Tissue paper bleeding art is an easy and fun craft for all ages. It’s simple, cheap and super cool!
I love painting with paints, but when I came across some gorgeous tissue paper bleeding art, I was blown away and had to try it out.
I loved the tissue art technique so much I made 3 projects. I’ll provide instructions on each, since they were done slightly different.
If you’ve never heard of tissue paper art before, your in for a treat. Here’s the basics…
What is Tissue Paper Bleeding Art?
You know that tissue paper you use in gift bags? Well, you take those colorful pieces of tissue, place them on a wet canvas and like MAGIC, the dye’s from the tissue transfer to the canvas!
Your canvas will have a cool watercolor-like design that so easy to do and my favorite part, hardly any cleanup!
Thisis also a great activity/craft to do with the kids -instead of the quote they can doodle any drawing they want over top, or just leave it as is!

Tissue Art Project #1
Materials
1. Tissue paper. I got mine from Michael’s ( “Celebrate it!” Brand). I tried the Dollarstore kind but it didn’t bleed. If you buy online I have heard this particular brand works well.
2. Canvas board
3. FREE Printables at the end of post.
Steps:
1. Transferring words/designs onto canvas (or many other materials) without a fancy machine or stencil is actually very simple. On the BACKSIDE of your printout go over your design with a pencil, like in the images below.
- Transfer deer design onto canvas
- Transfer quote design onto canvas
- Transfer quote onto canvas by outlining the letters
- Transfer design onto canvas by outlining the deer
4. Take your Sharpie and fill in the design on the canvas. A gold leaf pen would also be cool, haven’t tried it but I want to one of these days!
5. Once Sharpie quote is dried, lightly wet your canvas with water (not too much water, otherwise your colors wont be as vibrant).
Take your desired colored tissue (I used dark pink, orange, yellow and purple), tear them into random pieces and place them over wet canvas. Try not to think too much in this part and lay your tissue in random places. This was my favorite part of the project!
- Lightly wet the canvas with water
- Place torn peices of tissue paper on the wet canvas




Tissue Art Project # 2
Materials
1. Tissue paper that bleeds
2. White Oil based Sharpie marker
3. Canvas board
4. Stencil
Tissue Paper Art Technique
1. Take your white Oil based Sharpie and color in your stencil onto the canvas board. It’s important you use the oil based Sharpie , since the tissue paper color will resist the Oil and the white color of the marker
It might be hard to see the white Sharpie on the white canvas board, just do your best – doesn’t have to be perfect.

2. Like in the previous project, wet your canvas lightly with water.
Take your torn up tissue paper pieces and put them on your wet canvas.
To make sure the tissue paper is evenly wet, lightly wet the top of the tissue paper once on the canvas ( with a brush or paper towel)
3. Let the tissue paper dry at least 5 Minutes ( completely dry to get the most vibrant color).
4. Once tissue is dry , peel off the tissue paper and your left with a cool tissue bleeding resist art. The pattern/ stencil work with your white Sharpie is now visible.

There you you have it, 2 easy peasy tissue paper bleeding art projects for you to try.
If you liked this tissue paper art step by step guide, please pin it.

Until next time time, stay Nifty!
Reevz
Tuesday 10th of January 2023
Where do you write and print the letters? Any website where you can write your quotes with the desired font and then print out?
Jasmine Dhillon
Tuesday 10th of January 2023
I use an application called Canva (www.canva.com). There's a bunch of fonts you can use and can download them to print out. Hope that helps!
Cheers, Jasmine
Helen Beasley
Friday 9th of December 2022
This looks amazing, I will have to try this with my Students!
Jasmine Dhillon
Sunday 11th of December 2022
Thank you Helen, glad you'll be doing this with your students - hope everyone enjoys!
Thank you, Jasmine
Marta
Monday 17th of October 2022
Will this work if you have painted (in acrylic paint) a background color on your canvas or canvas board?
Jasmine Dhillon
Monday 17th of October 2022
Hi Marta, I haven't personally tried doing the tissue paper on top of the acrylic, but in theory it could work with a caveat(below). First, the acrylic paint should be a light color -since the color transferred from the tissue paper is very light and needs a pale background to see it. Also, the acrylic paint might not be as porous like canvas and the color from the tissue paper might fade or wipe off easier (again not tested, just something to keep an eye out for).
Hope that answers your question and enjoy making your art!
Cheers, Jasmine
Rose
Thursday 26th of May 2022
Can u use this idea on wood or just canvas?
Jasmine Khinda
Thursday 26th of May 2022
Hi Rose,
I haven't tried doing this technique on wood. Not sure how well the ink from the tissue would show up on the wood, especially if it's a darker wood. If you coat it with a layer of white paint before, it might help make the colors pop more. Hope that helps.
Cheers, Jasmine
shawna
Saturday 26th of February 2022
i dont understand how you do the stencil paart..im nor seeing how you could ee threw the canvus board to trace the letters..? i feel like its a simple thing im missing lol
Jasmine Khinda
Tuesday 1st of March 2022
Hi Shawna,
Thank you for your question. The same transfer method I used to transfer the quote onto the canvas board has full step by step instructions in this post (method #2) https://feelingnifty.com/transfer-drawing-from-paper-to-canvas/. I also have a youtube tutorial that walks you through it here: https://youtu.be/zCEkW2RNGZw. Hope that helps! If you need any other info or help please feel free to reach out again.
Cheers, Jasmine