Mini Tutorial

Some ideas for making interesting papers to stitch, for journaling or just for fun using recycled papers, and minimum resources.

You will need:

Old magazines, advertising papers etc.
Brown paper.
Black acrylic or water based printing ink.

Printing ink gives a better impression with detailed stamps and dries less quickly.
Tip if you spread the papers out to dry after using printing ink, be careful where you walk with bare feet!



Old brushes.
Spare scrap paper not too thin.
A brayer/roller if you have one.
Cotton buds or use the pointed end of the brush.
Incense stick.
Crayons.

Spread the ink or paint onto the scrap paper with the brush.

Make marks with a cotton bud or other implement. Here is the advantage of printing ink which gives you more time to work. Put the piece of paper you want to transfer the marks onto face down on the scrap paper and roll with the brayer (or rub gently with your hand).

Once the marks are dry you may wish to stamp over them with a favourite stamp; I used a handwriting one. If you have used ink at this stage you will need patience for it to dry.

If you work on brown paper and want to ‘antique’ it you can rub with some tea or coffee. I also added a couple of tiny drops of Walnut Ink. Use this sparingly as it can be very dark.

Scrunch up the paper regularly but gently.
Tear the edges to look aged. Rub with a gold crayon, markal or similar.
I used a smoking incense stick to burn the edges and some holes in places. Do this over a sink just incase you get too carried away.

Then rub the edges with a black wax crayon or similar.