Bird in Hand Arts

Hand decorated paper gives all your paper crafts a completely original look. Paper decorating is fun and easy as long as you prepare the surfaces on which you’re working so that clean-up isn’t a huge problem. You’ll need spray bottles full of dye based watercolors as well as stencils, stamps and objets-trouvee in order to create pattern and texture. By adding pearlescent water color over the dye-based colors, you can create some beautiful and festive materials for other projects.

I’ve included here a tiny sample of some of the papers I’ve hand-decorated and some of the note cards I’ve made with these papers.

Positive and Negative Spaces

These two cards were made from the same two pieces of paper. The one on the left features what is called a negative shape, while the one on the right displays what is called a positive shape. The figure on the right was cut from the center of the piece of paper on the left, leaving a hole or space (the negative shape). The paper surrounding the hole is called a “mask,” or “stencil” through which the underlying layer of paper is seen. The cut-out figure is the positive shape.

Think of Roadrunner cartoons where Coyote attempts to chase Roadrunner through an open door. As Roadrunner passes through the door, he slams it shut. Coyote then runs through the physical door, punching out a Coyote-shaped hole in its center. Coyote himself is the positive figure; the Coyote-shaped hole in the door is a negative shape.

It is a great deal of fun to create notecards in this way, especially if you’ve decorated the paper to begin with.