Paper sculpture has been around a long time. However I found a new and creative way to use it in your paper projects from card making, to altered art and of course to scrapbook layouts. The technique is easy and only requires paper and water.
First, it is easier to use a spray bottle, because you will have control over what areas you get wet. It does not matter if you choose to do this with cardstock or patterned paper, but the thicker the paper, the easier it is.
Begin my spraying your paper on both sides and then crumpling it into a ball.
Slowly and carefully open the ball and press your paper flat and spray again with water. Crumple it up again and then open it up. It is best to do this a couple of times to get plenty of flexibility with the paper and the process of doing it slowly makes it more likely to stand up to the pushing and prodding that comes later.
Once you have completed the crumpling and wetting part and your paper is soft and wet enough to work with, spray it again until it is completely wet.
Now you can grab a cookie cutter (my favorite tool) or you can simply use your hands to mold the wet paper into your desired shape. If you use the cookie cutter to create your shape, be sure and press the paper down to keep it’s shape.
Once you have achieved the look or shape you want, allow the paper to dry. It will take a little while since it should be pretty wet at that point. Once dry you can use adhesive to adhere it to your projects and layouts. It adds a nice bit of dimension and you can use other embellishments to decorate the finished design.
Another fun thing to do with sculpted paper is to create strands of the wet paper and twist it or braid it and use it as a border on your page.
Nicole Humphrey writes articles for the Scrapbooking Blog and for the Frugal Blog. She also guest blogs on a variety of topics. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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