crumpled paper technique

[laura&fam]

I have seen in how to books about a method to crumple paper and would like to try it. The basic theory is: spray the cardstock (white centered cardstock seems best) with water until damp, crumple it, then lay it out flat again. It leaves creases that can later be sanded if desired (when dry).

My questions are: how wet to get the paper, do you press it to get it flat again or just spread it out, and if I want it in a certain shape should I cut it before or after I crumple it?

It will probably take some experimenting, but I would like to save as much frustration and paper as possible. Thanks for any help.

 

[pjlla]

Just sharing what I do. I don't usually sand my paper. I crumple it dry most of the time also. If I am concerned about tearing the edges, I usually start by rolling it into a tube and kind of crumpling the tube.... then I unroll it and roll in the other direction, crumpling the tube again. By then it is usually soft enough to just crumple up in a ball. This usually results in a few small tears around the edges, but not always. And I am not usually using the entire sheet, so I can trim it as necessary. When I smooth it out again I iron the page (using my regular clothes iron) and that makes it flat enough to use. I have had great success with this technique many, many times with many kinds of paper including cardstock, patterned paper, and vellum.

BTW, crumple a piece larger than you will need and cut it after you re-smooth it. It sort of "shrinks" when you crumple it and if you cut it to size before crumpling, it may not be large enough after. Good luck!..............P

ETA: If you are considering cutting the crumpled paper (such as a die cut or punch) I would cut AFTER crumpling and resmoothing.

 

[Spinning]

another thing you can do to give it a neat aged look.
crinkle the card stock first, then ink it then spray it with water, lightly crinkle again...then iron flat. the ink bleeds into many different colors.

 

[PrincessNancy96]

another thing you can do to give it a neat aged look.
crinkle the card stock first, then ink it then spray it with water, lightly crinkle again...then iron flat. the ink bleeds into many different colors.

Neat idea... I'll have to try this!!
I have some pictures from the 70's I'd like to scrap...

 

[latharia]

Once it's crinkled ... you can also swipe an inkpad across the top of the paper - it will catch in some places and not others, really showing some fun dimension!

Oh man ... I see somebody got frosted & got a Santa mickey. How do you all do that? Let me in on the secret!

 

[laura&fam]

Thanks for all the help. It didn't dawn on me that the color would run if I got it wet, which is not the look I'm going for this time but I would like to try it another time.

Rolling the paper first really did help because it is so stiff it does tear. I didn't realize how tightly you need to roll it though to make the paper soft.

Thanks again, it looks great.