The unassuming paper towel is one of my favorite papers to paint and dye. This simple item became the staple and cheap alternative to teach my elementary art classes how to dye paper. They were readily available in many different finishes, weights and textures to experiment with. I gathered paper towels and napkins from restaurants to womens restrooms to save for painting. After testing a lot of alternatives, my FAVES are the Kirkland brand from Costco, Viva (which ends of looking and feeling like fabric but cannot be pulled apart)...Bounty and Brawny aren't bad either. You see I've become somewhat of an expert at paper towels..lol.
I paint and dye my paper towels with a medley of mediums... mostly liquid watercolors mixed with a little fluid acrylics sprinkled with glitter or mica. I LOVE using TULIP Fashion sprays and fabric dyes for more permanent color on the paper towels. I use paper towels to wrap my dyed fabric as it dries and it picks up excess color from the dyes. I paint through stencils with gesso and metallic paint while the paper towels are damp and stamp patterns over the top with black acrylic paint or ink.
they make fabulous collage material...pull apart the 2-ply paper towel and you have two pieces to collage. collage over black & white photocopies or lettering done in black markers for interesting effects. the paper towels become slightly transparent when dry.
use painted paper towels to accent your art journal pages.
paint designs over the top of the paper towel collage
stitch them to art journal covers
play with simple shapes and colors...
experiment with layering over different surfaces and use Collage Pauge to seal.
fusion DYED collage basic technique:
cut dyed paper towels and other collage papers like b&w photocopies.
BRUSH on layer of Collage Pauge onto surface. place collage piece then brush another layer over the top to seal. Continue to add collage pieces brushing Collage Pauge onto each layer. Seal with a final layer of CP over entire collage. Let dry.
Paint, write or stitch over dried collage.
Collage Pauge dries clear, without lines and has no odor. It's perfect for art journal pages because it doesn't dry sticky.
artJOURNALING daily prompt...dye..paint..and play with paper towels! My book and DVD have plenty more tips and instructions on how to dye paper towels. Click on the photos for technique details.
happy art journaling...xo~treiC
