Five Papercraft Techniques

LAYER IT

You can create impressive crafts with something as simple as layering up your paper! Play around with different techniques, textures, and colours to create dynamic, interesting designs. There are so many beautiful printed papers out there (I’m sure we all have a stash of them!) that work so well combined with solid colour papers in tonal colours, or even glitter and mirror card – I like to have a line up of ‘potentials’ and work out which go best together before I start cutting. Adding in techniques like embossing, inking, and stamping is a great way to give life to your layers!

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COLOUR IT

There are so many ways to add colour to your papercraft, and it’s a great way to make your projects really stand out. One of my favourite ways to add a bit of colour is inking – it always amazes me what a difference just a little bit of ink blended around the edge of a die cut or mat and layer piece can make. Pens, pencil crayons, pastels, and all those amazing drawing materials are fantastic for colouring stamps or adding your own detail to projects. Don’t be afraid of paints either, you don’t have to be a brilliant painter to use them. Watercolours are a good starting point with paints, use them to create backgrounds with a simple wash of colour, to pick out details on stamp designs, or experiment with spatter effects – time to get messy!

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DIE CUT IT

This is probably one of the most popular papercraft techniques out there, and it’s easy to see why when there are so many beautiful die designs! For me it’s the detail you can achieve with dies that makes them so appealing, and the simplicity of being able to just pop a bit of paper through a machine and ending up with something pretty at the other side – minimum effort for maximum reward! They are of course perfect for card making, but also ideal for adding those finishing touches to a beautifully wrapped gift or using to create home décor pieces.

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DIGITALLY CUT IT

This is a personal favourite of mine because it really has taken my crafting to a new level. There is so much potential with digital cutting machines like the Cricut – cardmaking, stencils for home décor, model making, cake toppers, bunting – I could talk all day about it! I love making 3D crafts with my machine, from simple boxes to large scale models, there’s something so satisfying about starting with a flat piece of paper and ending with something 3D! You can make your projects as simple or as complicated as you want, and there are so many SVG designs available – or you can even design your own!

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SHAPE IT

Paper is a very forgiving medium; different types behave in different ways of course but it can be surprising how much it can be played with and manipulated. Quilling is a great example of how shaping paper can create a whole new effect, even if it’s just for a small element of your project. There are various techniques that can be used to bring your paper to life, I love a ball tool to add shape to flower and leaf shapes for example, or using a scoring tool to add detail, even something as simple as wrapping paper around a pencil to shape it can be really effective – have fun and experiment with it!

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Inspiration

If you’re looking for a little inspiration, tune in to HobbyMaker and watch expert demonstrations from the top names in the crafting industry. Get started on your next papercraft project today.

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