Custom Tissue Paper

A friend of mine, Geo, introduced me to working with tissue paper to make an iris effect (camera aperture opening) for ATCs. And I must say WoW! She did some cards using solid colors and mylar in metallics, I like both very much. Perhaps Geo will do a video on how to achieve the iris effect. I wanted to try my hand at the effect, yet I didn't like the colors of tissue paper I had on hand and more unwilling to drive to find some and an idea smacked me in the brain ~ to spritz on some homemade alcohol inks*. I know this is not necessarily a new tech (technique) but it was new for me. And I wanted to share it so naturally I thought of you dear people.


Here are some of the results of that experimentation. I wadded up white tissue paper, then smoothed it out; do it carefully as it tears easily. Of course you don't have to wad up the paper, I did it to add interest.

then hung the white tissue paper on the edge of my work bench covering with clothes pins and a couple clipped at the bottom corners to help keep it from flying and moving around too much.

spritzed / sprayed on one color, than another. Caution it will bleed so you may want to let it dry for a couple of minutes before adding other colors. It will depend on the effect you are looking for.

Don't handle the wet / damp tissue as it will tear much easier than normal. Like I really needed to tell you this. Here is the ATC I made for Geo, using a blue and green inked tissue paper

after the tissue paper dried I ironed it out, again be careful not to tear it. And you don't have to iron; as that will depend on the effect you are trying to achieve. Also please note ironing caused some static electricity and resulted in some playing with the paper as it danced around the medium hot iron. Here is a card I made for my mom using the same green, blue tissue.

I also applied drops of the homemade alcohol inks* to a small wadded up piece of tissue, first red then blue. This is how it looked after it dried and before ironing and you can see little holes / tears. You can also see a bit of the leftover blue, green ironed out tissue from the ACTs.

*Homemade Alcohol Ink Video, by Jan Fox, can be found on the Art Journaling NING site that you should join if you are not already a member.

Working with wet / damp inks can and will stain your hands and other things it may come in contact with so you might want to wear gloves, an apron and protect surfaces. I also suggest a ventilated area as the smell of alcohol can be quite strong depending on how much ink you use. I did not have an issue with running, bleeding or spotting wite any of the glues I used, but I suggest that you always do a small test to insure the products you are using won't be a problem.

I hope you will give this tech a try and remember you can use it for more than ATCs, try a journal page or use as it was orignally intended for - pretty gift wrapping. If you do this please let me how you liked it and what did you do differently than I.