Decorative Paper Making

Tissue paper

Newspaper

Gift wrap

½ gallon box or container (for holding ripped paper)

Water

Blender, hand mixer or food processor

A few tea towels or rags

Clothes iron

Optional: glitter, flower petals, and thread

1. Start by ripping up lots of tissue paper, newspaper or gift wrap. Make pieces about half the size of a business card.

2. Keep ripping paper until 1/2 your box or container is full.

3. Cover the paper with water, and set it aside to soak. (Tissue paper only needs to be left for a few minutes, but gift wrap and newspaper will need to soak for 12 hours.)

4. Once the paper is completely soft, use a blender to “mush” it up. (You may want to cut a hole in a piece of paper if using a hand mixer. This way, the beaters can do the work while the paper acts as a cover for flying pulp.)

5. When the paper has turned to pulp, scoop it out and pat it into a thin layer on a clean tea towel or rag.

6. Place another rag on top of the mix and press it down firmly to soak up some of the excess water. Keep repeating the process with new rags, until most of the water has been removed.

7. Finish by ironing the paper through a dry rag, and set it aside to dry properly over night.

8. Draw on, fold up and decorate your paper!

 

NOTE: Once you have the hang of making plain paper, you can start adding glitter, petals, thread and other exciting treasures to your page. When the paper is properly dry, your child can use it for a variety of arts and crafts activities.