Kirsten has fun with Mineral Paper!

Taking three sheets of 6 inch square mineral paper I crumpled them to add rad texture because we all need more texture in our lives. Amiright? The paper feels soft and resists tearing so you go ahead and crumple it over and over and it'll hold up.

The three mediums I chose to work with were alcohol inks, Dye-na-flow and Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylics. I had a tub of water and a fat paintbrush nearby too.

First up, alcohol inks. Usually this medium is reserved for non-porous substrates but since Mineral Paper is made mostly from calcium carbonate and a bit of resin I felt confident it would yield exciting results. I was not disappointed. Using three coordinating colors I dripped them all over the paper and then quickly crumpled the paper again to gently mix them together. Wowza! Just check out this texture and those colors!

Second, Dye-na-Flow in yellow and pink. Though usually reserved for fabrics I thought, hey why not, and gave it a try. I applied each color with my fat paint brush to the paper and swished the colors around.  I added a couple layers of color not really letting them dry in between. The colors became deeper and began to pool in the wrinkle crevices. Layers of texture and color. Dry time for this was fast but I am sure my ceiling fan helped the process along.

Lastly, Dina Wakley Acrylics in blackberry violet and lemon. This time I pre-wet the surface of the paper before I applied the paint and then crumpled the paper again to squish the color around. Again the color mixed a bit and got into the crevices of the wrinkles. It looked divine. This paper doesn't soak up the paint as much as paper made from trees and it lends itself to creating a depth of color that is just lovely.

After all was dried I pulled out three 6 inch square canvases. I wanted to mount the papers onto the canvases to create three beautiful backgrounds ready for more. 

It was at this time I decided to iron the paper to flatten it. It would make it easier to mount onto the canvases with soft gel medium. I used a small travel iron set on the cotton heat setting and quickly ironed them between two sheets of plain copy paper. I made care to keep the iron moving and only pressed them for three seconds at a time while checking to see if they were flat enough. Imagine my surprise when I finished and found the paper had shrunk! COOL! You can see in this picture the amount of border produced by the shrinkage. Before the paper was the same size as the canvases. A happy accident and a neat discovery!

All in all I am super pleased with the results and encourage you to try out this paper yourself!