Crafty Friday: Junk Collages

Knowing that my children were going to be out of town for this Crafty Friday, I tried to get them to do their project before we left them with my in-laws, but we were at the grandparents' house which is full of toys and way more fun than being forced to sit down and craft. So I don't have very many pictures, and on top of that, there was a thunderstorm raging while we were crafting, so the pictures that I do have were taken in bad lighting. But despite the technical difficulties, this craft project is loads of fun! We're making junk collages!

Here's what we used:
- beads
- old jewelry
- material scraps
- old keys
- ribbon
- ric rac
- glue (a hot glue gun for the weightier pieces)
- craft feathers
- unfinished wood shapes
- buttons
- foil
- a canvas or a piece of board or a sturdy piece of cardboard to attach the items to
- basically anything we could find around the house

If you want to give your kids a quick little art lesson, here's the actual term for what they will be creating:

assemblage - A sculptural composition consisting of an arrangement of miscellaneous objects or found materials.

There, now the fun can begin. Have your kids start off by arranging the materials they want on to their canvas. They can arrange and rearrange as much as they want.

Once they've settled on a particular composition, they can begin attaching their pieces to the canvas. We used glue sticks for the majority of the pieces, but for the heavier objects like keys, a little hot glue does the job. (This is where Mom and Dad can join in the fun. Have your child dictate where they want the particular item, and then hot glue it for them.)

The beauty of these junk collages is that they allow for a lot of creative freedom. If your child wants to make an abstract piece of art, great!



If they want their piece to be three dimensional, wonderful!

If they want to make a "junk" robot, awesome! Anything goes when you are making junk collages. Just sit back, and let your child's creativity flow!

Happy crafting!

Nessa Dee
(Hopefully I'll have a picture of Audrie's finished piece once it's...finished!)