Master masterboard post.

I make masterboards a lot and everytime I mention them somewhere I get questions about them. So here's all my masterboard "expertise" in one post.

WTF is a masterboard anyway? ha! Very simply put, it's a creation made to be cut down into smaller creations. For example, you can make one 9"x12" masterboard and cut it into four 4.5"x6" postcards. Or make an 8.5"x11 masterboard that will yield 10 ATCs. I even do quickie 5"x7" masterboards to get 4 ATC backgrounds. It's an easy way to make a lot of backgrounds at once - or just make a lot of postcards. I tend to build imagery/words right into the collage/mixed media masterboards I make, so when I cut them up they're ready to go - just address and send.

I once made 12 postcards by making 3 masterboards at one time (I call them batches, like they're cookies)...

That's a lotta frickin' postcards!

The bigger the substrate you use, the more (or larger) postcards you get.

The last postcard masterboard I made on an 11"x14" piece of bristol.

It gave me 8 postcards of various sizes.

I've also created masterboards around large central images to make "4-from-1" postcards that would then be sent out to different parts of the country/world.

I sent the 4 separate pieces of this masterboard to 4 different ladies in California.

I think it's neat that each one has a piece of the whole.

That's true with every masterboard postcard, but usually they become their own postcard once cut away. With a large shared image they become puzzle-like...it's more of mystery of how the postcard started. Does that make sense?

But, like I mentioned above, you don't need to go big. You can make a small 5"x7" masterboard that will give you 4 ATC backgrounds.

I just added the words and cut out manga characters to these backgrounds.

Making postcards or ATCs aren't the only things masterboards are good for. I've made masterboards for mixed media embellishments like these hand-cut hearts...

I used a 12"x12" sheet of cardstock to make the cutting easier.

A lot of these were used as tuck-ins for pocket letters (back when I was making pocket letters).

Masterboards can be carried out in any artistic medium. Paint, ink, pencil, collage, crayon, markers, ALL THE THINGS! You just go to town on a substrate and then chop it up! Live dangerously. I made my first masterboard in 2012 and have since lost all trepidation when it comes to chopping my creations up. A masterboard almost always looks a complete mess as you're working on it, but when it's been cut, it has a cool random charm about it. You'll end up cutting a face in half or lobbing off parts of words or turning once distinct shapes into weird, unidentifiable remnants.

Besides the mass output, masterboards are a satisfying way to use a lot of scraps at once. It's also a productive way to test new supplies. Spray ink all over, mix weird paints, try new stencils, experiment. When you're done, cut it up and send it out into the world as mail art.

The question I get asked most is how I make my collage masterboards. I've done little overviews before (here & here) and have shared WIP shots on Instagram, and other than saying, "just glue shit down," I don't know how else to elaborate on the process. I have a knack for mindless activities that involve repetitive action. 😝

Keep on creating.

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a cube.

I really enjoy displaying as much of the art I get in trades as I possibly can. Especially in my craft room, but it spreads all over the house, too. When I came across this project a few years ago I was immediately attracted to it because, unlike ATCs and postcards, it didn't require anything extra to display.

I'm talking about these "collage cubies" -- a project created and outlined by Chris Dunmire. I held a swap for them back when I first came across the tutorial and had hoped to make it a regular collectible thing like ATCs, but it didn't pan out. I'm very good at self-starting projects and completing them, but returning to it and making the project a regular thing in my repertoire is something I do not have a knack for. I just steamroll on to the next project. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Annnnnyway, I'm returning to this project now and hosting a swap for it again. This time any medium goes for the cubie, not just collage, so I've dubbed them "creative cubies". Follow the link above for the full tutorial and templates; read on to see how I whipped up my sample this morning.

The first time I made a cubie, I printed the template directly on cardstock and collaged each panel. This time I wanted to do it a little differently and a little more quickly. You don't always have to spend hours on a project for it to be fulfilling and artistic.

I printed the template on regular printer paper and then glued that to a sheet of paint palette paper I recently liberated from my palette pad. Using palette paper gives me the look and feel of paint without having to go through the process of painting.

I glued the papers back to back, this way I didn't have to spend time cutting out the template, tracing around it and cutting it out again. Smooth move, Ex-Lax.

I cut it out once and scored it using the lines on the template.

Then I loosely assembled the cube just to see what I was working with.

I finally figured out what I was going to add to it...

I stamped some background textures: dots, text, paisley.

Then added some Fornasetti girl faces and finished with a quote.

Ta-da!

I think it took me 30 minutes? IDK, I don't time myself.

I like it and it's already found a home on my shelf.

Later, Vader.

Masterboarding.

When I start a collage project, I like hunting and gathering up whatever stuff I might want to use and having it at hand in a big pile in front of me. The process of finding stuff means combing through a bunch of drawers and boxes and accordion files until I have a nice pile. Well, once I'm done with the project, I usually already have the next project in mind and give about 2.5 flips about "restocking" the leftover bits, so I just push them off to the side....to collect until they annoy me enough to do something about them.

Such a time came this morning, when I looked over at the the accumulated bins and box tops holding leftover paper bits and shook my head....

*sigh*

Now, the Darth Vader box at the very end holds prop toys from my photography days.

But the lid is flipped over and holding paper things I recently received in some mail swaps.

The plastic boxes in the middle...the bottom one has scavenged parts from incoming mail art envelopes. 

(That's another post for another day.)

The box on top of that is stuff I've culled to send out in mail swaps.

The overflowing box on top of them...and the full lid in the foreground are all scraps.

With those scraps, I made a pile of postcards, wee!

The best thing to do with a bunch of scraps is to make a masterboard.

A masterboard is simply a large artwork cut down into smaller artworks.

I do it UH LOT. It's my favorite way to make postcards because it's very much an "anything goes" process.

First step to starting a masterboard is getting a surface to work on.

I went BIG and used a sheet of 14"x17" bristol paper.

Then it was just a matter of plastering paper bits to it.

Masterboards are a process of building layers.

You keep going and going and going until you stop.

It doesn't matter how it looks at any step along the way because it will end up being AWESOME.

When I was tired of gluing paper bits down, I added some washi tape pieces.

Also filled in some blank spots with simple Sharpie lines.

Every layer counts, whether you end up covering something later or not.

Layers build texture and texture is the best part of a collage.

Use different types of paper - newspaper, glossy magazine pages, tissue paper.

Especially if you plan on adding paint at some point.

They all catch the paint differently.

When I make masterboards, it's usually mostly collage with a little paint...

or mostly paint with a little collage. This one was mostly collage with lots of cool images, patterns and text that I didn't want to obscure with paint.

I added ghostly white layers with a big poster paint marker.

I schmeared on acrylic craft paint with a spatula.

The paint gathers on paper edges as you drag it over the collage.

I used Sharpie paint pens for hash marks and hand-cut stencils for more shapes.

Once I was satisfied with the mixed media layers, the masterboard was mostly done.

I spot-set the paint and pencil details with workable fixatif.

Then it was time to cut!

First and foremost, I cut out the "choice" postcards.

Of course I wanted the images of the clown and the kids in the gas masks to stay intact.

I also liked how "what's inside" looked with the manga dude.

And "individual" with the lightning strike underneath...

Survey the land of your masterboard and see what pops out.

Or cut it uniformly. Who cares?

The remainder of the masterboard got chopped into small postcards.

Smaller than I usually like, but still cool.

I may add more stuff to them...images, words, stickers.

Did I use up all the leftovers, and thus save myself from having to put them away?