If you've been curious about making faux rice paper at home — the kind that looks genuinely fragile but holds up surprisingly well — this tutorial covers exactly that. I'll walk you through the whole process: which materials work, how to mix your glue solution, how to apply it without tearing everything, and how to peel it off cleanly when it's dry. I've been experimenting with this technique since I first saw it on Facebook a few months ago, and the variations I've landed on are what I'm sharing here.
What we cover
This tutorial goes through three main materials — napkins, tissue paper (including sewing pattern paper), and cheesecloth — and shows how to turn each one into faux rice paper using PVA glue mixed with water or coffee. We cover the full process from glue solution to peeling, plus some on-the-fly project ideas: journal pages, glassine-style bags, mini booklets, and more.
What you'll learn
How to choose the right material for your faux rice paper, including:
- Single-ply napkins — the more white in the pattern, the more translucent and rice-paper-like the result
- Thin tissue paper, like the kind that comes in a shoe box — the thinner the better; thicker tissue doesn't show much difference after gluing
- Sewing pattern paper — very thin, very pliable, and produces an outstanding sheer, crinkled effect
- Cheesecloth — loosely woven is ideal; the result has an almost skin-like texture, somewhere between paper and leather
How to mix your glue solution — PVA or plain school glue thinned with water, coffee, black tea, diluted acrylic paint, or watercolour. The ratio is roughly two-thirds glue to one-third liquid. The key is getting it genuinely runny; a gooey solution will tear your napkin mid-application. I use coffee most often because I love the warm brown tone it gives — but plain water works just as well if you prefer a clear result.
How to apply the glue without tearing — brush glue onto the plastic surface first, then lay the napkin or tissue down, then brush glue over the top. The layer underneath is what gives the finished sheet its sturdiness; the glue essentially becomes a thin film that holds everything together. Keep your brush loaded — if it starts dragging dry, add more glue immediately.
How to scrunch the edges before drying — once the napkin is glued down and smoothed out, use your brush to nudge the edges inward slightly, creating a scrunched, slightly irregular border. This makes peeling dramatically easier once it's dry, and it also gives the finished sheet that beautiful old-scroll look. I learned this one the hard way after several frustrating peeling sessions.
How to repair a tear mid-process — if the napkin tears while you're working, don't panic. Gently push the torn edges back together with your brush, add a little extra glue over the join, and smooth it down. On a small tear you can pull napkin fibres from the surrounding area to cover the gap. Once dry, it holds well — I had to hunt for the repair on one of my finished sheets.
How to peel the finished sheet cleanly — once completely dry (overnight is safest), start at a scrunched edge and ease the sheet away from the plastic. The glue creates a film on both sides that seals the material and makes it peel away neatly. If you skipped the edge scrunching, an X-Acto knife at the border can help you get the first edge lifting.
How to read the two sides of your finished sheet — the top side (the one you brushed glue over) will be matte, textured, and slightly rough. The bottom side (dried against the plastic) will look shiny and almost plasticky. Both are usable depending on the look you're after, but for the rice paper effect, the matte top side is what you want facing out.
How to layer materials for different results, including:
- Cheesecloth laid directly on top of a napkin before drying — gives you one napkin-textured side and one cheesecloth-textured side on the same sheet
- Napkin left on the cereal bag liner rather than peeled off — cut to shape with an X-Acto knife and sew around the edges to seal them; the plastic lining adds structure, which is what I used for a small envelope/pouch
- Layering faux rice paper over map pages or tea-dyed paper for a scroll or journal-page effect
Simple project ideas you can make with your finished sheets, including:
- Journal pages and journaling spots
- Glassine-style bags and small pouches (sewn or folded)
- Mini booklet covers — cheesecloth faux rice paper works beautifully as a cover material
- Closures with twine for a vintage, wrapped-parcel feel
- Embellishments and envelopes
Tips & gotchas
The single most common cause of tearing is glue that's too thick — if your solution is gooey rather than runny, the brush drags and the napkin shreds. Add more liquid until it flows easily off the brush. Similarly, never let your brush go dry mid-stroke; keep adding solution as you work.
The more white in a printed napkin, the better the faux rice paper effect. Dark, busy prints tend to obscure the technique entirely — it just looks like a napkin. Plain white napkins or the blank inner plies give the most translucent, beautiful result.
Scrunch the edges. I can't stress this enough. Before the sheet dries, nudge those outer edges inward with your brush. It looks better and it saves you a lot of grief when you're peeling.
If you're using coffee in your glue solution, use it up in the same session. A glue-and-water solution keeps indefinitely (PVA is already water-based), but a coffee solution will go off if left sitting. Mix only as much as you need.
One thing I wanted to know before using these in journals: would the glue reactivate under heat or humidity and stick to adjacent pages? I left a folded sheet under heavy books through a full summer — heat, humidity, the lot — and it did not bond to itself. That said, if you're using Mod Podge rather than PVA, do a small test first, as Mod Podge can stay tacky in ways that plain PVA doesn't.
When you peel, the bottom side will always look shiny from contact with the plastic. That's normal. If you want a matte finish on both sides, work with the top side facing out in your project.
The cheesecloth variation in particular has an almost leathery quality that makes it feel like something you'd find tucked inside an antique book. There are genuinely so many directions this can go that the making-things-with-it stage could be its own separate tutorial — and it might be. For now, even just having a stack of these sheets is its own kind of satisfaction.
