Tissue Paper/Dylusions Ink Spray - Art on a Shoe String

It's time for another 

Art on a Shoe String!

This week let's make backgrounds

for tangling, for cards, for art journaling -

or just because they are pretty!

Using tissue paper.

 Yes, I did say tissue paper. 

The trick here is to find some tissue paper

that bleeds when it gets wet.

I believe most tissue papers do,

so that part should be easy.

(I believe this would work with

those awful crepe paper rolls we

used to decorate with when we

were kids.

Cue the A.L. Bristol students here.)

I grabbed all the light to almost dark colors I had

and starting cutting strips

into 3" squares,

then I triangled them.

Any size will work -

and next time I am just going to tear

them into strips and try it that way.

 Supplies are super simple.

Tissue paper triangles,

heavy paper (mixed media or watercolor)

and a spray bottle of water.

Here we go.

 Spray that paper and cover it with water.

If you don't have a spray bottle

use a mop brush and generously cover

one section of the paper at a time

with water.

 So this is the first time I've ever done this.

Hahaha!

You and me!

Let's do this!

So.

Take your seriously wet paper

and begin placing triangles from the

bottom and work your way up.

I found this to be the easiest way for

me to work.

Bottom to top.

It's ok if they overlap a bit,

if there is a gap a bit,

if they are crooked a bit -

or a lot.

And keep placing tissue paper triangles

until your paper is covered. 

You will see the color is bleeding well.

And it is bleeding from one triangle onto 

the next.

Little rivers of water are flowing from 

one to the other.

Happy dance!
And all those wrinkles should cause
some texturing to happen.

 When the whole piece is covered and wet,

let it sit for 20 minutes with no help

from you.

Don't get tempted.

Give the water and ink time to work.

 After 20 minutes remove all the tissue paper.

Realize that your hands are going to get stained.

Realize the tissue paper is still wet -

don't let it drip on your clothes,

or your sofa,

or your rug.

I have to say this is my least favorite of

all the pieces I did.

This was my experiment piece.

I learned that some of my tissue paper

was toooooo dark, 

so I threw the extra triangles of those

colors back into the basket.
(Just kidding. I really threw them in the trash.)

I noticed the edges weren't defined.

The whole piece looks blurry to me.

(The photo isn't blurry.)

Mark mentioned all the white spaces,

but I didn't really mind those so much.

So, keeping those points in mind,

I moved on to my second sheet of paper.

And. I kept those triangles. They work better if you lay them flat when you remove them from your paper. Once they dry you have some awesome collage papers for art journaling!

 Second sheet of paper!

After I placed all the triangles,

I made sure they were all wet.

Some I had to spray more water on.

I made sure all the edges were tapped

down and in place.

After 20 minutes, I had better results. More defined edges, no blurriness, and some of the colors were more dramatic like that red. Lots of white spaces because I let the papers bubble up too much with water under them. But overall I was much happier with  this piece.

 I stood here at my desk,

staring out at all my beautiful snow,

and wondered where I could go

with this technique.

To the right of my window is a box

where I keep unfinished projects.

This is the one that sung out to me.

I've been tangling this piece for a

couple years, off and on.

I love the colors.

Dylusions Ink Sprays, of course.

Which can be a little pricey 

and

many places don't sell them.

So I wondered if I could achieve similar

results with my cheap little tissue paper.

So I pulled out another sheet of paper

and began placing triangles in a

similar color arrangement.

(Don't ask me where that green

one came from.)

Lots of water,

tamped down edges, 

plenty of little wrinkles and 

hills and valleys

for water to flow under,

and wait 20 minutes. 

OK, not exactly the same, but I'm getting somewhere. And I seriously love this one - probably my favorite from the day. (Did I already say that about another?)

 Here is another Dylusions Spray Ink

sheet I did awhile back.

I love the colors and the way

they play with each other.

Could I make something similar with

my inexpensive tissue paper?

 I tried to do a better job with 

triangle placement on this one.

There is some overlap and

very little gap anywhere.

 Here is an example of those

folds and valleys I was talking about.

Those little places where the triangle

isn't touching the paper.

Those make for some awesome texture - 
if they aren't too big!

 I did feel the gap here was too big,

so I placed another piece of tissue

paper right over the gap.

Not worrying about lining it up with

the others.

Just get it on there.

Make sure the edges are all down.

I even sprayed more water over

the top of all the triangles.

And after I removed the paper - after 20 minutes - this is what I had. Very similar to the Dylusions piece. And I think if I used random, torn up bits of paper instead of the triangles - it would resemble it even more.

 This is another Dylusions piece

I made awhile back. 

Two colors - fresh lime and London blue.

Let's give this one more shot!

 I used green, three shades of blue,

and a little yellow.

I didn't want the colors to run too much

and the paper was curling up,

so I held it down in the middle with

a ruler until the paper settled 

down a bit.

I used that ruler to make sure all the 

edges were tamped down.

Even had a little overlap on this one.

 Plenty of water 

and I covered up one gap.

And waited 20 minutes . . .

 . . . then I started peeling off the paper.

This is the closest I came to duplicating the Dylusions Ink Sprays. And I think it worked pretty well!

What do you think?
Tissue paper that bleeds, some sturdy paper and some water. Voila! Dylusions Ink Spray "look" duplicated for next to nothing! Now, it's your turn!