This cool magazine strip art is easier to make than it looks! Just cut out strips from magazines (we used mostly covers). Then glue them side by side onto an enlarged bird cut out. We’ve included the bird line art for you to print out. So you can make it as big as you want! We mounted our magazine strip art bird onto a wooden plaque stained with oak color. We think it looks so cool!
How To Make Magazine Strip Art
Materials And Tools
Wooden plaque, 14” x 18”
Plaid FolkArt Stains, Oak #2802
Mod Podge Hard Coat
Woman’s World magazines
Foam paintbrush
Craft paintbrush
Paper towels
Scissors
Steps
1. Apply a coat of Oak stain to the front and edges of the wooden plaque with a foam paintbrush. Wait 30 seconds, then wipe plaque with paper towel to remove excess stain. Repeat until you achieve a stain-color you like. (We did 3 coats.)
Right click to download.
2. Enlarge and print out the bird silhouette, then cut it out. (Ours was 6” x 16”.)
3. Cut strips of magazine covers and pages approximately 1/8” wide. Glue each strip vertically onto the bird silhouette using Mod Podge Hard Coat and a craft paintbrush. Glue each strip directly next to the previous strip so no background shows through.
4. When bird is completely covered in magazine strips, trim the strips around the edges of the bird (it helps to turn the bird over so you can easily see its outline).
Glue the bird to the plaque using the Mod Podge Hard Coat and a craft paintbrush. Finish by applying a coat of Mod Podge directly over the top of the bird and the entire surface of the plaque. Repeat until you have 3 coats of Mod Podge over the entire surface, letting each coast dry for 20 minutes in between.
You can make magazine strip art in any silhouette you like. What about a pineapple? We think a rabbit would be cute too!
Happy crafting!
Jennifer & Kitty
How adorable!! Thanks for the clever inspiration!
Thanks Rachel!
Hello there, yes I’m almost a year late in seeing this….but it’s a great activity for my elderly dad. His only complaint was the strips being tooo small….I had them shredded??. But I will get someone to make the strips wider or friendly so he can complete at least one picture!!
Hi Robin,
We cut our strips with a paper cutter. We made ours 1/8 of an inch thick, but you could make them wider to make them easier to handle. Project will go faster too!
J&K
I taught my 3rd and 4th graders how to do this and they loved it.
Thanks for letting us know they enjoyed it! How fun!
J&K
tienen idea donde nace la tecnica ? quiero hacer un trabajo con una buena introduccion. muchas gracias
Hi Andrea,
Are you asking where this art technique began? We just don’t know, but it has been around for quite some time. We think of it as a kind of collage which has a long history in art: https://magazine.artland.com/the-history-of-collage-art/
Hope that helps!
J&K
It’s a very interesting and simple technique. I will immediately try to make some background for my mixed media piece. I still don’t have in mind what I’m going to make but I hope that this task of cutting and gluing strips can give me time to think and maybe I will see something to inspire me. After all, I leave with some great background! Thank you for your lovely idea. Ana Zec
So glad you liked it Ana! Sounds like you have a fun project ahead!
J&K