I had intended this to be a fun project for the kids and I to do together. They liked ripping up the junk mail but as soon as I started blending the bits into pulp they both got grossed out. They wouldn’t hardly come near the dish pan that held the pulp. So it ended up being entirely my project while they played.

When the paper was nearly dry when I decided I didn’t really care for the color of them. I sprayed them with a little more water then got out some walnut ink…still not satisfied I got out my kids watercolor paints and made squiggles, dots, splatters and lines all over them.

I still don’t know if I’m excited about the end result mainly because I had an idea of what I was going to use them for but the wild colors won’t really go with the vintage appearance of the box I painted.

I’ll likely make some more paper with different colors that will match the painted box better and use these for something entirely different.