Artist Trading Coins - Collage Fun in A Zoe's Zap Class

1. Artist Trading Coins Intro: Hi, welcome to Zoe's Zap classes. These are short and sweet classes, filled with ideas, examples, inspiration, and all in bite size mini lessons. My kids say I talk a lot, and sometimes I repeat myself. But in my Zaps, I will be fast and to the point. You will leave ready to start your project. This Zoe Zap is about artist trading coins. Yes, coins, not cards. Perhaps you are already familiar with artist trading cards, also known as ATCs. Well, I fell in love with their cousin, the coin. The 2.5 inch diameter of circular fun. Besides utterly enjoying the process of making these coins, you will get some clever ideas of what to use when making them. Keep watching for more ideas on materials, collage techniques, and my favorite. One true recommendation for this project. 2. Artist Trading Coins: I suggest starting with sturdy paper. This can be cardboard, watercolor paper, mixed media paper, cardstock, et cetera. Of course, you will be building and laying on the circle with glues and tape and whatnot. So it will get thicker as the process goes along. Included in this class is a downloadable printable template that you can use to make your own circles. Either print out and cut out your circles or cut out the circles. Then use it to draw circles on a thicker piece of paper. Other ways to make 2.5 inch diameter circles include a drawing compass, trace a jar or cup of the same size, and my all time favorite, the 2.5 inch circle punch. I use this in various ways within the project, which I'll show you later. You can also make your collages on any size and then cut them in circles after the fact. Personally, I like working on the circle space to begin with. You can paint them. I love the idea of using the foundation of the circle shape to represent a fruit or vegetable slice. I bet you'll come up with other natural elements that you can include on your circle, like a sun or a moon or the sky's the limit. Add maps, grids, graph paper, a crossword puzzle, wrapping paper, specialty paper, postcards, newsprint, magazine articles, word stickers, Magazine headlines or words. Added handwritten words. Quotes. Ripped edges are cool, Pape or washi tape, doodles, photos, people, pets, pay pens, stickers, stencils, rubber stamps. Stamps, ink pad. Feel free to raise the surface with ribbons, buttons, or other three D elements. For final touches, you can distress the edges or file them to make them smooth and attached. My favorite thing to do is take the circle punch and cut up other papers in even circles or parts of circles. It makes gluing them down super easy and very meditative, almost like putting a puzzle together. When you have the curved edge, you can slot it in anywhere. Sort of cool, right? This is a great travel activity. Before you go, cut out a bunch of circles. Pack a glue stick or travel tape. Bring a favorite pen for doodling or writing words. Perhaps you're traveling with a mini paint set. And, hey, why don't you check out my class on altered tins, where I show you how to make a travel watercolor set out of an old mint tin. If you can, bring a small scissors. On your travels, you might find some great items that you can include on your circle. Like tickets, brochures, receipts, what to do with these circles? First of all, sign the back with your name, date, and perhaps the location of where the coin was created. The original purpose of artist trading cards and coins was to, you guessed it, trade them. They are not for sale, never for sale. More of a passion project between artists and friends. So trade them. There are tons of groups online and through Facebook that support this activity. There are also coffee shops and art stores and tons of businesses that also have little areas set up where people trade their cards. You can make gift tags out of them by punching a hole and adding a string or just attaching a string on the back with tape. I love them as bookmarks. As ornaments on a tree or a plant, place tags at a dinner party, a love note. I really love them on my desk or my bulletin board. As many pieces of art. Hey, not all art needs to be framed and hanging on a wall somewhere, right? Gather a group of friends together for a night of mini collage making. This is super fun. I've done it a lot. Make sure you share your artist trading coin in the project section of this class. How fun would it be to trade ideas on the materials we used? And if you're looking for someone to do art with and might not have some local art friends, check out my art partner one on one sessions. Well, I've got a zap. See you soon.