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This is a really fast and easy way to give your photos a unique, hand-printed look by using a method called contact printing. All you need is an inkjet printer, your digital photo files, watercolor or printmaking paper, and one of those waxy backing sheets that hold stickers or address labels. So here’s what will happen…when you print onto the waxy sheet, the ink from your inkjet printer will sit on top of the waxy coating, it won’t be absorbed into the paper like it would be with normal inkjet paper. Because the ink droplets will be sitting on top of the paper, you will be able to make a contact print by pressing that ink onto an absorbent paper, such as watercolor paper or printmaking paper, and transferring the image.

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Prepare the paper

Get out your watercolor paper or printmaking paper. For this example we’re using Arches Cover in white. You can cut it to the size you need with an x-acto knife or use your metal ruler to tear it down to size which will give you a nice hand-deckled edge.

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Print the image

On your computer, choose the digital photo you want to use and open the file. The contact print won’t hold a lot of detail so pick something that will still read well with larger dots of ink as well as the texture of the paper showing through. Because the contact print is a reverse of the original you’ll want to flip the image horizontally in the digital file before printing if it includes type or if the orientation is crucial. Load your waxy backing sheet into your inkjet printer and print the photo.

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Transfer the print

Holding the waxy backing sheet by the edges, carefully remove it from the printer. With the ink side facing down toward the printmaking paper, center it and press it down in one smooth motion being careful not to smear it. Lightly burnish the image with your fingers. If you want heavier ink coverage put it onto the printmaking paper as soon as possible. If you’d like the ink transfer to be a little less concentrated let it dry for a minute or two before pressing onto the paper.

Finished!

That’s all there is to it! Above is a shot of the final print.

Notes and Disclaimer

The waxy backing sheet can be reused for more than one print. Wipe off the excess ink with a paper towel before reloading into your printer. Any ink that doesn’t wipe off is permanent and won’t show up in the subsequent prints.

You can get some interesting effects by experimenting with different types of paper such as rice paper or handmade papers. You can also use different colors of paper (you can see we tried one image on a piece of tan BFK Rives) or hand-tone your white paper beforehand with inks or even tea or coffee. If you used a good paper with some tooth you can also use paints or colored pencils to handcolor or paint on top of your image.

**Disclaimer** I used an Epson StylusPhoto printer to print onto the waxy backing sheets and didn’t have any problems. However, not having tried any other printers I can’t guarantee how it will work with your individual printer. There is always the chance that there could be smudging or ink build-up.

You can download a pdf of this tutorial here. If anyone experiments with this technique I’d love to see the results! Please email and/or post your photos in the Craft Tutorials Group on Flickr.

via Donna here

I love making origami flowers. There was a pattern I found once to make a simple flower, that wasn’t so simple to make. After playing with the pattern a bit I came up with this short cut. It’s pretty easy but if you run into problems let me know and I’ll post more details.

The blossoms look best if you use paper that is the same color on both sides. The blossoms pictured here are made of a really nice soft, slightly thick, paper I found at The Paper Source. CLICK HERE and scroll down to the “Lokta” paper. I like to use squares that are 1.5″ squared. To start? I’d recommend using a larger size, like 3″, until you learn the pattern and perfect your folding technique, then move to smaller and smaller pieces of paper.

Other then that the only other thing you’ll need is some yellow or orange crepe paper for the center of the flower. This is the regular rolls of crepe paper they sell at party supply stores.

Once done you can glue the flowers to branches. Here I used dried curly willow.

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Start with a square of paper

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Fold in half from corner to corner

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Like this

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Then fold again from corner to corner making a small triangle

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Partially unfold from one corner, take the point from the far side of the triangle and fold it downwards to the top point in the photo.

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Flatten down into a square like this, then flip over and repeat on other side

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It should look like this

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Now take the tip of the square and lift it away from the base

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Continue lifting until you can create the shape below

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Can you see how I’m folding the outer cut edge as perfectly even as possible to the center line?

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It should look like this when you’ve folded both sides inwards.

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Then flip over and repeat on the other side.

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It should look like this once both sides are done

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Here I’ve taken the points from the solid ends and folded them back over.

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Now fold one petal away from the rest of the form taking the tip of the point facing left in the image above and unfold that petal all the way back towards the right.

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Take the top point and fold the petal in half aligning the top point back down to the creased line on the base like in the picture above.

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Gently lift the folds open and fold along the scored lines

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It should look like this

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Fold the petal back up in the opposite direction. Repeats steps 15-18 on the 3 remaining petals

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It should look like this when all 4 petals are done

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Take one of the outer corners and fold it towards the center line

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It should look like this. Repeat on the half of this petal, then repeat both folds on the backside

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It should look like this once all 4 folds are completed

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Hold the flower and gently separate the petals in an outward direction

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It should look like this with all 4 petals completed

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Close up front

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Close up side

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Cut a small piece of crepe paper twice as long as you want the center to be

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Gently twist a couple of times in the center

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Fold crepe paper in half and gently insert into the center of the flower. I use a bit of glue on the folded point to secure in the flower and a small nail or wire to ease the crepe paper lower into the base.

I found this glue at Michaels and it worked like a charm. You can Google the name below to find it online:

3M Scotch Quick Drying Tacky White Glue

via www.theflirtyguide.com