
Many emails to the Brocante start out, How do you ...
I hope this post will answer a few of your questions. If you need more information, please ask.
I own the original elements of every composition I post. Books, documents, photos, engravings, tickets, labels, and other paper ephemera are stacked and stored in my studio.
A collage usually begins with a scan, such as the one above: a hand coloured engraving from an 1830s natural history text.

I do a rough cut of the image in a graphics program such as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

And then begin trimming the image carefully . I am currently using a Wacom tablet and pen, but used to do this with a mouse.

Once I have isolated the image I am using ...

... and added nice little shadows ...

... I insert the background colour of the blog in behind the image (using layers) so it no longer appears in a box.

I repeat this procedure for each element of a composition ...

... which is one of the reasons that blog posts can be few and far between.

I hope you've found this helpful - Please let me know if you have more questions.
xoxo