you stat with the outline first, then fill in the gaps as you go along. 4. Glue dots are handy for sticking embellishments into place on a collage. To use, place your object onto the sheet, rub the backing to transfer the dots and lift off. Alternatively, dot glue very carefully onto your nature object and press carefully into place. Although some of the nature finds I used are incredibly delicate, this method worked for all of them except one. The exception was the wild clematis seed. For that, I applied the dots on to the paper and then pressed the seed into place. Now all you have to do is decide who you’re going to give the gift to. I loved it so much , I gave it to myself!

By Sarah Whiting

Sarah is the author of craftinvaders.co.uk where she blogs about her original craft tutorials, recipes, foraging, and developing wellbeing through being creative, spending time outdoors and connecting with nature