Painting Origami Paper

[benagami]

Painting your paper gives you complete control of color, which can add a lot to your projects. One problem encountered is curling. To avoid most of the curling, paint the opposite side of your paper while the primary side is still damp. You need only paint the opposite side with one coat of paint to avoid (most) curling.

[Mrs02l]

Thank you!

[LeafPiece]

Thanks for posting this, that is good advice. I've been painting my own paper for years because when you're folding plants and flowers, it just looks WAY more natural and appealing than standard origami paper.

What kind of paint do you use? For anyone interested, I would recommend acrylics, because they are easy to work with and clean up like watercolor, but when acrylics dry, they are not resoluble in water. So, if somehow you get a little water on your origami, the colors will not bleed.

I would also recommend using a sponge brush, because you can dilute your paints on the brush and spread the color out easier. As a result, I usually don't have a problem with curling, because unless I want a dark color, my paper is soaking wet when I'm finished painting . And I find that as soon as you start folding, the inevitable waves don't cause a problem, anyway.

I also agree that having complete control adds a lot to a project. You can easily use your crease pattern to add colors in certain places beforehand, like coloring the labellum of an orchid, for example.

and one last benefit. Painting paper myself gives me an excuse to use cheap copy paper, haha.

[Adam]

LeafPiece, how do you apply your acrylic paint? I tried it once, but it was a complete failure, because the paint simply formed a layer on top of the paper and made the sheet rather thick.

[LeafPiece]

I almost always use a sponge brush. I first dip it in water and squeeze out most of the excess. Then I apply the paint directly to the brush, and just start painting. If you were using a standard brush without much water you'd end up with a thick layer, because acrylics dry very quickly. Dragging a brush over a large surface area in order to color an entire sheet of paper only dries it out faster. That's why the sponge brush is handy.

Of course, if you're just looking for a relatively light color it's very easy to do. Most of the flowers I paint for require more water than paint, and depending on how wide your sponge brush is, you can cover a sheet smoothly in a few seconds. But if you're looking for a deeper color, you would still run into some of the problems you mentioned. I need darker colors for leaves and such, but I still use the sponge brush. you just need to work with it a little and find the right balance of water in the sponge to let it slide across the paper without thinning the paint. You will still end up with a thicker paper, but that's just how it is.

You could also buy colored copy paper so that you have something to start with. I bought a ream of pastel colors in green, pink, yellow, orange and blue. If I want a dark green leaf, for instance, I can start with that paper and not have to lay the paint on so thick. The outcome is still great.

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

I think I've posted complete instructions for this no less than 3 times...

[LeafPiece]

I've read the useful information you've posted about acrylic/MC. I believe we're talking about the possibilities of using acrylic without going the extra mile, plus some tips I haven't seen yet, not to mention what was stated in the original post (to benagami, sorry for diverging so much, lol).