Dyed paper tags

These were made after watching another of the Fodder Challenge classes, this one by Liz Constable who created a set of mixed media tags. Her starting point was her stash of dyed papers and that inspired me to use some of the papers that I have experimented with dying over the last few years — it’s so easy to keep the precious papers until just the right project comes along so I’m making a point of actually using some of those special supplies.

I started with some plain tags and covered them with dyed papers; I trimmed one of them with scissors, but went for a more organic look on the rest by tearing the papers to fit.

Then I gathered together some scraps of paper including a piece of kitchen roll that had been covered in sprays, along with some pressed leaves and even a few artificial leaves.

The one with the bundle of paper strips was the first one to be made and that set the direction for the rest, though I turned it around on the others and made the paper strips into the element that held the foliage in place.

Once they were all made and dry, I added some gold “splatter” on each of them by carefully drawing it on with a pen. I’d picked up a bag of silk sari ribbon from Rainbow Silks (purveyors of interesting textile-art-related items) and that proved to be the perfect thing to finish off the tags.

I rarely make tags because I’m not quite sure what to do with the finished items, but these turned out so nicely that I might even frame them as a set.