The Happy Vintage Radio Robot Collage

When birthdays roll around, we’ll sometimes go all out, gather up the glue sticks, scissors, lots of old magazines and go mad with collage and create original birthday cards. This May, our grandson’s birthday called for something just a bit special, like maybe a something bigger than a card. And, being creative grandparents, we spent a whole day having fun, cutting out and sticking down bits and pieces and created a poster of a Robot! And not just any old robot either. This guy is not just a collage, he’s an assemblage of all sorts of parts!

Radio Robot Collage by summerhouseart.com

He’s got Vintage radios for head and torso. He’s got a moped headlight on his shoulder, candle sticks for antennae, watch parts and even an old flashlight for hands. He’s got a car grill and Bar-B-Q for torso parts. He’s got swirly eyes and lightning bolts. He’s got car wheels to roll around on and at the very top of his head flashes a light bulb, for when he’s having great ideas.

And when we were all done, and just before we’d sent him off, by special post, folded very carefully into a big brown envelope, we scanned him and saved a file just for us. And we played around creating new versions of him.

And then it occurred to us that he was so much fun that we should share him with everybody. And so here he is, Mr. Radio Robot, now available on Society 6 as a print or a beach towel.

Radio Robot Beach towel on Society 6 by summerhouseart

And on RedBubble as a lovely poster that anyone can share and decorate their kid’s rooms too. We created lots of versions on other products too.

Radio robot poster on Red Bubble by Summerhouseart

Our grandson doesn’t mind. He’s got the original. And best of all, he liked it so much he wants to make one himself! Can’t ask for more than that.

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Playing With Collage on Quiet Afternoon

Round the Bend, collage, by Will Bushell, summerhouseart.com
Round the Bend, collage, by Will Bushell

We look for old magazines at garage sales, but with a difference. Not necessarily to read, although we often do, but we are looking more for interesting papers and colors and images to use one day in collage. Lately, I’ve fallen in love with the inside of business envelopes, they often have such lovely textures to use. My favourite for now is Speckle #10.

Map line with speckle, collage, by Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com
Map line with speckle, collage, by Helen Bushell

I’m also afraid that I hardly ever throw anything out. So I also have a box of scraps from former collage afternoons. Just in case we might need that particular letter or color or texture.

It's all in the wrist, collage by Will Bushell, summerhouseart.com
It’s all in the wrist, collage by Will Bushell,

Someone once commented on the fact that we’ve got an awful lot of stuff saved, from magazines, to scraps of stained glass, old dishes and ornaments, and even a stack of old furniture. They asked if we are hoarders. Well, I replied, artists are never hoarders, we’re just collectors with plans.

Grid with color, collage, by Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com
Grid with color, collage, by Helen Bushell

So of course, if we decide on a quiet afternoon to make some collages, we’re ready to roll, or should I say cut and paste in minutes. We have old Train mags, old Wallpaper mags, all sorts of old magazines, we have a big glue stick and a few pairs of scissors. So the kitchen table is cleared and the fun begins! And sometimes, the chaos of magazines, scraps and glue stick might remain on the table for a few days and we eat our breakfasts around it all. Until……one day we say, let’s put it away until another collage day comes along.

Speckle #10, collage by Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com
Speckle #10, collage by Helen Bushell

As you can see, we have very different styles, even though we are both working intuitively. I’m sort of the type who likes to keep piling it on until I like it, the more color the better. And Will, he works slowly, more deliberately, finally creating a perfectly balanced, minimal composition that I always love immediately. Even without the titles, it’s pretty easy to tell which collages are whose, right? Hope you enjoy. BTW you can find some of these images on Home decor products like pillows, wall art and even furniture in our Society 6 shop.

Tornado, collage, by Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com
Tornado, collage, by Helen Bushell,
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Having Fun Creating Collage Faces

We recently had our grandson Andrew, out for a visit.  It’s always fun to see life from the point of view of a 6 year old. Being the “artist grandparents”, we like to encourage him to be creative. Last summer we gave him a little sketchbook and lots of pencil crayons to use and this year we did the same. But I wondered about something else we could do, that would be easy and uncomplicated, but still lots of fun.

I remembered some really great collage faces done by a grade 3 class that I’d found on Pinterest. You’ll have to look at this link, just click on the pic. The faces are just fantastic!  Please feel free to check out my collage board on Pinterest too.

3rd grade photo "humanimal" montages | by wimomz/kari
3rd grade photo “humanimal” montages | by wimomz/kari on Flickr

And….to give ourselves a little practice and ok, have some fun too, we thought we’d better try some out ourselves before he came over that day. Well, although the ones done by the Grade 3 class had lots of animal noses, we had to make some adjustments. In our stash of old mags we mostly found lots of people faces and very few animal faces to use. But never mind, all was good. Making one led to making another and before you knew it we had a small collection..

Ta dah!….

Collage faces Summerhouseart.com
Collage faces Summerhouseart.com
Collage faces Summerhouseart.com
Collage faces Summerhouseart.com

When Andrew came over that day, it turned out he was much more interested in playing with all the toys we save for him instead and we didn’t get a chance to make any collages with him. But all is well, he has the collages to put on his wall at home and he really likes them.  I’m pretty sure Mum and Dad will be sitting down soon with him to make some odd but interesting faces too.

Anyway Grandma and Grandpa had lots of fun and hey, there’s still lots of face parts and magazine clippings left over.  We could make some MORE!

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