Making seed paper for favours - help

mimosaurus

Hi,

Can anyone please point me in the direction of a decent tutorial of how to make the seed paper stuff for favours?

Also, is it hard to do, and does it take a long time?

Thanks for your help!

Bride2be24

I would also like to know this, if its ok with u for me 2 keep my eye on this thread?

mimosaurus wrote: »

Hi,

Can anyone please point me in the direction of a decent tutorial of how to make the seed paper stuff for favours?

Also, is it hard to do, and does it take a long time?

Thanks for your help!

midnightraven3

i make seed paper

i make it from lots of different things

i know i have a couple of piccies in my PB
i shall go rummage

midnightraven3

what you want to produce, depicts what you use
this is a lemon card, with wild flower seeds in it



are you going to buy a press?
you can make your own cheaply if you are crafty

i shall go take a pic of one of mine, and i think explaining how to make it will be easier when you can see what i am talking about

midnightraven3

my lappy keeps closing photobucket, saying there is risk
so using tinypic instead
so i dont know what size these will be
apologies:o

first is the frame
you can get 2 photoframes frm poundland that will do the same, take off the back & glass

midnightraven3

then you need a gauze like mesh, and something solid to hold your paper(you need lots of these, i use floor tiles from poundland)



some towels, and you are good to start

get some paper, i used asda smart price for this
but i use junk mail etc when i dont need a pale colour

tear into stamp sized pieces
put in a washing up bowl
to colour this one i used a 2" square of yellow tissue paper
it REALLY does have that much dye in it
put lots of hot/warm water in your bowl, smoosh around
and leave overnight

next day, get your bowl, and put a plug in the kitchen sink
put in all the contents of your bowl, and you will need to add more water, amount doesnt matter, so long as all your much is swilling about in it
get your frame, with the gauze in the middle
swirl your watery mush, and trail your gauze/frame through it and lift straight up
you can see if you have an even covering of "mush" of not
if not, tip it back in and do it again

once you are happy with what you have
open up your frame, place the tile (?) onto of your mush
flip over & remove gauze
place the tile onto a folded towel on the floor, mush face up
sprinkle with seeds
repeat this till your mush is finished
then place a final tile ontop of the last one
cover with a folded towel
and stand on it, evenly
the bottom towel will catch the water

take your pile
and lay each tile with now pressed mush on it
and leave to dry
let it dry slowly and naturally (not in the sun)
it makes it curl
it usually takes 24-48 hrs

your paper is ready to use

we make cards for people etc
and use a poem along the lines of

we send you this greeting, instead of a card
being a friend of the earth is sometimes quite hard
but when frosts have gone, plant this in the ground
and when summer comes, flowers shall be found

midnightraven3

:osorry
i waffled

gingerandrubarb

That's fab,
I'm a tad confussed though (not that hard for me lol) i got that you put scraps of paper into the bowl with the yellow tissue and leave overnight, and then it went blurry and i got a tile with mush at the bottom ? what is the frame and the gauze for?
Is that to squeeze out excess water? Also is it 1 tile per sheet?

I have seen others who have paper punched shapes out such as autumn leaves or shapes such as these on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/listing/54926109/gp-plantable-tags-star-10-spikeovercast?ref=sr_gallery_9&ga_search_query=seed+paper&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title

and these leaves http://www.etsy.com/listing/54386834/100-plantable-leaves-handmade-paper-with?ref=sr_gallery_2&ga_search_query=seed+paper+leaves&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title

midnightraven3

the gauze goes between the frames while you pick up the mulch
and it lets the water drain away
you then open the frame, and put the tile on and flip it over so the mulch is on the tile instead of the gauze
leave the mulch on the tile

once the paper is dry you can make whatever shapes you want from it

i make flower shapes the size of plant pots
i use herb seeds
fill a bag with compost, tie it off, place in the bottm of the pot, place the flower shape on the top
cellophane them, usually in 3's
and give them as gifts to people who dont have gardens

mimosaurus

midnight that's fantastic, really helpful! it looks really easy which i'm pleased about!!

We only want them small - about 2 x 2cm square, do you think this will be big enough for the seeds to take? is there a good amount of seeds to use or do you just sprinkle them over in general? And to let them dry out, is it best to leave them in the sun (like perhaps on a windowsill) or somewhere cool and dry or does it not really matter?

thanks again - you've been really really helpful!!!

midnightraven3

2cms should be enough
specally if you use something like wild flower seeds
but you wont get many in that amount of space
so when they grow they will only have a wee patch
but it will work

:eek:do not put them on a sunny window ledge
water/seeds/sun = germination!!

they are easy to make
make bigger sheets and cut them though