Hi Everyone!
Thank you so much for all of your thoughtful comments on the last post. I’m so glad it resonated, and appreciate all of the words of wisdom and humanity shared. Thank you!
Above is a page from the collage sketchbook I’ve been working in. I am a packrat — it’s hereditary — and I can’t even throw away the smallest pieces sometimes. I recently spent some excellent t.v. time whittling my “trash stash” down to these two paper mosaics.
During those two hours gluing, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was okay.
But then I posted a photo over at instagram, and it was well-received (better received than almost anything I have ever posted!), and I realized that at least I’m a little obsessive in good company.
You can make a Trashy Page, too. Get a glue stick and your scraps, and just start. Wedge in the next little piece of paper and the next little piece of paper until you fill the page. Towards the end you might need to grab your scissors and cut things to size and shape, but mostly, it’s just the glue stick and you.
Post a link to your Trashy Pages in the comments section, or upload a photo at instagram! I’m at @carlasonheim… I look forward to seeing them!
And here is a quick video Steve made about the Year of the Collage class that starts TUESDAY!!
Have a great weekend!
carlasonheim.wordpress.com 
Dear Carla, When a very dear aunt of mine passed away, her daughter (my cousin) wanted me to help her go through my aunt’s belongings. She asked me to let her know if there was anything I wanted to keep. I didn’t think there would be…but there was, and I knew it the moment I laid eyes on it. In the process of cleaning I found a plain, unassuming envelope in a bureau drawer. On the front of the envelope my aunt had written in her own hand: “Bits of paper too small to use.” And indeed, there they were.
That was in 1996. I still have the envelope. I still treasure it. And it never fails to make me think of my aunt with a smile and a twinkle in my heart.
I, for one, love your collages of little bits.
Lovely.
Your post surely resonates with me. Often when cleaning up my workspace I put little bits I can’t bear to throw away in small plastic bags. I have heaps of them but now I know what I’ll do with them. Thanks.
Love these pieces and your previous post. I feel happy at seeing your beautifully arranged mosaics and the flow of pattern,shape and colour, little bits of history within tiny pieces thoughtfully laid out, a lot of self poured out.
Until the middle of last year my bags of stash included stamps and postmarks, interesting corners from travel brochure and sections of newspaper, tiny fabric and paper squares, triangles, circles and odd shapes, Bags of floss, string, cottons, wool, ribbon. Snippets of velvet. Whole heap of robins. A large variety of the patterned envelopes bills came in. The list was vast and quite well organised, controlled and managed. It has all gone and I wonder why I didn’t have the foresight to preserve some of them in Carla’s wonderful mosaic art on a box or jar, stone or even a paving stone. I could have had an heirloom🤓 I mourned quite a lot of things today. People told me to be ruthless and get rid xyz , I was moving. Now they are gone I feel sick, like my hearts been snatched. Unimportant, unnecessary, but I now know how attached I was to the shapes, textures, colours and the little bits of memory they triggered. For some of us these little collections keep us going, help us to keep swimming in our little caps and be brave without a nose peg and goggles and not drown. Keeping afloat can be a challenge and now I feel that I lost my rubber ring, pool noodle and several life rafts.
Ps some people never have anything they’ve collected to be ruthless about when they move, not even books, I miss those too.
Dear Carla,
thank you for this inspiring collage. I too am always collecting bits and pieces of fabric, yarn, embrodery silk, paper and so on. Often leftovers from other work, but when I have time on my hands I cut out interesting bits of paper from catalogs, magazines, prospects, for later use. I collect them in translucent files. Recently I did some christmas cards on black cardstock with some of those bits.
As you say “they help to keep me swimming”.
Thank you for your always inspiring comments and classes.
I wish you a creative and happy 2019.
Waltraut from Switzerland
PS I try post my snippets-collage on siebensachen@wordpress.com
Sorry, sorry, the link is wrong. It must be https://siebensachen.wordpress.com/
I LOVE your Trashy Pages! I have made one but have nowhere to link it to! Perhaps I can post a photo on the Facebook group once the collage class gets going? Thank you for the inspiration, I got “lost” for several hours! 😀