Build an Inspiration Board in 6 Steps!
I very much want this blog to be about practicing what I preach. I've often come across, and even mentioned in passing, the concept of an "inspiration board".
If you are a visual learner, the inspiration board is the best way to put together a picture of what you want your life to be like.
I like the concept a lot, and awhile ago I started to collect pictures of what I wanted to put onto my board, but I hadn't yet got off my butt and gotten it DONE.
WELL NOT ANYMORE, I am pleased to report that I am now the proud owner of my very own inspiration board! I thought I would share with you all my personal process, and my collage tips for those of you who might be less experienced in the crafty side of things.
Step 1) Find Pictures
I recommend images from magazines the most. The reason for this is that images that come from a home printer tend to smudge when glued down. I've had mixed luck with photo-prints, they are a bit thicker so a bit more stubborn when it comes to staying where you put them. I will admit that I lucked out on this point: after I moved into my new apartment, my mailbox was being flooded by magazines from previous tenants! So I actually had a lot of magazines to pull from. I did notice, however, that the magazines I pulled the most images from were the ones that I had actually subscribed to: business, fitness, engineering and art.
If you're having trouble finding images that speak to you, don't be afraid to buy a magazine or two (no need to go overboard, but you just might find a magazine you like!). Ask your friends for their old issues - most of the time they'll be ending up in the recycling bin anyway. And it's okay to sneak a page or two from a magazine at the Doctor's office... I won't tell. I collected magazines and images for about two months before pulling my board together.
Now that you have a stack of magazines, all you need to do is flip through them, and pull out images that inspire you. Pull out any images that make you say "Yeahhhh... THAT's what I want my life to be like." Don't think too much about the implications of what you're pulling out, just do it by instinct. You might notice that my inspiration board only features images of women. I did this intentionally - I wanted to choose images of people *I* identified with doing the things that *I* wanted to do. For some of these things, the images were easy to find. (It's easy to find images of fit women in a women's fitness magazine.) For others, less so. (There are far more images of successful old men than successful young women in business magazines, for example.)
Whoever you are, take the extra effort to fill your board with people who reflect who YOU are (or who you want to be): if you're an old man, fill your board with old men. It's a lot harder to find an image of an older man riding a surfboard than a younger one, but it can be done, and it will inspire you THAT MUCH MORE. The same applies to your gender, race, orientation, build... ideally you want to find images that make it the easiest for you to slip yourself into their shoes. If you're in the minority in any way, this is even more important: whether we are aware of it or not, we are constantly bombarded by imagery of the "norm" or the "ideal". YOUR inspiration board is the place to combat that.
Step 2) Trim pictures
Now that you've ripped all the pages out, just cut off anything that DOESN'T belong on your inspiration board. If you care the most about the figure, cut around the figure. Cut off any branding or copy - they've made their point and we're subjected to enough advertising in our lives. Cut off any rough edges.
Step 3) Collect materials
My images, glue and a foamcore board
Here is a picture of what I used to put everything together. The scissors should be obvious. The board that I used was a leftover patch of foamcore (you can pick this up at any art supply store). This did end up warping a little when I was done but it keeps its structure fairly well and is a good smooth, light surface for sticking things to. If I didn't have foamcore, I would have tried some corrugated cardboard (as from a moving box), and then some flat cardboard (like from a cereal box.) I would stay away from cardstock and paper, I don't think it will stand up well to the moisture and weight of the collage. You want a STIFF, SMOOTH surface.
In the photo you'll notice some glue that I used, I don't recommend that glue. I ended up getting so frustrated with it halfway through that I went out and bought some Modge-Podge! To be fair to the glue, though, it was a few years old. If you have the scratch to spare, I recommend Modge-Podge and a sponge brush (the collager's secret weapons - easy to find in any craft or art supply store), but if you don't-- liquid glue is better than gluestick. (Gluestick tends to come up after a few months.) Stay away from tape, it gives a cluttered impression... the last thing you want to see when you look at your board is CLUTTER!
Step 4) Layout WITHOUT GLUE
Images laid out on the page, and origami paper
Start placing your cut-out pictures on the board. As you start to put them all in one place, you'll hopefully notice a cohesive message beginning to emerge. You'll also notice some things that stick out like a sore thumb. You pulled it out by instinct, maybe you just thought it looked cool - that's fine! Now is the time to ask yourself what MESSAGE that image is giving you when it's on your inspiration board... is that what you really want? If it is, great! If it isn't, don't be afraid to pull it off your board.
It's at this point that I wrote out my BUCKET LIST goals (in a very abbreviated form) and added them to the collage. When you're happy with the layout, remove the images from "top to bottom" - take off the images that you can pull out without disturbing any other images and pile them aside. The images you pull LAST should be the big ones that are in the corners - the ones that had all sorts of other images overlapping them. Keeping the images in this top-to-bottom order will make assembly easier. You'll notice that at this point I stuck some random coloured papers onto the bottom of the collage - little patches of white drive me crazy!
Step 5) Glue 'em on
Glue the images onto your board "from bottom to top". The awesome thing about Modge-Podge is that you can first glue it down on the bottom of the image, and then glob it over the top. This keeps all the edges down and even gives the page a nice sheen.
Step 6) DISPLAY
This is perhaps the most important step, and the most often overlooked! It took me quite a few days to get the board actually installed somewhere. Once your inspiration board is done, put it somewhere you can SEE it! (and see it often!)
The board hanging in my studio
I put mine in my studio, my own private space. I put it behind the door, so that I can only see it when the door is closed. This keeps it away from the curious eyes of visitors who might not understand (I do admit that it's so intensely personal that it becomes a bit embarassing!), and it also will, I hope, keep the image a bit more "fresh". If you look at something every day, it becomes part of the background and you don't actually focus on it anymore. The place is also convenient in that it's slightly up and to the left of my desk. I've noticed that when I'm gazing into space, I usually gaze up and to the left (who knows why!).
Your workspace is a good place for it (although I wouldn't consider bringing it "to work" - again, embarassing!). Your thinking place or meditation space would be good as well (if you have one of those). The bedroom has pros and cons, I think it might depend on whether you share that room with someone else. Just make sure it's somewhere that you will see it, and don't be afraid to try a new place - put your inspiration board wherever you need inspiration!
The inspiration board should be an ongoing, living entity. Whenever you find an image that speaks to you, save it, and update your board every so often.
Hopefully these tips will help you all, I'd love to see how your inspiration boards have turned out!