If You Can Cut, You Can Collage: From Paper Scraps to Works of Art

The sections on the principles of composition can be applied to not only analog collages, but digital as well. It's a nice reference book that compiles all of this information into one neat spot, so you don't have to scour through different articles online. The text is brief but understandable. In addition, there are lots of examples to help support your understanding of the information. I recommend this to anyone making collages, analog or digital.

I am not an artist, but I thoroughly love art and all things crafty. I’ve just never experienced huge success with actually creating something wonderful myself. Many instructional books are either too technical or too cutesy. UNTIL... Hollie Chastain’s ‘If you can cut, you can collage.’ Ms. Chastain provides some valuable lessons in this art form and takes even the most novice crafter from start to finish in producing lovely pieces. She teaches us how to personalize our own creations to represent ourselves as well as others. She takes us step by step through the process of designing a beautiful piece of collage art. She provides her own pieces as inspiration. And if that isn’t enough to get you excited and confident about trying your own hand at this, Ms. Chastain includes sample prints for you to choose from to get started! This beautiful book is not only wonderfully delightful to look through, it will propel you off the couch and into your crafty space for some art therapy of your own. If you’re wavering on whether or not to buy this fabulous book,waver no more. Buy it! You will not regret it.

This book was so very helpful to me. I loved the whole book, but what set this book apart from other books on the subject was the section of the book about the rules of composition. Although the author says you can skip this section (and almost apologizes for including it in the book), I learned the most from it. I've looked for a long time for a book on composition, and hadn't found one that was helpful. They either go into so much detail in a rambling fashion that i'm lost or so little that only the writer knows what they are talking about. She hit the right balance - with about one concise paragraph about each rule, and then five illustrations showing different ways that the rule was put into action. Each illustration had a sentence or two under it that further explained some finer point about the visual impact when the rule is applied in that way. I learned so much, and now feel that not only that I can ow create better collages, but better Art, be it paintings, art quilts, etc.

This book would be perfect for anyone who is interested in learning about collage, regardless of their experience with this art form, or even if they’ve never made any art at all. The author lays out how she approaches collage in simple, clear, and friendly steps, from how to get started through to finished pieces. It’s a good mix of professional instruction (color palette, design principles, materials, techniques, etc.) and sharing her personal approach, views, and process. The author includes wonderful visual examples throughout that are both helpful and beautiful. A beginner could follow along and, using the sample paper that is included, begin their own collage projects. More experienced artists would benefit from the insight into the techniques and processes that the author has developed. As you would expect from an accomplished visual artist, the book has a beautiful layout and every page includes images and pictures that help the reader’s understanding of how to collage, but that are also very pretty pieces of art on their own. I bought 2, planning to give one as a housewarming gift. You will not regret this purchase!

I became a fan of Ms. Chastain’s work after purchasing a signed print from a gallery in Indiana, so when I saw that she published a book, I was delighted and intrigued. The book does not disappoint. Her advice is simple, straightforward and easy to follow. She gives several great examples of basic projects as well as resources for materials. She also provides you with some fun perforated collages papers to get started. I love how zen, playful and colorful the book is. Some how-to books make the techniques feel daunting and out of reach, but this one is a great book for beginners like me.(As for the 3 star review that said there is nothing for advanced collage artists here, I can’t imagine how the reviewer wasn’t able to figure that out based on the title alone! It’s obviously aimed at first timers. And the book description literally states that these are *basic* techniques. Seems unfair to blame the author for the reviewer’s inability to understand what they are buying. It is, indeed, a wonderful book for BEGINNERS.)

I LOVE this book. I’ve been cutting and pasting for several years so I was a bit hesitant to add another collage book to my collection. I’m glad I did. So many inspiring ideas like embroidery, the use of color (which I love) but in a way that leaves wonderful negative space. I never used stamps but now knowing it’s not that difficult I can create what I want. I feel like I’m part of the best workshop ever taken. A great gift idea for my collage friends.

Amazing book! Easy to start creating your own collages, gives really well-structured overview of the techniques, materials, principles, and examples. Yet inspires you with creative freedom to try your own ways. Paper samples in the end are beautiful, I wish I could by more patterned paper from the same artist. Thank you so much for putting it all together.

The book does teach a lot of different layouts. In fact, it felt like an art class presentation on all the ways you can approach the layout with varying spacing, sizes, colors, flow, etc The examples felt pretty modern to me (as in trendy art styling, not the actual art movement). However, I want to learn how to do the type of collage illustrations that are in like children's books so I need a different collage book. Overall, this book was uninspiring to me, because it is not in the style that I find inspiring. Art comes in all sorts of varieties and I am sure plenty of people will love this book because it is the style they want to pursue.

I purchased this because of the great reviews, however I didn't really see or find anything new or anything I didn't already know. I let my Niece have a look at it as she is new to collage and she said that it needed to give more visual ideas on how to go through the process of collage. I think it is nice for your book-shelf, but it's nothing that you can't find online.

Pour qui veut s'initier au collage ce livre vous explique comment démarrer et les règles de base, les fondamentaux pour dynamiser ces créations. Livre en anglais mais beaucoup de photos et d'images à l'appui. Je recommande car très accessible quant aux techniques.

I am a collage artist, but I always find something new to learn. This book is very comprehensive and also beautiful

A beautiful book with wonderful examples of collage work for the beginner to the experienced artist.

Great read and informative