It happens every time the attic or cellar gets cleaned: a box of old magazines, photos, postcards, stamps, posters, sheet music, newspaper clippings, other odds and ends of paper all thrown together, some in fairly good condition, others with torn edges, wear, and maybe some musty smell makes one wonder if the paper is something important and worth saving. Items like old advertising cards have been known to fetch a few bucks from collectors. That vintage photo from the mid-eighteenth century bearing an image that resembles no one in the family was probably picked up somewhere along the way.
Miscellaneous stamps, first day covers, foreign banknotes from Germany or France are all in the same box, stuck down one side or another. But before you throw any of it out in the trash, consider this: even if it is in bad shape, it can be used in an art project that can add a new look to it which can be framed and even sold. Who is not willing to make a few extra dollars these days from their old paper collections? Flea markets are usually the first places that come to mind that sell ephemera, although finished ephemera art can just as well be sold at these places, too. Below are four ideas of what type of art you can make using ephemera. Your needed basic tools on hand are: scissors, watercolor paints, stencils, pencil, pen, and glue.
Stenciling Old Sheet Music
Sheet music with or without a decoration on the cover can be a nice decorative item to display once it is finished. Open the sheet music in front of you. With a stencil and a pencil, trace the pattern over several different lines of notes, above, evenly spaced on each page inside. Then with the watercolors and a brush, paint each stenciled shape. For flowers, use bright colors; for other shapes, use any combination of favorite colors. Let the paint dry on the sheet music. This can be displayed in a sheet music holder stand, or framed and hung on the wall.
This is a fun project using old foreign banknotes and coins from the same nation. A minimum of three banknotes are needed for this project. All you need is a piece of bookboard cut to the shortest length of your smallest banknote. With a ruler, draw one line across the center, lengthwise, of each banknote. Cut along the lines. Glue the banknote strips, alternating them on the board, overlapping them a tiny bit so no empty spaces show. With the coins, glue them in several places on top of the banknotes. Once completed, the work of art can be framed, or displayed on a matte in the living room.
Old Maps and Stamps
Any kind of old map can be used for this project. Something that looks really ancient with names of places no longer used, such as Siam, Ceylon, Belgian Congo, are perfect. The entire map does not have to be used here, a section cut out will be appropriate for this purpose. With your stamps, which can be from anywhere, place them on several different parts of the map and glue them in place. Images can also be copied to the map and painted with water colors. That ocean to the left of Southeast Asia looks like it could use a sea serpent. Try a bright green paint and use red for the tongue. Have it breathing fire, too, if desired. For the fire, use a combination of yellow and orange paint.
Old Pictures from Books
Old books usually have a variety of attractive engraved printings and pictures that are perfect for projects of this nature. Tinted pictures are especially nice for art projects, which can be combined with other ephemera. Use a piece of bookboard for this project, too. Arrange the pictures on the bookboard, with some overlapping the others, and glue in place. Add an advertising card to the mix. These can also be framed or stored in a photo album with other ephemera art in acid free sleeves.
Experiment with the different ephemera that you saved over the years. You can even save these as craft projects for your children. This makes a great homeschool project when you teach them about ephemera and collecting it.
Urgent 2nd Class, Nick Bantock. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. 2004.
