Autumn Leaf Collage

Boo has recently shown interest in using a glue stick, so I wanted to do a spot of collage with her.  She can't use scissors yet so it would have to be a collaborative effort.  She could, of course, try using the glue stick with some scraps of newspaper but why not make something beautiful in the process?  Surely that's more satisfying and opens windows to the possibilities of collage more for a little one?  

So I found a piece of paper to which I had previously applied bleeding colours (wet on wet) - it was probably going to be collage material and never got used - and some Autumnal tones from my handmade paper stash.

I say handmade paper, but actually it's more akin to papier mache.  I dye layers of toilet tissue with procion fabric dyes and then laminate a few layers together with PVA glue mixed with water.  I like toilet tissue because it takes the dye well, you get some interesting blending of colours, and it wrinkles up when it's laminated, leaving you with an unpredictably textured surface.  

So I cut out some leaf shapes from my 'handmade paper. and showed Boo how to apply the glue and stick them down onto the background.

And that was it, a good skill practised and a beautiful picture for our Autumn Gallery.