Here at SCAD, with demanding drawing and design classes, I am constantly buying art supplies for new projects every other day. However, not all of it gets used, or I end up having extra material. It leaves me frustrated and upset that I have all this extra supplies that I’m not using, and it’s upsetting when I have to throw it out, and just wasted money and talent. But then, a lightbulb went off in my head. Instead of letting it go to waste, sitting in my dorm room, or throwing it out, I remember the age old wise saying taught in elementary school, ‘Reduce, Re-use Recycle’, and decided to turn my unused, extra art supplies into cute dorm decorations! Want to add some new decor to your dorm, yet you don’t have the money to buy new dorm decorations, or can’t get to where you want to go? Break out your supplies, and create your own decorations! You don’t need to be an interior designer to pull this off,or a master artist, or take an extra trip to Ex-Libris. You will find that the supplies you need are sitting in your dorm right now. (Photographs by Schuyler Cannon)
What you will need:
Sharp X-Acto blade (SHARP!)
Foam Core Board
Tacky Glue
Ruler
Command Strips
Mat cutting board
Fancy, bright, colorful paper of your choice
Imagination
Creativity
First, place your foam core board on top of your paper, don’t forget your mat board underneath, and start cutting away. Use a ruler to make things more even, if you wish. (Make sure your X-Acto blade is sharp for this step! If you are cutting with a dull blade, it can make things more difficult and snag edges, making them uneven and rough. Alway keep a fresh set of X-acto blades on you!) Choose whatever you shapes you want, but I mainly stuck with squares, rectangles, triangles, and rhombus.
Stick your paper to the foam core board with some tacky glue, and let it dry!
Continue this process, playing around with different shapes and forms, and in no time, you’ll have different pieces! Get creative with what shapes you want to use
And look, now you have different pieces!
Lay out which pieces you want to stick to your wall, and put on command strips.
You can go for something symmetrical, or you can choose random pieces and put them in asymmetrical patterns. Its whatever you choose! I personally picked something with more symmetry.
Figure out where you want to place them on your wall, and there you have it! A fun,quick,easy, way to add new decorations to your dorm space. Not only is it low cost, but you get to use your supplies. This DIY project also avoids spending extra money on dorm decorations. It’s a good way to exercise your artistic and creative talent at SCAD. It can also make an interesting gift for friends! That wasn’t too bad, was it?
It’s a cute way to add some color to your room. So have fun, and get creative!