Create a Watercolor Butterfly

Materials you'll need

• White cardstock or heavy paper
• Black permanent marker (like a Sharpie)
• Colorful bleeding tissue paper, torn or cut into small pieces
• Small spray bottle filled with water
• Scissors

 

Step-by-step tutorial

Step 1: Use a black permanent marker to draw a large butterfly outline on your white cardstock. Draw a thick, solid body in the center and add wings, antennae, and any details you like.

Step 2: Lightly spray the butterfly drawing with water so the paper is damp but not soaked.

Step 3: Lay pieces of colorful bleeding tissue paper all over the butterfly wings, overlapping the edges and mixing colors as you go. Cover the entire wing area.

Step 4: Spray the tissue paper again with water until it's thoroughly wet. The dye will start bleeding right through onto the paper underneath — that's exactly what you want!

Step 5: Let the butterfly dry completely. Once it's fully dry, peel off all the tissue paper pieces to reveal your colorful design underneath.

Step 6: Cut out your butterfly along the outline. Hold it up and admire your work!

Learn more

The magic here is in the tissue paper. Bleeding tissue paper is specially made with water-soluble dyes. That means the dye dissolves in water and flows right off the paper. When you spray water on the tissue, those dyes get moving and soak into the cardstock underneath, leaving behind a beautiful watercolor print. Where two colors overlap, the dyes mix together to create brand-new colors — just like mixing paints! When everything dries and you peel the tissue away, the dye stays behind on your paper, but the tissue lifts right off cleanly.