I've always had a HUGE love affair with paper! I think all stampers are built from the same mould and that they too are also addicted to papers in all their various colours, textures and patterns!

In particular I’ve always loved Oriental Washi Papers but they are too rich for my pocket. If I had any I would more likely never actually USE them as they would be far too “nice” to use and just take them out of the drawer every now and then and LOOK at them. So it’s just as well!!

My passion is creating handmade backgrounds and I love to make a mess, so I got to thinking about how I could create the look of Washi Papers without the expense of actually buying them! This is how my ‘Faux Washi Backgrounds’ idea came about!

The backgrounds on the art you can see on this web page are all created using tissue paper! Tissue paper is a very versatile and I think underrated stamping medium, which can be used on almost any surface, and the added bonus is of course that it is inexpensive.

Take a look at the close up scan of the unstamped Faux Washi Background; the colours are really bright, bold and vibrant, with touches of metallic. What the scan doesn’t show you is that the tissue paper actually feels like thin washi paper as it has a fabric like texture.

I created the backgrounds using two different mediums onto the tissue paper; both worked well and created two very different effects. For more striking backgrounds I used Rainbow Inks by Posh Impressions, and for a more subtle effect I used Pearlescant Inks by Daler Rowney (see below).

If you look at the two scans on this page of the stamped backgrounds; the paler background which is stamped with leaves was created using Pearlescant Inks. And the dark red background stamped with Oriental Images was created using Posh Impressions Rainbow Inks.

For best results I found that the Stazon Black Inkpad works best on the Faux Washi Backgrounds as they create a real stark and striking impression. The beauty of these Washi tissue paper backgrounds is once you have stamped on them, they can be crumpled up and then opened up and used for backgrounds on cards; or you can use modge podge to adhere them onto more 3 dimensional surfaces, for example I created an Oriental Fan using these backgrounds.

Read on below for complete instructions on how you too can create these gorgeous colour burst backgrounds:

Supplies Used To Create Washi Backgrounds:

White Tissue Paper
Water Spray Bottle Filled With Water
Soft Paint Brush
Cup of Water
Plastic Bin Liner
Newspaper
Heat Gun

Choose Either Colour Method:

Posh Impressions Rainbow Brights Inks: Hot Pink, Blue and Magenta Posh Impressions Precious Metals Inks: Metallic Rich Gold and Metallic Silver

-OR-

Daler Rowney Pearlescant Inks: Birdwing Copper, Galactic Blue, Sundown Magenta, Silver Moss



How To Create Washi Backgrounds

1. Protect your work surface by laying down a plastic bin liner to protect it; this technique can get very messy!!

2. Lay a sheet of tissue paper on top of the plastic bin liner and lightly spray the entire surface with water. You want it to be wet; but not soaking wet.

You do not want to use the metallic ink yet till later, so set this to one side for now.

3. Give your bottles of posh ink a good shake to distribute the colour properly throughout the bottles and quickly drop random spots of all the different colours of ink all over the tissue paper. Don’t be afraid of letting different colour inks touch one another.

** If you are using Pearlescant Inks by Daler Rowney you will need to dip a brush into the ink itself and use the brush as a dropper and drop spots of different colours of ink all over the surface. Once you have done so; follow steps 4, 6 and 7 below:

4. While the ink is still wet; dip a paint brush into the water, and gentle manipulate the inks to allow the colours to flow and blend together naturally.

5. Now give the metallic gold ink a good shake to mix the colour properly and apply drops of gold over the entire surface of the tissue paper. As before use a paint brush dipped in water to spread the ink colour further and to allow it to blend.

For this next step make sure you have lots of surface space for layering the tissue paper onto to let it dry; cover these surfaces with newspaper first.

6. Lightly spray the entire surface of the tissue paper with water, and take a sheet of plain white tissue paper and place over the top of the coloured ink sheet.

Lightly press along the surface of the tissue paper to allow the colour from the sheet underneath to soak through. Once all the ink has transferred, quickly remove the top sheet of tissue paper and set to one side to dry.

You can repeat step 6 many times over: each time you do so you create a lighter and more subtle background. For a more intense darker background only transfer the inks once, for lighter background repeat until you have the colour intensity desired.

7. Once you are happy with the backgrounds you have created (or in my case run out of surface space!) Blast the tissue paper with a heat gun to dry them.

Your Faux Washi Backgrounds are now complete and ready for stamping!

Please click on the samples you can see on this page for a close up of the artwork I created using these backgrounds plus instructions on how to create them too!

After experimenting further with this background technique I also discovered you can create Faux Washi with Twinkling H20’s! While the tissue paper is still wet I dipped a paint brush into the Twinkling H20’s and painted them onto the surface; adding drops of water to allow the colours to blend together naturally! Try it and see!

I hope you have as much fun creating these backgrounds as I did!