No Cost Art Supplies to Collect for Creatives.

No cost art supplies and ideas for mixed media, collage, bookmaking and all your creative projects. A list of things that cost next to nothing and maybe hanging around. 

Packaging material
Old school books
Old books
Old board game
Wallpaper
Vintage sheet music
Junk mail

 

 

Discarded computer printouts used to make envelopes for mailart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old books and pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needle and thread for mark-making, texture and line
Tea bag paper
Sweet wrappers
Travel brochures
Maps
Cards
Buttons
Vintage papers

Collages made from old clothing, found papers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Vintage tablecloth's and book pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Junk mail and packaging

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Books made from recycled found objects, off-cuts of fabric, string. Old tins and buckles.

 

 

 

 

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food packaging books made from pasta boxes with acetate windows, scrap wool, dyed with Parisian essence from the pantry.

 

 

 

Book covers made from food packaging and a concrete mix bag































Books made from old paint rags from the studio


























Vintage wallpaper and old book pages







































Used envelopes for patterns on inside
Newspaper printed in another language
Magazines
Tissue
Toilet paper
Old dress pattern tissue
Fine wire mesh
Sea glass
Driftwood
Seed pods
Bark
Coffee sleeves
Fabric offcuts
















    



Wool
Lace scraps
String
Bubblewrap for printing & stamping
Old photos
Serviette
Parisian essence for dying paper & fabric

 

 Rusty bits and pieces

What else can you think of?

France, Château of Versailles and the beginnings of new work.

France, Château of Versailles and the beginnings of new work

Walking through the hundreds of rooms at Château of Versailles, I couldn’t help but notice, the old, stuffy smell and the sound of squeaky, footsteps upon the ancient floors. So, I made a sound video and took close up shots of the wallpapers and other surfaces.





I mainly had a fascination with the “over the top” décor, decorative surfaces and patterns
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Below the surfaces of this show of power and extravagance, was a history of passion, debauchery, sex, treachery, brutality, corruption, torture and death. I imagined the exotic and beautiful people, the power of the Kings, the abuse of women, Marie Antoinette and the peasants who starved in villages.





I also was taken back to my childhood, when, I enjoyed being in my own little world creating, away from the real world. My mum used to make gorgeous clothes with beautiful fabrics and trimmings and I was given the leftover’s. I taught myself to make collage’s, wall hangings, to decorate my room from a very young age.





When I was older, I decorated my bedroom with scarves, scraps of fabric and tacked up old bedspreads, made from cotton and woven fringes. The bedspreads became a wallpaper backdrop for my bed that I made into a couch.





I made heaps of cushions and would sit for hours reading, Go Set and TV Week, magazines. The pop star posters were stuck onto the other 3 walls and ceiling.





Since returning from France, I haven’t forgotten the over the top extravagance of Château of Versailles and have been playing around with a few ideas and may look into having an arts residency, nearby in the future.

Collages of Vintage Book Pages.

Mixed- Media Collage on Vintage Book Pages

Size: Each artwork
Artwork 7.5″ x 5.5″ – 19 x 14cm
Size: with matt, 10″ x 8″ – 26 x 20cm.
Year 2016

“No Goodbye”



Mixed media collage. Found book paper, archive grey matt, thread on vintage book pages (Unframed)

“Indigo”



( Artwork is matted ready to frame)

“Air Attacks”



Signed and dated on the back.

The Travelling Artist

The Travelling Artist

Wherever I go I like to have all my art materials in one place encase I need to jot down an idea, or for when I get that creative burst.



So, when I found this old case I knew exactly what I would do with it. I made myself a personal art kit for when I go out and about. I keep this case in my car and it goes everywhere with me. I also have a smaller kit for when I travel overseas. This kit is much lighter so I can collect art materials along the way



It has everything I need for drawing, painting, collage, photo transfer, stamping and writing
In Transit series of collages



Acrylic paints and ink in a pouch my daughter gave me



Chalk in a vintage medical tin





Water colour paints, coloured pencils and double sided tape







Brushes for painting, pens for drawing and writing, felt pens, graphite pencils, knife, scissors and glue stick for collage



Paint swatches



Collage papers in a plastic pouch.  Mixed lot of vintage and newer papers



Hand- dyed coffee filters, vintage wallpaper, labels and book pages



Stained printed matter and newer papers



Old music prayer book



1932 school book full of hand drawn  world maps





1960s New Idea magazine for cutting



Old advertising

 

Vintage encyclopeadia pages sealed with a layer of translucent gesso paint




A book of hand-made French paper



Small canvas boards and palette, matt and gloss medium for collage, painting & transfers



Mini stamping kit in old cigar tin





Stamp pad, tiny rubber text stamps in matchbox, stamp holder and tweezers



I also carry a selection of my hand made artist books in progress to work in.


My books are made from found papers, junk mail, advertising

used envelopes, cereal boxes and food packaging

Embellished with used clothing labels, tags, stamps, stickers, pen ,ink and found fabric scraps

sewn with thread or wire and filled with whatever else I find in my travels


It’s amazing how much I can fit into the case




Do you have a portable art kit ?  Whats in your art kit ?