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What Are the Different Types of Tissue Paper Crafts?
Tissue paper is a thin paper that is available in many different designs and textures. Most types are water absorbent, and all tissue papers are easily cut or torn. The delicate nature of this paper lends itself to a variety of tissue paper crafts as it is easily formed when wet and holds its shape once it dries. In its dry form, it can be used to make flowers, piñatas, and stained-glass effects. Wet tissue paper is used in paper-mache, as well as forming a sheer covering for items such as eggshells, picture frames, and vases.
One of the most common tissue paper crafts is making flowers. The tissue paper can be cut or torn before being bound together to create colorful floral designs. Different color tissue papers can be combined in the same flower to create a variegated effect. Piñatas are made by gluing small tissue paper flowers onto a cardboard box filled with candy.
Stained-glass ornaments and decorations are simple tissue paper crafts. A design is first cut out of heavy paper or card stock, with openings cut into the design that allow light to shine through. Two identical designs are used, one for the front and one for the back. Pieces of translucent tissue paper are glued around the openings, simulating the look of stained glass. The second design cutout covers the raw edges of the tissue paper.
The thin nature of tissue paper makes it an ideal material for creating colorful coverings over uneven surfaces. Eggshells can be covered with tissue paper by painting the eggshell with a water-based glue and then applying pieces of tissue paper to the shell while the glue is still wet. Tissue paper is often used in paper-mache. The paper is moistened with paste before being applied to a form. The process may take several layers of tissue paper, with each layer being allowed to dry before the next layer is applied.
Several tissue paper crafts use torn pieces of the sheer paper to create a watercolor effect. The tissue paper is torn into rough shapes and sizes before being placed on a dampened surface. This technique is often used to cover picture frames, vases, and boxes. Tissue paper is so thin that the layered pieces of paper form a continuous surface without bumps where the paper overlaps. Thin pieces of tissue paper can turn a clear glass vase into a candleholder that glows with color when the candle is lit.
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![Precise designs can be cut from thin tissue paper using a craft blade.]()
By: roger ashfordPrecise designs can be cut from thin tissue paper using a craft blade.
Discussion Comments
I always wondered how to make paper flowers with tissue paper, but my daughter showed me how to do it the other day after she came home from school. It wasn't nearly as hard as what I figured.
Basically, you just cut out a bunch of layers of whatever color and design you want and put a stick through the middle of them. Then you can just fold them up and ruffle them a little bit to get the petal effect.
When I was in school, I remember doing the thing where you took little squares of tissue paper and put them over the erasure on your pencil. Then you put a dap of glue on the end and made whatever design you wanted. I think most of them ended up being flowers and things like that, but I'm sure you get the general idea. It was simple, but I think it got tedious after a while.
@kentuckycat - Any time I have seen it done with eggs, it has been around Easter time. Basically, like the article says, you put a little layer of glue on the eggs, and you can layer different colors of tissue paper on top of them. They usually end up looking kind of tie-dyed like if you dipped them in a few different colors.
We used to do it when I was a kid. We dyed some of the eggs, but saved a couple to do the tissue paper on. Our mom always used the tissue papered eggs as part of the centerpiece for dinner.
I have seen some people that make really intricate eggs with tissue paper designs on them. They usually have some sort of flowery design or something. It almost looks like they painted the eggs instead of using tissue paper. I don't know how they get them to look so good.
The actual shell idea is kind of interesting, though. I could definitely see someone taking broken eggshells with tissue paper on them and using them to make a sort of textured design.
@Izzy78 - I'm with you. I didn't realize there were so many tissue paper craft ideas. I can even see how some of these would be interesting for adults to do if they were into making crafts and things. I figure somewhere out there, there are people who make some pretty elaborate craft items out of tissue paper.
The one I didn't really understand was the eggshell thing. Is it talking about sort of like decorating Easter eggs with tissue paper, or is there something I am missing? Are these eggs whole and hard boiled, or does it mean that you take actual egg shells that have been broken and put tissue paper around them and use them in art projects? I could see it working either way. In any case, it sounds like something interesting, I have just never heard of anyone doing it before.
There are a lot of good ideas here that I had never heard of before. I help out at a daycare a few times a week, and we are always trying to come up with new projects for the kids to work on. The thing I really love is that it seems like a lot of these projects would be interesting for a wide range of age groups. You could just ramp up the skill set or intricacy of each project to make it suitable for a certain group of kids.
I think my favorite is probably the stained glass design. I can think of a lot of different things the kids could do. Maybe one of them could be like a tissue paper butterfly craft thing, since they could pretty much use whatever color they wanted on the wings. That would be something a lot of them would like taking home and putting up in their bedroom window, too.
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