Supplies

The basic supplies for creating SoulCollage® cards are simple: images from old books, magazines and photographs, card, scissors and glue sticks.

Images

When you attend a workshop, training or retreat your facilitator will have a wide selection of images and magazines ready and waiting so you won’t need to provide your own, although contributing an extra magazine or coffee table book to share increases the range of images available if you’d like to bring them.

Getting hold of good images for your home-based SoulCollage® card creation means gathering a selection of magazines that have a variety images in them. Fashion magazines are fairly limited in the scope of images they contain but magazines like National Geographic and other special interest magazines have a wider variety. You can buy back issues of these in charity shops from time to time and eBay can be another source. Libraries discard old magazines too, so a visit to your local library may prove fruitful. Friends and relatives can often provide a magazine or two. Charity shops usually have a range of coffee table type books that have images suitable for collage, these usually cost very little. Boot sales are another source of magazines and coffee table books.

If you are making cards that you will only share in person with others it is fine to use the images from magazines, books and the internet that you gather. If you intend to share your cards via social media or post them on your own website however, you need to make sure that you are using copyright free images to make your cards or you may fall foul of copyright laws. If you share your cards in private groups on Facebook, at the moment (February 2019), this is not likely to be an issue but this may change so be aware of how copyright laws may affect this. There are several websites offering copyright free images that you can download and print - Pixabay; Unsplash; Shutterstock and others too. You can always take your own photos with your phone or iPad and get them printed via one of the low cost printing sites like Snapfish; Photobox; Truprint and Boots or print at home. You can also buy “books” of images from Amazon that are specifically for collage and the images are copyright free. SoulCollage® Trainer, Catherine Anderson has produced several which you can view HERE Denise Bossarte has eight “books” of copyright free images for collagers that are of plants, gardens and wildlife which you can view HERE

Card

Traditionally the cards that we collage onto are 8” x 5” (203mm x 127mm approx.) here in the UK ready-cut card in this size isn’t freely available so you may choose to use A5 size card stock which is a little bit bigger and not as heavy as the matt board used in the US. But if you want to use the original US sized card you can buy sheets of mounting board from art shops, W.H. Smith or Hobbycraft and cut it to size. If you attend workshops or trainings you can quite often buy some ready cut cards in 8” x 5” format provided by your facilitator. Your best option for card supply will probably depend on how prolific you are! You can also purchase supplies of ready-cut cards from America but remember that you will need to add shipping costs.

Glue

The most convenient and effective form of glue for SoulCollage® comes as glue sticks, which are widely available. You may develop a liking for a particular brand of glue stick but there aren’t any that come recommended above all others. Some folk like the old pva glue and a paintbrush approach but whichever type of glue you use the finished result will be similar. Having a stash of old reward cards or credit cards is helpful for smoothing out the collage as you glue it down.

Scissors

There are lots of different types of scissors, from regular paper scissors to fine point precision scissors. This is back to personal preference. Additionally you may find a craft knife and self-healing cutting board useful or prefer them to scissors.

Frame

A frame can be helpful when deciding which parts of images we want on our cards if they are large images or for helping us to position the elements of a card before glueing down. You can make a template yourself or purchase one when you attend a training or workshop.

Protecting cards

Most collagers use resealable cellophane bags to protect their cards. These can be found on eBay and Amazon in sizes that will fit your cards, (210mm x 130mm is the size that fits 203mm x 107mm/8” x 5” cards) alternatively these too are often available from your facilitator at a workshop or from the USA.

For US supplies visit SoulCollage.com or HanfordMead.com