Collaged Bookmarks

Continuing my quest to create small, portable, handmade gift items for the studio-shop, I experimented with making some bookmarks. I’d made some last year but took the process a step or two further this time, refining the production process quite a bit and I’m very happy with the outcome.

Using the covers of some overprint/unused calendars as a base, I turned to my stash of decorated art papers to create a double-sided sheet of collage. The calendar cover card provided just the right rigidity for the bookmarks. It was fun to build up several sheets of random collage on each side of the card.

Once a basic sheet of collage was complete on each side, they were chopped up into bookmark strips. At this stage, more collage was added to each one, so in effect they became mini original collage paintings – each one different.

Finally, I painted around the edges and punched a hole in the top and tied in some brightly coloured contrasting ribbon. Am pleased to have found a use for the old calendar covers at last. The calendar pages are easy to repurpose into envelopes, notecards, beads etc but this is the first time I’ve found a use for the stiffer cover.