Mulberry Paper and Handmade Paper are beautiful pieces of art in my opinion! I have a bunch of both and hardly use it because I'm afraid to use it up! Like they're not making more every day? Well, I tend to bring out these beautiful papers for special cards and projects knowing the entire time that I can replace them when I run out. I encourage you to do the same!

I'm going to talk about cutting and tearing mulberry and handmade paper in this how-to. Because of the amount of fiber, strands and just plain nature (leaves) included in some of this paper, it may be a real challenge to get it down to a manageable size for your project. Let's look at some of the "tools" that I found useful to work with this medium: mulberry paper, handmade paper, scissors, decorative scissors, waterbrush, paint brush and a dish for water.

Many times the paper can be cut with a trimmer or regular scissors. This leaves a very straight and "proper" edge which may not be the effect that you're looking for. A more natural way to get smaller pieces of mulberry or handmade paper is to use water! You can use a paint brush and water or an all-in-one waterbrush. Using a paint brush, dip in the water, rub against the side of the dish to remove some of the water, then paint water along the paper where you would like the "cut". I recommend having scrap paper or a mat of some kind underneath so that your entire project doesn't get wet! There needs to be a good amount of water on the brush so that it soaks through the paper. Don't worry, it will dry quickly!

Using a waterbrush is very similar to a paint brush except that the water is in the barrel of the handle with no need to keep dipping the brush in a water dish. Squeezing the barrel will dispense the water in a more controlled manner than a regular paint brush.

When the water is "painted" onto the paper, it will soak through and make it very easy to tear. Just grasp each side of the water line and pull gently. The paper will come right apart making a great ragged edge! Look below to check out the different textures given by the method used to "cut" the paper. You'll notice that the least controlled method of a paint brush and water offers the most natural or ragged looking edge.

When working with a large roll of handmade paper, the brush and water combination is one of the best options to size down the paper. A trimmer is definitely out of the question! I found that putting the stamped piece down on the paper was a good place to start. Pick out a section of the paper that the pattern appeals to the design of your project.

I wanted to create a mat for this stamped image, so I painted water all around it to the approximate size. Make your painted are larger than what you want because you can always take away more paper. It's REALLY hard to put it back!

Remove the stamped image and start to pull the paper away from the main sheet. If it doesn't come apart easily, dampen that area with more water.

When the smaller piece is separated from the main sheet, put your stamped image on that section and check the size.

You can finesse the detail around the image by just pinching the paper between your fingers and pulling lightly on the fiber. This will create a fuzzy appearance and ragged edge. Dampen the areas that aren't coming off easily and work with it until you have the shape and size you're looking for in your final project.

Here is the final project using the handmade paper that I just "cut":

Title: Wild Garden Card
Products used: Stamp (Lasting Impressions With Panache, Wild Garden)
Inks (Superior India Ink and Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink)
Coloring (Staedtler Watercolor Pencils)
Brad (Bazzill)
Flowers (Rag Shop)
Paper, Pin, Beads, Tiles (unknown)

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