Transparent, Translucent, Opaque. Making Paper!

Handmade paper using tissue paper scraps and Mod Podge.

Hello everyone, it’s a stormy day here in NY and perfect for making some home made paper.

There are a few different ways to make your own paper using recycled materials, most of them involve making paper pulp and lengthy drying times. Although this version is not as versatile as conventional paper making techniques, it is a lot quicker and can be done with a few simple ingredients.

Our new paper will also help us to explore the properties of transparency (see-through), translucency (partially see-through) and opaqueness (not at all see-through).

Supplies – plastic baggie ( I prefer the gallon size), white glue or decoupage glue (like Mod Podge), brushes, water, container, paper scraps. Paper scraps can include tissue paper, newspaper, magazines, paper towels, parchment paper (used for baking), gift wrap paper, tracing paper. Any paper that is on the thin side will work. Copy paper, construction paper and the like will probably not give you the same results, although I always encourage experimentation with materials! Knowing what doesn’t work is just as important as knowing what does.

STEPS –

cut the plastic baggie so you have 2 flat pieces of plastic. You will use one piece for now.
tear paper into strips and/or smaller pieces.

Glue method –

add some water to white glue in a container. The mix should look like thin pancake mix. If it’s too thick, it will take too long to dry.
Use the brush to “paint” glue mixture onto the plastic baggie. I do this in sections instead of covering the whole piece. This way the glue doesn’t dry out quickly.
lay down a layer of paper scraps on top of glue and “paint” another coat of glue on top of the first layer of paper. Place paper scraps on top of each other in different directions to make them bond to each other better. Think of a fabric weave, how the crossing threads bind the fabric together.
continue layering paper and coating with glue in between until you have at least 3 layers of paper and glue.
give the entire surface one last coat of glue mixture and set aside to dry.

Once dry, peel new paper off plastic baggie carefully. The glue method took a few hours to dry and produced a matte (not shiny), textured surface of new paper.

Opaque paper — Opaque and translucent new paper using newspaper, tissue paper and white glue.

Decoupage Glue Method –

follow the same steps as above, but do not dilute the decoupage glue.
this method dries much quicker (30-45 minutes) and produces a glossy (shiny), smooth surface.

Stained Glass paper — Translucent paper using tissue paper scraps and decoupage glue.

What can I do with my new paper?

Your new paper can be used to draw on, as collage materials for another project, as a window decoration even as wrapping paper!

Be sure to visit Art Out of Anything on FB for today’s complete video with step by step demos and more ideas to extend this project.

Here are some links to explore –

Free Stained Glass Patterns– print out these templates and trace onto the plastic sheets with a permanent marker to make a design with your paper scraps. Once dry, you can trace over the design with the marker again to make a stained glass window effect.

Art Vocabulary for Kids – did you know art has it’s own vocabulary?

Making Paper at Home – here’s a more traditional paper making technique you can try at home.

Don’t forget to check out Art Out of Anything on FB for the complete video of this project and follow us on Instagram @artoutofanything for more activities and resources!

Thanks for visiting, stay safe and keep creating!

Patty

Collagraphy and The Scientific Method

Hey all!

Today we are using the scientific method to determine which style of collagraph works best for printing.

A collagraph (sometimes spelled collograph) is a method of printmaking that involves adhering materials to a board or sturdy surface to build up a printing surface.

I decided to use the scientific method to explore different materials and printing pigments.

Observation – I have observed, by doing, that you can make prints (copies) of designs by using many different materials.
Questions – Can I make prints from cardboard, hot glue and foam sheets? Which pigment will make the best print; an ink pad, acrylic paint or lipstick?
Hypothesis – which combination of these materials will give me the most successful print?
Prediction – I think the hot glue will give me the cleanest print while the foam sheet will give me the best print all around. I think the cardboard will not give me a clear print. I also think the lipstick will give me the best color of all.
Test the prediction – I chose collagraphy as the printing technique to test my predication because I can use materials I have on hand.

TEST – you can watch the entire video of the process at https://www.facebook.com/artoutofanything/

Here’s a sneak peek of the process –

I used hot glue to create designs on a piece of cardboard. This does take a little practice as you have to make sure your design is raised and not flat. I also cut up a piece of adhesive backed foam sheet into an abstract design and adhered it to another piece of cardboard and then used cut up cardboard as another design. These will be my 3 printing plates.

Next, I experimented with 3 different pigments in the form of paint, lipstick and an ink pad. The amount of pigment placed on the printing plates is very important; too much and you get a gloppy, messy print, too little and you don’t get a clear print.

Here are the results. Which one do you think made the best print? Which print is clear, complete and clean? Was my hypothesis correct?

I used the ink pad on the cardboard plate

On the left plate I used lipstick. On the right plate I used acrylic paint

In my video, you can see some other techniques I tried while testing out my hypothesis!

You can also find some easy printmaking techniques in keeping with our motto “work with what you have”, at Tinkerlab.

Be sure to visit and follow me @artoutofanything on Instagram and FB.

Here’s the link again for the full length video – Collagraphs and The Scientific Method

Let’s see what other collagraphs you can come up with!

See you on Thursday and keep creating!

Thanks for visiting,

Patty

A Review of Student Work

We have been so busy, it’s been a while since our last post. I would like to showcase some of the amazing work the students have created at a few different venues with traditional and non-traditional materials. We have everything from giant food to insects.