The Joy of Paste

Did you eat paste when you were in elementary school and paste came in little plastic tubs with a bright yellow spreader?

Paste smelled clean and tasty, but I never ate it. I squished it through my fingers and rubbed it on paper because I liked the way it looked.

Paste paper is an ancient art that honors the paste-loving kid in all of us. You cook wheat-paste, add color and then spread it on sheets of paper. Before it dries, you drag a design into it with various tools.

Wheat paste is a bit of a problem because bugs like to eat it. I’ve fiddled with the recipe and came up with something that is traditional and doesn’t attract bugs. Then I created more modern versions of paste and applied them to different kinds of papers.

This is gold paste paper applied to black paper. You don’t get the full effect in this image, but it’s wonderful. I love the three-dimensional effect

You can layer paste paper designs, too, as well as colors. Below is a blue and purple paste on white paper. I love the color blending.

And yes, you can use stencils with paste paper. Layering colors and stencils makes great collage papers or background papers.

I’ll be teaching Not Your Grandma’s Paste Paper at Arizona Art Supply in Phoenix on August 10. Class will begin at 10 a.m. and go till 3 p.m. If you are interested, drop me an email at QuinnCreative [at] yahoo [dot] com. I’ll send you details.

—Quinn McDonald loves playing with new and old paste papers.

Filed under: Creativity, Links, resources, idea boosts, Raw Art Journaling Tagged: creativity coaching, new paste papers, paste papers