If you've been curious about making faux handmade paper — the kind that looks like mulberry or handmade fibre paper — but don't want to deal with the blender, the mould and deckle, and the hours of drying time, this tutorial shows three simple ways to get that look at home. I use tissue paper and paper towels, tea bags, and toilet paper, along with PVA glue mixed with water and whatever inclusions you want to layer in — threads, cheesecloth, coffee, tea leaves, gold flakes, dried botanicals. All three methods end up looking genuinely beautiful, and the process is a lot more fun than you'd expect.
What we cover
Three distinct approaches to making faux handmade textured paper using everyday materials: tissue paper and paper towels as a base, tea bags layered and sandwiched, and toilet paper as a stand-alone sheet. I cover glue mixing, layering, adding inclusions, lifting the wet sheets, drying them correctly, and flattening the finished paper. I also show a few things I've made — a small journal, embossed pieces, and covers — so you can see where these sheets can go.
What you'll learn
How to mix a glue solution that works for all three methods — the ratio I use is roughly three parts PVA to one part water, but the real test is consistency: runny enough to brush smoothly, but still with a little drag to it. Too thick and it won't saturate the layers properly; too watery and it won't bind.
How to separate paper towel plies before you start — and why it matters. A thick, unseparated paper towel stays looking exactly like a paper towel when it dries. Separate the plies first and the texture transforms into something that genuinely reads as handmade paper.
How to build up layers with inclusions sandwiched in between, including options I use regularly:
- Cheesecloth (adds structure and a beautiful woven texture)
- Tea leaves opened from tea bags
- Threads and fibres
- Gold flakes
- Coffee granules and instant coffee
- Food colouring dropped into the wet layers
- Dried botanicals and broken-up dry leaves (kept flat and not too chunky)
How to work with tea bags as a structural layer — tea bags are surprisingly strong because they're designed not to fall apart in boiling water. You can lay whole tea bags directly onto your base, glue them down, and leave them exposed on top for visible texture, or sandwich them under a final tissue layer to mute the effect slightly. Different tea varieties give different colours: black tea, green tea, and herbal teas all read differently once dry.
How to handle toilet paper, which tears very easily when wet, including:
- Separating into two-ply sheets rather than working with the full thickness
- Smushing the edges inward before lifting to reduce tear risk
- Using the pads of your fingers — not fingertips — to lift and carry the wet sheet
Why I dry on fabric rather than plastic — if you dry your project on a plastic bag or plastic sheet, the glue creates a filmy, plasticky surface on the underside that I find really unappealing. A fabric towel absorbs the excess glue and leaves a much better back side. The project does stick slightly as it dries, but it peels off cleanly.
Why glass is my preferred work surface — it stays put, and when you go to peel the wet sheet off, the glass doesn't come with it. If you're using a plastic bag instead, glue it down so it doesn't shift when you're lifting the project.
How to flatten finished paper without warping, including two methods:
- Stacking the dried sheets and placing something heavy on top overnight
- Sandwiching your paper between baking paper and ironing it flat (great for pieces that have dried warped, especially if it was windy outside)
Why sealing the finished paper matters — any loose inclusions on the surface — gold flakes, threads, loose tea — will gradually flake off once dry. A coat of glue or sealant over the top keeps everything in place.
What you can make from these sheets — I show a small junk-journal style booklet with a toilet paper cover, eyelets, and a closure; embossed pieces cut down from a sheet I didn't love (embossing transformed them); and journal covers. I also show pieces done directly onto paper rather than peeled off as freestanding sheets, which is another approach entirely.
Tips & gotchas
Separate your paper towel plies before you apply any glue. This is the single biggest difference between a result that looks like a paper towel and one that looks like handmade paper. I had to learn this through a few disappointing batches before I figured out what was going wrong.
Keep your inclusions flat and not too bulky. Broken-up dry leaves are fine; a whole dried flower head or anything with thickness will stick out through the tissue and create lumps that don't hold well. Threads, tea leaves, and cheesecloth sit flat and laminate in cleanly.
When you're working with toilet paper, treat the wet sheet as gently as you can. Approach the lifting step from the edges, come in with the pads of your fingers rather than your fingertips, and move slowly. Smushing the edges inward before you lift gives you a slightly reinforced edge to start peeling from. It tears easily but it's not impossible — just don't rush it.
Brush your glue from the middle outward. This pushes air bubbles toward the edges rather than trapping them under the layers. You can also use your fingers to smooth bubbles out, though you'll end up with gluey hands.
Don't skip the flattening step. If you leave your dried sheets loose, especially if there was any wind during drying, they warp badly and dry in that position. A heavy book or stack of books overnight sorts this out. If a sheet has already dried warped, baking paper on both sides and a warm iron brings it back flat.
Seal anything you want to keep on the surface. Gold flakes and loose threads look beautiful while the glue is wet, but once the project is dry, anything not fully embedded will start to come off. A thin coat of glue mixture or Mod Podge over the finished piece locks everything down.
If you're using plastic as your work surface, glue it down before you start. A loose plastic bag shifts when you're trying to peel the wet sheet off, and that's when things tear or distort.
They work beautifully as journal covers — sturdy enough with the glue layers, and genuinely unique in texture and appearance. They can be cut down for cards, used as decorative pages inside art journals, or embossed after drying (I found that embossing rescued a couple of pieces I wasn't happy with — it gave them a whole new dimension). The cheesecloth versions in particular have an almost fabric-like quality that holds up well when you're binding or folding. And if you make actual handmade paper from pulp, these faux sheets sit alongside them very happily — they're different things, but they share the same spirit of working with fibre and texture. I'm planning a proper handmade paper tutorial using book pages at some point, and I think once you've had a play with these three methods, you'll already have a good instinct for what you like in terms of texture, colour, and weight before you go anywhere near a blender.
