Paste Paper

Yesterday, I thought I would start a project I've been composting for some time now. The first part of the project began with paste paper.

For those that don't know what paste paper is, simply put it is decorating paper with a mixture of flour paste and some sort of pigment. Or finger painting for grown ups. Paste paper usually begins with cooking the flour and water paste in the same way you would make gravy. Stirring, stirring and straining until you have no lumps. Many people have their favorite paste recipe: cake flour, rice flour and all sorts of other flours.

I've used cake flour with good success, but I'm a graduate of the Jane Jetson School of Culinary Arts. Punch a few buttons on a microwave. Ding! Dinner. So when I came across Elmer's Art Paste (formerly Ross' Art Paste), I had to give it a try.

Directions were blissfully simple. Mix the powder in a gallon of cold water and stir for 2 minutes. Wait 15 minutes and stir again. Then store the mixture in an air tight container. Btw, the ingredient in the paste is methyl cellulose. Very non-toxic. It's used as a thickener in stuff like ice cream.

I had fun making a few sheets of paper for my project. I was working in reds for my project. And then did a few more sheets to use up the paste and to have decorative paper around just in case. And then was taken by surprise.

The piece pictured is pink! So not my color, but I created it so it must be me. I like the pattern and the overall effect.

Has that ever happened to you? You created something outside your comfort zone or box?

Paste paper: Arches Text Wove, Elmer's Art Paste, Gel Medium, Liquitex Crimson and Cadmium Red Deep, Twinrocker Gold Sparkle and Pearlescent Sparkle powders.