My local group had another “play” day and we created some layered paper experiments. We got the idea from this video.  I immediately thought it would give a good texture for representing bark and we decided to give it a try.

It’s a really easy process. Start with a background paper and then add layers of string and thin paper with matte medium glueing them together. By using different values and colors of paper, you can get an interesting look. We used painted tissue paper that we already had in our stash.

You can put as many layers as you would like but remember to leave the strings coming out the edges so that you can pull them once everything is dry. You also need to try and figure out what strings are the top layers and pull each layer of your strings as you work down. Use different thicknesses of string and thread and it gives different looks once the strings are pulled out.

Here’s one of mine when it was finished and drying.

And here are both of mine once dried completely. It took about 24 hours to dry completely.

Then you gently tear the strings out or rip them out. It helps to hold the paper around the string as you go so you don’t pull off too much paper. But you can’t really control what tears so it is very organic looking when you’re finished.

Here’s one of the results that Louise achieved.

Paula was very productive and took her photos with a matte around the pieces.

Here are my two pieces. I left the curly bits and they are quite textured.

You can see how textured with this close up angled photo. This was a fun process and gave interesting results. Now I have a few more pieces to add to my book.