Rice, Rice Baby

In last week's blog, I stated that I would show you how I make my faux rice paper in the near future. Guess what? Near future right here and right now.

Making faux rice paper is quick, easy and you only need a few supplies. The first thing to do was cover my workspace with a cheap, dollar store, plastic tablecloth. To make this paper, you MUST use a plastic sheet of some sorts or else it won't work. Using a plastic tablecloth provides two (2) functions being that it protects your workspace and provides the base that is needed. However, if you don't have one, you can always use a plastic grocery sack or garbage bag.

Next, you will need some paper napkins. They can be solid colored or patterned - your choice. I had some remnants leftover, so I used these below.

Don't they look familiar? I have used them on several projects that I have blogged about here. It just goes to show how many uses you can get out of a single package of napkins. These napkins were actually leftover from the chargers I embellished. Click the button below for a look.

Something Old - Something New

I removed the backings off of the napkins and set them aside. I'll use them to either help in cleanup with another project or use them as napkins for me. I'm simple. 🤪

Now to make the glue mixture. I heated up a 1/4 cup of water and added one (1) TBSP of instant coffee to it and stirred it up really well. This will add some rich color. Then I added a 1/4 cup of glue and mixed it all up again. I used good old Elmer's glue, but any PVA glue will work.

Before I started the next step, I trimmed the napkins so that they would be more rectangular, but they didn't need to be cut perfectly. They will be cut more accurately later on. So, with this being said, I needed to place the napkins on top of the tablecloth leaving a little space between all of them as shown below.

Once I had them placed, I made a little dot with a marker outside of each corner.

Once I had all of the dots drawn in, I removed all of the napkins. I then took a paint brush and painted the glue mixture inside of each dotted perimeter. I brushed it on vertically and then horizontally, making sure the area was fully coated. I did this one perimeter at a time and then placed the napkins, design side up, back on top of the coated areas until all were glued down. Next, I took a dry brush and smoothed out each napkin as best as I could. Lastly, I painted the glue mixture on top of each napkin starting from the center and gently painting out to all of the edges.

I wasn't so gentle on one side and oopsie... It'll be fine though as I will cut it out at the end.

Once all were glued down, I picked up the tablecloth and laid it outside on my lanai floor to dry. They were fully dried within 8 hours, but it could have taken a full 24 hours. It all depends on climate or how much glue mixture was used.

The fun part is removing the napkins from the plastic tablecloth, and they should tear off pretty easily. If not, just give them a slight tug now that they are coasted. And now is when you can trim up the napkins as perfectly as you want using a ruler and/or triangular ruler to get your 90-degree angles. It all depends on how precise you want them cut. Or you can leave them 'as is' if you want a natural edge.

Here are some others that I have made. These were all done with a thicker coating of glue mixture and the edges were left au naturale.

This blog is basically going to be a prelude to next week's blog where I will show you what I did with a piece of this flamingo designed faux rice paper. Here is a teaser below for you.

Before I close, I just wanted to share that this past week, my blog was seen by people in Bejing, Ukraine, and Germany. I don't know, but I just find this really kewl.

Until we meet again next Wednesday, try your hand at upcycling something and have fun doing it!  

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