The history of the emergence and development of collage
The first mention of collage dates back to the 2nd century. BC e. Around the same time, paper was invented in China. However, until the 10th century, this technique was used extremely rarely. In the tenth century, Japanese calligraphers began to use specially processed and glued together pieces of paper. In Europe, collage as a kind of DPI was known as early as the 13th century. In the 15th and 16th centuries, various elements of gilded sheets of paper were often used in the design of Gothic cathedrals. Frames for icons were often made of precious metals and gems. As a proper artistic technique, collage was first used in the 20th century. Its wide popularity is associated with the penetration into the art of the modern style, which was new for that time. Similar works of art were created by many famous artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.Thanks to the use of sheets of paper, such paintings look voluminous and unusual. These original compositions are a cross between the actual work of painting and sculpture. Over time, collage is no longer perceived as an additional technique that allows you to create unusual paintings, and is isolated into an independent object of art. In the middle of the 20th century, this type of DPI becomes even more popular. Very interesting, for example, are the compositions of Louise Nevelson, who made collages from found fragments of furniture, barrels, interior items, wooden boxes, panels, etc. Very often during this period, collage is used to frame photographs. Wood becomes almost an indispensable element of all such compositions. In the same work of art, this material could be combined with graphic or pictorial representations.
It is believed that the first collage technique was translated into an artistic form in 1924 by the German John Heartfield, who used such panels as a satirical weapon against Hitler. However, three-dimensional compositions were also popular in Russia at the beginning of the century. The most famous Russian collages are A. Lentulov's paintings "Moscow" (1913) and "Vasily the Blessed" (1913). Pieces of paper were used in the first panel, foil in the second. The works of the artist V. Tatlin, which are distinguished by the dynamism of the compositions, are also quite popular.
Technology features
In order to make products made using the collage technique bright and original, a variety of decorative elements are used in their creation. At the same time, the artist tries to make a collage in such a way that it is perceived by the viewer as a single harmonious work. Of course, in this case, all the rules for constructing a composition must be observed.collage styles
At the moment, there are only four main styles used to make such products.. Vegetative
. Plants or their fragments are used as the main elements. At the same time, the artist tries to make the finished work as realistic as possible. At the same time, plants act not as part of the landscape or the general plot of the picture, but as an independent element, which is the main focus.
Decorative.
Such collages are distinguished by a fantastic plot. The main goal that the artist sets for himself when performing such a work is originality and originality. Looking at such a picture, the viewer tries to guess the author's intention, his mood.
Landscape
. The name of this type of collage speaks for itself. Such panels depict various kinds of landscapes - natural or urban. It can be the sea, forest, beautiful buildings, etc.
Form-linear.
The main elements of such collages are geometric shapes - rhombuses, squares, circles, etc. Even the background in such works is a combination of these simple elements.
Collages are usually made with the help of a passe-partout and a frame. Passepartout is called a wide frame framing a panel. Its main task is to make it easier for the viewer to perceive the picture. The frame and passe-partout also protect the picture from the effects of adverse environmental factors.
The technique of floral collage, which allows you to combine natural materials and decorative elements, captivates needlewomen. The creation of three-dimensional paintings has great potential, combines objects of living and inanimate nature. Such a collage can complement and decorate the interior. 
Each work carries an amazing energy, reflects the philosophical meaning and emotions of the artist.
Required materials and tools:
The basis for creating a voluminous floristic collage can be ordinary thick cardboard, chipboard, a hardboard sheet of various sizes. After choosing the size of the panel, style and color scheme, the work begins to prepare the necessary tools and materials for creativity.
- dry plaster mixture or putty, which allows you to create a three-dimensional surface texture;
- construction spatulas and brushes of different widths;
- paints: acrylic
- silicone or super glue
- wire, scissors, a simple pencil;
- decor elements.
To decorate the panel, you can use dried flowers, stems and leaves, cones, beads, stones and shells, cereals, pasta and other types of natural or artificial materials.
Stages of a floral collage
Creating beautiful works consists of several stages:
1. Applying plaster or putty to the prepared base. When using a dry plaster mixture, it must be diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 4 to obtain the consistency of thick sour cream, and then create a color shade that matches the chosen style.
2. Fixing elements of various decorative elements using wire, glue or pressing into the applied layer of plaster of medium thickness.
3. Drying of the panel.
4. Decorating with additional elements in accordance with the chosen style, applying gouache shadows or painting with spray and acrylic paints.
Galina Karpova
Like these ones we got collages."Winter-lace", by Sonya F.
"Trees in the Snow", the work of Ira G.
For collages on"winter" theme, I prepared white lace, shiny fabric, guipure, cords and braid, paper lace napkins, half beads, feathers. In addition, scissors, curly hole punches, different glue, white pencil, white gouache, brushes. For the background, we took a gray-blue cardboard about A2 in size. Sonya began her work with the fact that with a white pencil she outlined the composition of her future picture.
On the right in the foreground, I decided to paste from "silver" herringbone knitwear. Which is not surprising for us on the eve of the New Year holidays! To do this, I cut arbitrary triangles and pasted them on PVA.
Interested in a beautiful fabric, I decided to make a large tree on the right as well.
Nearby, Sonya pasted fragments of circles resembling Christmas trees.
To fix the fragments with PVA glue, they were also smeared on top, as in decoupage.
Hollowed out snowflakes. I glued a half-bead into each.
Carried away by creativity, I decided to stick them on the Christmas tree.
At small trees in the distance, the trunks were painted with white gouache. This is what sonin looks like collage after the glue has dried.
And Ira for her collage I laid out the trunk of the tree with a white cord with sparkles, and made the crown from small openwork napkins. The idea of a small tree came to Ira later, so the composition of the picture suffered a little. A small tree - senile wire, feathers and half beads, "snowy" snowdrifts - trimmings of various lace fabrics.
panel prepared for the exhibition, it remains for me to stick only cards with inscriptions.
Any plant material is good in itself, in its original form, so to speak. Nature presented in it all possible forms with symmetry and asymmetry, color and texture and even aromas. Therefore, the desire to bring this perfection into your home and capture it in some way in pictures and collages is so understandable. 
Someone uses plants in their unchanged form, someone likes individual fragments of a flower, leaf, or maybe their multicolor, someone is attracted by the graphics of natural lines or the texture of plant tissues, etc. etc.
All these preferences are reflected in the ways and nature of the depiction of the plot in the collage.
Collage- the subject of decorative design of the dwelling, appeared, most likely, when a person learned to extract an adhesive substance. These first adhesives were of animal or vegetable origin. Collage was very popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, although at that time there were still not enough good materials, there were no high-quality glues, as in our times.
During the period of great geographical discoveries, the creation of herbariums from unusual overseas plants was very popular. They were dried and then framed with glass. Such herbarium sheets were very popular; they decorated the offices of scientists, geographers, and writers.
Materials and tools
plant material for collage
The source of the collection of dried plant material, in the first place, can be your own garden. Walks in nature, donated flowers will help enrich your collection.
To create interesting works, it is absolutely necessary that the natural material be as diverse as possible, different in texture, shape and color.
Procurement and processing of natural material
Plant material for floral collages can be collected and processed throughout the growing season. However, you should be aware that the same parts of plants (leaves, petals), collected at different times, at different stages of development, will differ when dried, for example, in color.
Preservation methods
Plant material is harvested by drying, as well as by treating the leaves with a solution of glycerin.
To obtain flat dried parts of plants, they use drying with a press (herbarium method); to preserve the volume, the drying method is used with the help of hygroscopic substances that absorb moisture well: burnt alum, borax, perlite, silica gel. Usually they are sold in chemical reagent stores, gardening stores.
It is very good to dry plants in a Russian bath.
There is a conservation method in which parts of the plant - leaves, flowers and fruits - do not lose their lifetime flexibility. This is a method of preservation in glycerin.
Plant material modification
Modification - a change in natural material - is made in order to make it more expressive for collage work.
This can be a change in color, shape, varnishing, skeletonization, and so on.
Collection storage for collage
Flat-dried plant material obtained by herbarium drying is best stored grouped by plant species between folded paper napkins in oblong boxes, which should be labeled.
Technical means for making a collage
The basis, or base, for a collage can be a piece of cardboard, plywood, boards, chipboard, a thick sheet of paper of any shape. It has a background on it. It can be made of colored paper, fabric, painted with any paint or glued entirely with plant material (leaves, petals, scree), and can also be covered with a layer of putty, gypsum or paper pulp.
Compositional construction of the collage and its design
The composition of a floral collage should be built on the basis of the general principles for creating paintings.
In a collage, just like in painting, there should be all the basic elements of design - color, light, texture, shape, relief, contour, space. And all these elements must be correctly arranged, balanced, contrast, rhythm, and of course, proportions must be taken into account in order to get a harmonious work.
Plane collages
Background making techniques
Leaves, petals, small seeds are often used as a background for a floral collage. Using this material, you can get a background for all elements of a landscape composition. So, delphinium petals superimposed on each other are suitable for depicting the sky. The reddish reflections of dawn will fill the thinnest dry petals of poppies; lunar glare will be obtained with the help of mother-of-pearl partitions of the lunaria pod.
Landscape collage
To create a landscape, you first need to think over the composition, because without knowing the laws of perspective, without creating a foreground, middle ground and background, you will not get a full-fledged landscape. And you also need to choose a suitable background, a baguette and a passe-partout.
Bouquet of flowers
In the collage technique, a bouquet in a frame can be depicted in a variety of ways. It can turn out to be very convex works that do not even need to be covered with glass, or there can be flat paintings that can be framed under glass.
L. Mogilenets "Bouquet" T. Kochebina "Summer bouquet" L. Elikova "Fantasy"
Postcards, bookmarks, stickers, covers
Flat dried flowers are used to decorate postcards, bookmarks, diary covers, etc. To protect collage work on these items from mechanical damage and moisture, they can be covered with a transparent shrink film that adheres well to the flower and cardboard.
Another method of protection acceptable for postcards is to enclose them in a passe-partout.
You can cover the surface with wax, this is also a good protection.
Professional florists are familiar with a special coating for dried flowers called elephant skin. It is sold in florist shops in aerosol cans. By spraying a collage work with this composition, a thin film is obtained that protects it quite well.
Relief collages
Works where convex natural materials and a non-smooth base coating are used, and which are not framed under glass, are called embossed collages. They are performed by using textured volumetric objects of plant origin (cones, sticks, roots, fruits, seeds, cones) based on thick cardboard or boards.
Preparation of bulk plant material
There are many plants that produce fruits of interesting color and texture. Some of them dry easily in the air and do not spoil for a long time without any pre-treatment. These are various cones and nuts.
For a collage, you can also dry some juicy fruits - pomegranates, tangerines, oranges, limes with a good result ...
Technique for working with seeds and fruits
Some rules that help to cope with collage works from fruits and seeds (ornament, figures).
Gluing usually starts from the bottom; seeds are laid with a sharp end up; glue is best applied using a pointed match. Glue is applied not entirely, but only on the central part, then it "breathes", has volume.
Relief bouquet in a frame
There are several ways to create a relief bouquet in a frame. Plants can simply be placed in a deep frame, fixed with glue. Or you can assemble a composition based on a floral sponge for dry bouquets.
Frames for such collages are selected deep with a complex profile.
Arabesque
Arabesque is the name of an ornament built on the principle of constant repetition of various geometric and floral motifs, an ornament in color with an intricate interlacing of leaves and flowers.
Styles in collage works
Plants or their parts taken out of their usual context, dyed or modified in any way, can be used for unexpected combinations.
Using the usual mass of plant material makes it possible to create new structures at will. This is also facilitated by the addition or repetition of elements from various organic and inorganic materials.
Collages in the interior
Collage in the interior either appeared and even supplanted paintings, then disappeared to complete oblivion. With the return of the ascetic style and minimalism in the outlines of the modern interior, it seems that collage, especially floral, is in demand again.
Any wall decoration after repair is boring, you want to change something and find a way to show your imagination, talent and creative skills.
A voluminous panel made from improvised materials is one of the fashion trends in 2017 design.
Looking through the spectacular work in the illustrations, it may seem that it is difficult. But if at school labor lessons the figures made of plasticine and salt dough turned out to be “excellent”, there is experience in working with beads or natural materials - everything will work out.
What material to choose for wall decoration
A handmade wall panel is a special decor that can enliven the most ordinary environment, introduce a new design concept and enliven the atmosphere.
The choice of material and technique to implement the idea depends on many factors:
- Functionality of the premises;
- Wall decoration;
- Creative inclinations;
- tastes and preferences;
- Availability of materials and tools;
- Skills in working with materials (sewing, knitting, modeling, weaving, drawing).
It is better to place a large panel on the entire wall in a large room, where there is a lot of empty space. Buying a picture or sticking a photo wallpaper is the easiest way. But there is nothing original in this, plus high costs, and the new facility will soon get bored.
Another thing is your own “masterpiece”, which you can proudly show to all visitors to the house.
Looking at a unique work, friends and relatives will be interested in how to make such a panel with their own hands?
First, it is better to choose a free wall, and then decide what it will be - a collage of photos, drawing, modeling or a mosaic of broken tiles. The general idea and plot of the image should correspond to the functionality of the room and practicality in care.
For example, it is not difficult to paint aquarium fish on the wall of the bathroom on a smoothly painted wall, but the paint must be resistant and indelible.
If the material is subject to destruction or accumulation of dust, it is better to cover the finished product with a colorless varnish, like a photo panel of salt dough.
The paint base for the panel should match the material of the wall cladding. For example, if it is acrylic enamel, then acrylic paints are also suitable for painting walls.
The walls in the nursery can be decorated with a wallpaper panel, which is easy to build together with the child from the remnants of rolled materials left after the repair.
Tip: Give the kids some of the fun DIY decorating process. They willingly join the creative process. This will help develop fine motor skills of the fingers and spatial thinking.
Children can collect natural materials - beautiful twigs, leaves and cones for panels. If they don’t know how to draw, instruct the child to spray paint from a spray can on a stencil.
They will enthusiastically trace large maple leaves on cardboard, cut out their outlines in order to spray gold and silver contour drawing on the walls in the hallway. Spray paints and a stencil in the decor of any room are the best solution for those who cannot draw.
Panel of edible products for the kitchen
The kitchen is the realm of products, where many bulk materials are suitable for decoration. Before you make a panel with your own hands, make an audit in your lockers.
Note!
Novice decorators have at their disposal a whole natural palette that retains its natural color for years. A panel of coffee, cereals and spices will decorate a free wall fragment in the dining area.
The work is carried out in several stages:
- Choose your favorite sample.
- Make a sketch with your corrections and apply the markup with squares to enlarge the drawing on the wall when enlarged.
- Apply the markings and outlines of the panel with a simple pencil.
- Glue decorative fragments for a specific product.
- Finished sections should dry naturally, after which you can move on to neighboring elements until the whole picture is completed.
Tip: In order to avoid disagreements, it is recommended to coordinate the plot of the panel with all family members.
Any "appetizing" materials are suitable for the kitchen:
- dried drunk tea leaves are black and brown contours of any drawing or soil in a picture;
- semolina is an excellent light base that can be additionally decorated, it also fills empty areas;
- coffee beans (green and roasted) - excellent material in brown and green tones;
- white and colored rice - a variety of sizes and shades;
- peas, beans, lentils and beans - white, yellow, orange, reddish and green fruits of various shapes, applied to the glue in halves;
- poppy - black base of the picture;
- instant coffee and chicory, cocoa powder and ground cinnamon - a loose base of brown shades;
- pumpkin, watermelon and cucumber seeds are excellent material for do-it-yourself panels, they are also glued in halves;
- cut or groats of millet, corn and wheat, oatmeal and barley - an inexpensive base of different colors and textures.
It is advisable to carefully open the finished panel with a colorless varnish in 2-3 layers, so that over time it can be easily cleaned of dust.
Note!
The image can be left as if unfinished or limited to a side (frame). Decorating a kitchen together is a fun activity that can easily involve three generations of family members.
Interesting ideas will be suggested by specialists who recorded a master class on making panels with their own hands:
Those who are good at sculpting figures, small sculptures or making dolls from any material should master the technique of working with salt dough.
For a relief panel, knead fine salt with flour 2: 1, adding a little vegetable oil, water and dry wallpaper glue, kneading like a regular dough. It should be plastic, but hard enough.
The finished mass should not stick to the hands. Small pieces or balls are separated from it, from which the faces of the characters, fruits, leaves and other elements of the panel are formed. It will hold up better if framed as a portable decor or attached directly to the kitchen wall.
Note!
You can add any other material to complete the plot, such as embroidered fabric, beads or yarn.
The relief picture dries for about a week, but then a solid durable material is obtained. The finished creation can be decorated and varnished, like a photo of the presented panel.
Expert advice on making panels from various materials
Making decor with your own hands is a fascinating creative process. Usually, after mastering one of the techniques on the example of decorating dough or cereals for the kitchen, I want to move on to decorating other rooms.
In the children's room, it would be appropriate to decorate with autumn leaves or colored paper panels made of fabric using the patchwork technique.
The bedroom of the needlewoman will be decorated with a panel of flowers, leather, fabric or buttons. A popular plot is a money tree, where coins or green coffee can be added to the buttons.
For a bathroom or bathroom, “marine” material will be an excellent decoration - smooth colored pebbles, shells and coral twigs.
The living room will be decorated with cork, bamboo, ornamental stone. In skillful hands, any material will become the basis for a homemade masterpiece.
DIY photo panels
