Creating faux rice paper is simply layering thin paper with a white glue mixture. You can create a vintage look by adding coffee, tea, or paint. The result is a translucent, slightly textured surface that resembles real rice paper.
Why would you want to make these faux rice paper tags?
- You can customize these tags and personalize them with different colors, shapes, and sizes.
- Add a unique and handmade touch to your gifts.
- They are easy to make and require minimal materials.
- They are cheap to make!
- These tags are lightweight and won’t add extra weight to your gifts.
- The tags can be reused or repurposed by the recipient.
- They add elegance to your gift.
- You can showcase your creativity and DIY skills.
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Supplies Needed for Faux Rice Paper Gift Tags
- Plastic grocery or shopping bags
- White glue
- Water
- Instant coffee or water-based paint
- Tissue paper or paper napkins
- Tag punch board
Directions for Faux Rice Paper Gift Tags
First, cut the bottom seam off of the plastic bag. Cut off the handles and cut down the side or sides of the bag to make one or two flat pieces of plastic.
You can use plastic bags with print on them, but be sure to face the print down, and work on the plain side of the plastic. If you work on top of the print, odds are it will transfer to your paper.
Keep these plastic pieces. You can use them over and over and after you’ve made these, you will want to make more!
The Glue Mixture – With and Without Coffee
The glue mixture is simply one part white glue and two parts water. I used Elmer’s Glue-All. This is one time you do not want to use Mod Podge. Sometimes it can remain sticky. The Elmer’s white glue dries completely.
I mixed one part glue with two parts water in a glass jar for this first tissue paper. Place a lid on the jar and shake vigorously to mix.
Then, I mixed one part glue and two parts hot water mixed with two teaspoons of instant coffee for the second. I love the smell of this! The coffee smell is still apparent after the paper has dried. If you don’t like the coffee smell, try tea instead.
Use Tissue Paper for Faux Rice Paper
Tissue paper works very well for this project. This paper was in a gift bag I received. It was already wadded up and wrinkled. The color is perfect and will show the difference between the glue with and without coffee.
I cut it in half and used the glue and water mixture on one half and the coffee glue mixture on the other half. You can see the difference.
Paint the glue mixture onto the plastic using the marker marks as a guide. Lay the tissue paper on top of the glue.
Then, paint the glue mixture onto the tissue paper from the center outward until the entire tissue is covered with glue.
Next, use your paintbrush to gently press the edges slightly all the way around the tissue. Then, use the paintbrush to press the edges flat. This move makes it easier to raise the edges and remove the glued tissue after it dries.
Set the paper on the plastic on a flat surface to dry for a few hours or overnight.
I repeated these steps with the glue and coffee mixture. You can see a marked difference in the looks.
Releasing the Tissue from the Plastic
Once the paper is completely dry, lift a corner and run your finger underneath the edges. Gently pull up the paper to release it from the plastic.
Notice that the front side of the faux rice paper is matte and the backside, which sat on the plastic, is shiny.
Use Paper Napkins for Faux Rice Paper
Tissue paper is a lot more durable than napkins. You’ll need to be more careful when painting the glue onto the napkin. Using a dabbing motion instead of a dragging motion seems to work better.
There are a couple of little tears in the napkin. It’s not critical. Whatever it is used for, an embellishment will cover up the holes from the tear. I’ll just be extra careful when applying the glue.
Notice that the wrinkles in the thinner napkins are much less pronounced. Each can be used for a different look and purpose.
Can you believe the difference between the napkin before and after the coffee glue has dried?
These are so beautiful! Once the glue has dried and you’ve removed the napkin from the plastic, the piece is much sturdier. Yet, it is still pretty easy to tear and create an interesting edge for paper crafts.
Faux Rice Paper Gift Tags
Initially, my plan was to use the faux rice paper alone, but as you can see, it doesn’t show up so well on the black bag. So a tag with writing on it became the background tag. You can see the difference in the pictures below.
The left side and the bottom of the tag are edges that were pressed inward with the paintbrush. The top and the right side are simply torn.
Transfer With Clear Packing Tape
Ordinary transparent packing tape can be used to transfer laser-printed images. Unfortunately, I don’t have a laser printer. It does not work with inkjet printers.
However, I tried using this technique with a piece of cardstock from a collection I have. It is probably much easier to do this with paper, but I wanted the graphics on this.
The first thing you do is take a piece of regular clear packing tape and place it over the image. For the best results, burnish it with a plastic burnishing tool or a plastic scoring tool.
Then, place the image on the tape in a container with warm water. Leave for about 30 seconds. Then, gently rub the paper off of the tape. The tape will be sticky afterward!
If you use cardstock as I did, you need patience for this project! It took a little while to get most of the paper off of the tape. Incredibly, the tape is still sticky!
I painted the plain white glue mixture onto the floral napkin, too. The tape transfer seemed to be more visible on the white. My gosh! Doesn’t that white faux rice paper look beautiful?
Just press the whole tape transfer onto the paper. Next, cut a tag to complement the rice paper and transfer. Then, use a ribbon to attach the tags. This seems so delicate and shabby chic! I love it!
If you need to for your design, you can use sharp scissors to remove the tape around the image. I used the whole width of the tape.
Check out this post that shows ► how to make a gift tag step-by-step.
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