NOTE: this is a half written post, which I made to instruct a friend. It's not done yet, but I'm making it public for now so he can read it.
Much of the time I use a paper called Double Tissue for my Origami. It's cheaper than specialty papers, has a much wider array of color options, and isn't too hard to prepare.
Picture to arrive
Like all papers which are prepared on a glass surface with MC, double tissue always come out with one side glossy, and the other side normal (more on this later). This is an interesting property, which may be favorable to you, or maybe not. Even if you don't like it, the paper still has so many benefits, that it's worth learning how to make.
In this post, I will quickly go over my double (and triple) tissue paper making process.
This post will be split into two pieces: (1) how to prepare the methyl cellulose glue, (2) how to prepare paper, and (3) how to cut paper.
To prepare the paper, you will need
- Methyl Cellulose
- I use this kind. It's not super cheap, and you can probably order it in bulk from other sources, but be warned of possible issues if you try other sources.
- A container to store the Methyl Cellulose that you will prepare
- I use old gelato containers, but jam jars etc. will work fine.
- An (ideally) glass surface. A window will work, but a horizontal one is better!
- Technically a shiny smooth plastic (or possibly other) surface will also work, but I haven't tested mc on those surfaces before. I just use a piece of glass that came with the family coffee table.
- Wide brushes
- I use brushes from this large pack of cheap brushes I bought from michaels. They look like this, but I dont remember the brand anymore.
- I've heard that the kind of brushes you use does matter. If they are too harsh, they can cause the wet paper to tear.
- Two pieces of good quality tissue paper. Ideally you can get the 20x30 inch sheets from local stores, but smaller sizes will still work. They'll just produce smaller papers.
- The kind of tissue paper you use will be pretty tricky to find. Too thin/weak and it will tear when you are preparing it, and too laminated/glossy and the mc won't be able to adhere to the surface through it easily enough causing peeling and warping during the drying process etc.
- I use tissue paper from my local Safeway.
- Some time!
- Preparing paper like this will require around 20 minutes of work (until you get experienced at which point you can probably go faster).
- After that its gonna be several hours to dry.
Okay. Let's make our methyl cellulose mixture. For us, methyl cellulose(MC) will functionally behave as a glue to stick the two sheets together without making the paper too weak and stiff (which traditional glues like white glue would lead too). With more specialized papers like mulberry etc, the mc will strengthen the paper itself (and you'll be able to make single sheets of MC'ed mulberry foldable).
Allegedly, MC clumps less in hot water, but dissolves better in room temperature water. I don't know of this is true (and I'm too lazy to use all that icho experience to figure it out), but it roughly matches with my experience.
- Heat up 1 cup of water until it is relatively warm (maybe 30 seconds in the microwave?)
- Place the warm water into the container that you will be using to store your MC in the end. If your container is plastic, you may want to make sure that the plastic won't deform from the heat.
- Measure out 1 Tablespoon of MC. Then SLOWLY add in the MC to the warm water(add a very small amount of the measured MC, followed by stirring of the mixture, then another little bit of dry MC, then more stirring of the mixture, repeat). Be very careful about this. If you do it too fast, then you will get clumps. I usually add in the dry MC as 3 teaspoons (which add up to 1 tablespoon) to make sure that I'm not going too fast.
- Keep stirring just for good measure for a little while longer.
- It will still be cloudy. Now just seal the container and wait for it to cool. When it has cooled, the MC will no longer be cloudy! I'd guess this has to do with the comment I made above about solubility.
Before we continue, here's a heads up:
Remember how I said that Double/Triple Tissue always ends up with one side glossy? The side that is in contact with the glass surface will come out glossy in the end. This might affect the order in which you decide to place the papers when you're preparing them. For example if you want to mimic kami paper using double or triple tissue paper (i.e. one side with a selected color, the other side white), then you might put the colored paper down first, producing a shiny colored side and normal other side.
Now we're ready to make our paper. (Pictures will follow)
- Ahead of time, prepare your MC with the steps in the previous section. It'll take a while to cool down, so keep this in mind!
- Carefully clean the glass surface with water (and soap if you're feeling not lazy). Then dry it.
- Place your first piece of tissue paper on the glass surface. Remember that this side will end up glossy.
- Add a layer of MC to it with your brush. I like to make one horizontal stripe of MC across the paper to get it to sit flat, then use vertical strokes on the top and bottom halves separated by the horizontal stripe of MC. Try to avoid wrinkles.
- If you are using a rectangle shaped tissue paper, for example, 20x30 inches as I do, you should NOT MC the extra part of the paper beyond what is needed to make a square. This will make it easier to pull off the paper later
- Carefully place the second sheet on top of the (still moist) first sheet. Try to avoid wrinkles. I try to get help from family members with this step (4 hands is better than 2!). You can also roll the paper on a tube (like a clean PVC pipe) and smoothly unroll it over the first sheet if that way is better at preventing wrinkles. I don't have any such tubes sitting around my house though, so I use caveman methods.
- Add a second layer of MC on the second sheet just for good measure.
- Wait a couple hours for the MC to dry. I usually leave it overnight. If you pull the paper too early, then it may not be completely dry (despite feeling like it is), which can lead to warping after you've pulled it off.
- Once the paper is dry, gently hold the portion of the paper which you left untouched (not MCed) in step 4 and use it to peel off the paper. Generally you should not encounter much resistance with this step, although very occasionally it can require a little extra pulling to get the paper off. I'm not sure why this is, but the side that was touching the glass should still be glossy in my experience. This extra resistance edge case can lead to an issue which I will address next.
If when you peel off your paper from the surface, you encounter a lot of resistance, it may lead the paper to start rolling up on its own once you have fully pulled it off the glass. This can be remedied.
Simply take three pieces of string. Roll up the paper in the direction perpendicular to which it is trying to roll, and tie it once around the middle with a gentle knot using the first piece of string. Then, tie the remaining ≈1/4 and 3/4 points for good measure. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then unroll it and see if it has stopped rolling up. If not, repeat the process. If it has started rolling the "perpendicular direction" which you forced it into with the string, just repeat the process but now with rolling in the original direction etc.
If you are experiencing difficulties
- This article might help you: https://wg-origami.blogspot.com/2020/11/warped-and-wrinkled-paper-curse.html
