PASTE PAPER : bookmaking
Click the arrows above to cycle through samples of Lead Graffiti paste paper.
PAINTING DECORATIVE PASTE PAPER is heady and exhilarating for adults and kids alike, whether you're into book arts, journaling, scrapbooking, crafting or just having fun. Lift your game by adding some new techniques and testing an array of different tools to push your creative envelope out there.
Get inspired and use your new hand-painted papers to cover books, portfolios, decorative boxes, and frames, or to wrap gifts, make cards & tags—all with designs you created that will give your projects that truly personal, handcrafted-for-you touch.
up to 8 people, ages 10 and better
$80 each
3 - 4 hours with snacks
includes all tools and materials
Completing this workshop gives you access to Workspace Rental and tools associated with paste paper painting.
Check the current workshop calendar, Workshop Schedule or email us to request a date for your group.
Rubber-tipped brushes (left) and a wide-toothed comb (right) can be wielded to make either organic or geometric designs in the paste.
Wear comfortable shoes and work clothing. Dress for the weather: we are not air-conditioned and in winter much of the heat rises to the top of our 20-foot ceiling. Bring questions, your camera and a notebook to record your process.
This bright field of freshly painted paste paper is hanging to dry for a while before being turned into colorful folio covers for certificates.
What is paste paper?
THE USE OF PASTE PAPERS dates back to the late 1500s. Paste papers were (and still are) oddly considered a make-it-yourself medium. Any handy bookbinder can offer attractive books with appealing covers at a lower cost vs. leather, full cloth, or other bindings.
To make it, you simply brush a wheat paste + color mixture onto a wetted sheet of readymade paper, and using your hands or any tool you wish, make marks on the surface. Using the paste as a carrier for the color pigment gives remarkable shading and dimensional effects that are difficult to match with other mediums.
Click the image below to see a short time lapse film of Lead Graffiti's Jill and Ray sharing the process of making two sheets paste paper. This design is for the clamshell edition of one of our Moments Carved in Paper books.
Teamwork came in handy to produce multiple paste paper sheets with the same complicated pattern.
Good to know
DEPENDING ON HUMIDITY and thickness of paste, your papers may require extra drying time and can be picked up later. While paper is supplied for this workshop, feel free to bring any specialty papers you'd like to experiment with. The following topics will be covered:
Showcase of paste paper samples
Handouts of recipes, sources for tools and materials
Discussion of uses and care of paste papers
Mixing colors
Demonstrations of techniques with sponges, brushes, rollers, combs, stamps, etc.
Hands-on experimentation
Cleaning up
Taking this workshop grants you the opportunity to rent workspace and helpful tools and equipment for your own paste paper work. You must supply your own paper and paste. Click here for Workspace Rental options.
Up close and personal pics
Granddaughter Zoe with her school’s 1st prize piece of paste paper done in a workshop. Aged 7. We can’t promise the same results, but we can talk about how we go about making these thing.
⬆ This close-up shows some of the shading and dimensional qualities that wheat paste gives the painted surface.
⬆ A soft sponge brush is used to apply geometric swirls of colored paste for this high-key design.
Applied paste paper
⬆ At Lead Graffiti, our main interest in making paste paper is for covering books like those shown here.
⬆ Lead Graffiti produces diplomas for the Waldorf School of Philadelphia. With our guidance, these eighth-grade students paint their own paste paper which we use to cover each presentation folio.
⬆ IDEA : Wrap a simple picture frame first in one paste paper design and then accent it with a second contrasting one.
⬆ Mantel books with paste paper covers are intended to be customized with photos or small memorabilia and to sit open on a flat surface for display.
⬆ Here, paste paper is used to wrap the walls of the trays in a set of clamshells produced for a student print portfolio from Anne Arundel Community College.