I unpacked a box of ancient washi tape rolls for this evening’s art journaling session and eventually got them all to unpeel without tearing. We used them to build background collages in black and white and colour, and layered them for maximum contrast in this finished layout:
I started taking step-by-step photos for this post, but, at some point, they stopped saving to disk. So here is the process we used, partly illustrated…
Start by covering your background with strips of black and white washi tape. You may need to use a glue stick to ensure they stick down. As I was working in my A5 journal with the fold in the middle, I cut the starting ends square with scissors. Don’t worry about overlapping the other edge.
Once all the background is covered, flip the book over and using a ruler and knife (or scissors) trim off the excess tape.
Repeat the process using coloured washi tape strips across a spare piece of card. I wasn’t sure what I was going to create at this stage – if you do, then you could mark out what needs covering with the tape to avoid using more than you need.
First up, I thought I would combine stamping with coordinating dies. I used archival ink as this will stick to less porous surfaces and heat set it to be sure it wouldn’t smudge.
I lined up the dies, ran the sandwich through the machine and created my coloured butterfly cutouts. While everything was out, I also cut the same butterflies from scrap card/paper to act as masks later.
Photos failed to save at this point. Here’s the remainder of the steps:
Make another sheet of solid-coloured washi strips and using dies/electronic cutter/laser cutter cut out the text. Use the waste part of the sheet as a template to stick the letters in place, particularly if you used digital means to design it. Glue in place, taking care not to inadvertently glue down the template. Outline the text in gold and then in a thin black pen.
To finish off, I stuck down the butterflies to the black and white background. After covering them with the die-cut masks from earlier, I sponged black acrylic paint over the edges so that there was a good contrast between black and white and the colour.
Alternative image idea
I trialled using a stencilled face to create my colour focal image. Make the background as described above and then, using a Sharpie, trace the outline.
Cut around the outline using scissors or a knife.
When I auditioned the face on the black and white background, I felt it didn’t pop enough. On review, I’d advise using brighter-coloured washi tape with fewer areas of white to achieve a good contrast. Adding a black halo around it would also have helped.
Used for this washi tape layout
- Oodles of ancient and new washi tapes, including gift wrap tapes from IKEA, designs by Tim Holtz and some I found whilst in the USA some years ago. Top tips: if they are refusing to peel from the roll, try gently heating with a heat tool to soften the adhesive, or, cut through a couple of layers with a sharp knife and peel back to reveal more peelable tape. The adhesive tends to dry in the top layers and becomes more sticky/permanently stuck.
- Decoart Americana Acrylic Paint: Lamp (ebony) black
- Kuretake Zig Memory Systems 2-way glue
- Ranger Archival Ink: Jet Black
- Stampendous Fran’s cling rubber stamps and stencil: PenPattern Butterflies [CRS5071]
- Stampendous Fran’s cutting dies for stamps: Butterflies [DCS5071]
- That’s Crafty! stencil: Max [TC7012]
- Glowforge laser cutter
- Posca paint pens: PC1-MR – gold
Don’t forget that my art journaling sessions run on the first Monday of the month starting at 7:30pm and cost just £5 to attend. There are spaces available, just let me know if you’d like to join the group.