Make Your Own Wrapping Paper
Paper Tigers
Just like gift boxes and bags, wrapping paper doesn't have to be humdrum, either. Here are some inventive ideas for either creating your own wrapping papers or using paper materials you have on hand in new ways:
Use colorful but outdated maps as wrapping paper. This is especially appropriate for a man's gift or a gift related to travel. Topographical maps that are no longer accurate can sometimes be obtained for free from local community agencies and are quite colorful and interesting.
Plain brown paper becomes an excellent base for any number of homemade paper techniques. For example, use a hot glue gun (adults should do this) to glue pennies onto a brown-paper-wrapped package in either a pleasingly spaced pattern or a specific design.
Plain white paper (butcher's wrap works well) is also a nice "field" for decoration. Cut out colorful magazine pictures and glue them on with white craft glue, or make snowflakes out of silver or gold paper and glue them on. Stamp the paper with silver or gold ink or draw squiggles with a gold or silver paint pen for another variation.
Use fabric as you would paper and wrap your gift in pretty fabric scraps. This is especially appreciated by other crafters, who can use the fabric for their own projects.
Scarves, tea towels, napkins, or handkerchiefs also make wonderful fabric wraps. The wrap becomes a gift, too!
Tulle makes a lovely wrapping for bottles or baskets. If you don't want the contents to show through, double the tulle or wrap the object loosely in tissue first.
Wrap a gift in a poster or full-page magazine photo. Choose an image that will clue the recipient into the gift (or completely mislead him or her!).
Antique photographs photocopied onto paper make beautiful gift wrap paper. Or go to a copy shop and make color photocopies of snapshots of the giftee. Glue them onto plain paper.
Use some of the handmade papers you learned how to make in Make Your Own Paper.
Wallpaper makes great gift wrap. Some embossed wallpapers are especially elegant.
Use computer clip art to create unique gift wrap for smaller gifts. Color clip art (printed with a color printer) is one alternative, but even black-and-white printouts can be jazzed up with colored paints, markers, or crayons (or left alone). Kids can "paint" or draw in a software graphics program and create their very own designs.
Use old sheet music or old calendar pages as wrapping paper. You can also cut up old calendars and use them as decorative scrap.
Use kids' drawings or coloring book pages to wrap smaller gifts.
Make your own marbleized papers. These are easy to do.
Project: Marbleized Paper
Level: Easy
Age: 5 and up (with adult supervision)
Materials needed: One disposable foil roasting pan, sheets of plain white paper, enamel oil paints in assorted colors, water, paint thinner or turpentine, a comb, pencil, and/or stick, squeeze bottles or eyedroppers for eachcolor (optional), old newspapers
Directions:
Cover your work area with newspapers. Leave some room to lay your finished paper.
Fill the disposable roasting pan with water. Drop a small blob of each color into the water in different places or try some short strips of color. (Use your squeeze bottle or eyedropper if necessary.) If the paint is too heavy and sinks, thin it a little in a glass jar with a little paint thinner or turpentine.
Using your stylus (comb, pencil, stick, or other household object),swirl the colors in the solution.
Lay the paper on the surface of the water immediately. The best way is to hold opposite corners and touch the surface of the water with the center first, then let go of the corners.
Wait three to five seconds, then gently pick up the paper by the corners, allowing the excess water to drip off. Hang the paper to dry (spring-type clothes pins work well) or lay it on newspaper face up.
When the paper is completely dry, you can lightly press the back with a warm iron, then use it to wrap your gifts.
Note: Start with fresh paint after two or three pieces of paper have been painted. To remove the old paint before adding the new, drag somenewspaper over the top of the water. Try experimenting with different papers, different paints, different colors, and making different patterns.
Marbleizing paper and fabric can be much more involved than the simple process I've given you, with exciting results. There are several good books you might want to consult to get into this beautiful craft further:
Techniques for Marbleizing Paper by Gabriele Grunebaum
Marbling Techniques: How to Create Traditional and Contemporary Designs on Paper and Fabric by Wendy Addison Medeiros
Marbling Paper and Fabric by Carol Taylor, Patty Schleicher, Mimi Schleicher, and Laura Sims
For paper and cloth marbling supplies, (and lots of other neat stuff), contact Educational Innovations at 151 River Road, Cos Cob, CT 06807, (203) 629-6049; Web site: http:// lmg.com/edinnov/marbling.htm.
Other suppliers are Talas, 218 W. 35th Street, New York, NY 10001-1996, (212) 736-7744; and Colophon Book Arts Supply, 3-46 Hogum Bay Road SE, Olympia, WA 98506, (206) 459-2940.
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Crafts with Kids © 1998 by Georgene Lockwood. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
To order this book visit the Idiot's Guide web site or call 1-800-253-6476.
