DIY Paint Splatter Paper For Holiday Crafting!

With Chanukah and gift giving season quickly approaching, now is a great time to have some fun making your own decorative paper for crafting! And while you are covering blank sheets of watercolor paper or mixed media paper with layers of colorful and messy drops, splatters and patterns, you may just learn a thing or two about abstract painting, and how colors work with one another, not to mention that putting paint to paper without a plan can be just downright relaxing and enjoyable! There are so many ways to use artful and vibrant painted paper like the sheets I’ve made here, and the main thing is not to get too hung up on how you’ll use the paper, just make it and then based on the results the inspiration will come, hopefully. If not, you can always consult me for tips, and of course project ideas, which I’ll be posting here, now that the topic is at hand. I already have one little project idea with the colorful square piece, now underway, which I’ll share with you next, assuming it is shareable! Okay, lets get into the supplies you’ll need and some tips for avoiding a huge mess!

You’ll Need:

• watercolor paper, recycled cardboard or anything heavy weight enough to hold a few layers of paint, (maybe you could try this on parchment paper,  as well, as gift wrap, an aha moment, will try that next!)
• inexpensive acrylic paint or craft paint
• a large paint brush, or even a silicone pastry brush, as well as some smaller brushes
• kosher salt (check out my tutoria for using that here)
• a paper or plastic plate or paint palette with an edge

How To:

Paint the blank paper in areas of color, stripes, blocks, huge squiggles, overlapping shapes, or even write a huge message in paint or paint your name and things you love in big thick letters that cover the whole page. Just have fun cover the page with color, however you please. You can break out the bubble wrap to add dots, or carve a potato, or use your fingers, among other methods for creating texture and pattern.

Splatters:

Now, either on top of a large drop cloth, or preferably inside a huge box, let the dripping and splattering begin! Mix you paint with water to obtain a pancake batter consistency. Load the brush with paint and then, flick the brush in the direction of  your paper, or tap the brush with another large brush to release the paint. All of these splatters were created by quickly flicking the brush, and that does generally result in the lines that you see. Experiment with quantities of paint and consistency of paint to acheive splatters that you love.

Drips:

Drips are made by painting a pool of paint of the surface and then standing the paper on end to let the paint drip. If your paint isn’t budging because it is too thick, you can try blowing it with a straw, and next time add more water. You can combine drips and splatters by splattering and then standing the paper on end to allow the paint to drip.

So many ways to go with this, enjoy, and do take my advice about doing this either on a huge drop cloth or best of all. to really avoid paint everywhere, in a box, or maybe in a box in the bathtub?