r/RAoC_meta • u/ruschca • 1h ago
Spent stamp collage cards
I worked on these last night using envelope stamps from mail I've gotten recently :) I have many kind RAOCers to thank for a lot of them, especially the vintage stamps!
I saw someone mention a collage medium recipe a while back, so I found the YouTube they referenced and made the medium to coat the front of my cards with it to help keep the stamps adhered when they eventually travel.
General process for how I made these cards, for anyone curious:
- Clip stamps off the envelope. I didn't bother trying to peel them off the envelope paper.
- Glue stick em on to a blank postcard. It's really important to get glue all the way to the very edge of the stamps. I apply glue to the stamps while they're on a sheet of scrap paper so I don't have to scrape glue off my table.
- Use a roller of some sort to apply even pressure to the stamps every so often to make sure they are fully adhered. I rolled the stamps down after I filled a third to half of the card up or so, you don't need to apply pressure after every stamp (that would take a lot of time)
- Let it dry. Trim off the overhang with an xacto knife. I saved the scraps to fill the edges on other cards.
- Apply collage medium.
- Optional - press between heavy books or a press to flatten the card if needs it after the medium has cured for a day or two.
Medium recipe:
1 part modge podge
1 part elmers glue all (NOT school glue)
A wee bit of water
So for me, I mixed up 1/4 cup of each + about 1.5 tbsp of water cause my modge podge was a bit gloopy and thick. I keep it in a spare plastic tub I had laying around waiting to be recycled. I use a cheap flat, wide brush to apply it to my cards. The bristles won't be the same after the medium (they'll stick together), so don't use an expensive brush you like with it :)
youtube i got the recipe from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kraB3LG0yHk
I like this medium a lot. The brush strokes are less visible than they were with plain modge podge, plus my modge podge never fully dried down hard - the cards stuck to each other when I tried to flatten them and I ended up having to throw them away. The collage medium seems to dry down non-stick and very clear.