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Tissue Paper Bleeding Art – For Beginners

Tissue paper bleeding art is an easy and fun craft for all ages. It’s simple, cheap and super cool!

 

Tissue paper bleeding art easy craft DIY

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!

 
Here’s the material list and tutorial for Project #1. For project #2, scroll down some more.
 
Tissue Paper Bleeding Art material list

 

Heads up: My post may contain affiliate links. That means if you click and buy something I recommend, while it won’t cost you a penny more, I might earn a small commission. It helps keeps this site up and running. Thank you for your support!

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.

4. Black Sharpie. I recommend getting the Ultra Fine tip which really helps with the intricate quote work. If you buy online it’s here.
5. Pencil
6. Water

Steps:

1. Transferring words/designs onto canvas (or many other materials) without a fancy machine or stencil is actually very simple. Here’s the step by step instructions on how to transfer your image to canvas, if you want more detail. For this project, on the BACKSIDE of your printout go over your design with a pencil, like in the images below.  

 

2. Now flip paper over and position the quote over your canvas where you want it to go. Take a sharp pencil and trace over the letters/design -JUST the outline.
3. Remove the printer paper from canvas. The canvas should now look like this:

 

 

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!

6. Let the tissue dry a minimum of 5 minutes before removing them. If you wait until they are completely dry that would be ideal ( most vibrant color). I didn’t and just waited 5 minutes and I was still happy with the pastel-y outcome.
 
tissue paper bleeding art complete quote and painting
 

 

7. You could repeat step 5 over again to get a “layered” look, which is what I did in both these pieces. Again, try not to think to much and have fun with it!!
 
8. Your done!
 
Hang on! this tissue paper bleeding art tutorial isn’t done yet!
Scroll below to see Project #2….
 
Tissue Paper Bleeding Art with Sharpie Facebook Post
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  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!

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Tina

Monday 1st of April 2024

Hmm. Could you do this on a light colored canvas bag? May need to seal it somehow to keep the colors but... I LOVE this!!

Jasmine Dhillon

Monday 22nd of April 2024

That's a great question! I think it would definately transfer some of the ink from the tissue paper to a white tote bag. I'm just not sure if it would wash out if you put in the washing machine- but a fabric sealer could do the job! Also thank you for your kind words!!

Cheers, Jasmine

Erma

Saturday 6th of January 2024

I thoroughly enjoyed your tutorial. Thank you for sharing.

Jasmine Dhillon

Tuesday 9th of January 2024

That’s great to hear Erma, so glad you enjoyed the tutorial :)

Cheers, Jasmine

Yvette

Wednesday 29th of March 2023

Hi I was looking for the free printable link at the end of the post. Did I miss it? Do you mind giving the link again?

Jasmine Dhillon

Wednesday 29th of March 2023

Hi Yvette,

Here are the 2 printables for the project. Hope it helps and enjoy : 1. https://feelingnifty.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Deer-Head-image-transfer-stencil.png.webp 2. https://feelingnifty.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Inspirational-Quote-Image-transfer-icon.png.webp

Cheers, Jasmine

Betsy

Tuesday 7th of February 2023

Have you tried this on hollow core wooden doors? I bought an older house (1962) and made one of my bedrooms into a dressing/walk in closet but it has these ugly white sliding doors for the old closet doors. I have been looking for a cool idea to “camouflage” them & really likes this technique.

Jasmine Dhillon

Thursday 9th of February 2023

Hi Betsy,

I haven't tried this technique on doors. One thing to keep in mind is that the paint on doors have a glossy finish which might prevent the ink in the tissue from being absorbed into the wood. For this technique to work really well the surface needs to be porous. You could try on a tiny portion of the door to see if it takes. Hope that helps and gluck!

Cheers, Jasmine

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

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