Transcripts
1. Introduction: I don't like exposing my practice sheets
because I feel like they are memorable to me and they
remind us of our hard work. But what if I told you that instead of keeping
them in your drawer, you can actually turn them
into something decorative from this piece of paper
into a paper butterfly? [MUSIC] My name is Joly and I'm a watercolor artist based in the Philippines. I'm also known as Jolypoa
on Instagram like here. I love painting
watercolor florals, and I'm a firm believer that
practice makes progress. Because I practice a lot, I also have a lot of practice
sheets and scrap paper. Pretty sure that if you have
been painting for a while, you might have some too. [MUSIC] In this class we are going to talk about
the materials first. Then I'll be splitting
the class into two parts. The first part shows
you how to paint some abstract brush
markings on a bond paper. Then you'll turn that
into a paper butterfly. This part is for students who don't have
existing practice sheets, but would like to
try this project. In the second part, I will give you
tips on how to fold your existing practice sheet that was painted on
watercolor paper. This class is suitable for both beginner and
seasoned artists who want to preserve
their practice sheets and turn it into
memorable decorations. After learning how to
paint paper butterflies, what you can do with
it is to use it as a decoration on a
wall just like this one. Or you can put it on
a frame or use it as a decoration for your
gift boxes or paper bags. There's just so
many ideas that you can do with this one
single paper butterfly. [MUSIC] Let's start
the class. [MUSIC]
2. Materials: Let's start with the materials
and for the first one, we need a bond paper. This is just regular bond
paper or type writing paper. The thickness is 70
GSM and we're going to use this paper to paint these
abstract brush markings, which we will then fold
into a paper butterfly. Of course you need some
practice sheets so these are my practice sheets. As you can see, I've
painted a lot of leaves. This is just roughly 200 GSM. It's a student grade paper. In this class, don't
use anything above 200 GSM because that would be
too thick for you to fold. It will be difficult to
fold paper butterflies. I suggest just using the student grade paper
that is quite thin, so anything 200 GSM
and below will do. I also think that if there's a student grade watercolor paper that you don't really like, and it doesn't
perform that well, maybe now is the time
to bring it out. Just paint some
simple brush markings or just use it to swatch some colors and then use it for folding the
paper butterflies. Since we will be practicing
some brush markings, I've decided to use this Art Philosophy
Watercolor Confections. You can use any
brand that you want. I just love using this set
because it has a lot of blues and greens and
so convenient to use. For the brush, you can
use the silver brush, black velvet, round
brush in Size 8. But of course, you can
use other sizes as well. Also, you can bring out some brushes that you
don't usually use. I have here some dagger brush, a deerfoot brush, and a flat brush. Maybe this is also a
good opportunity to try out some brushes that you don't know how to use or maybe brushes that you have
been keeping in your drawer. Perhaps you can create some
expressive brush markings. You can stamp your brush
or sway your brush, and just have fun. If you wanted to create
some texture on the paper, you can also use an
old toothbrush to create some splatter effect. I'm pretty sure that
you will just have fun creating all of these
patterns onto paper. We also need a pencil, a ruler, and a jar
of clean water. Let's also grab some
tissue paper to plot out the excess
paint in our brush. To hold the shape of
the paper butterfly, we need a super glue, so any brand will be okay. You can also use a glue gun. Then to stick the
paper butterfly on the wall or any surface. I'm going to use this, Tack-It. It's a removable and
reusable adhesive. I love using this
adhesive because it doesn't damage the surface. Just to share with you, I also use Tack-It to stick my half paints on my palette
instead of using a magnet. Last but not the least, we need scissors to cut off the squares for the
paper butterfly. All right, so we're done
with the materials. I hope that you're
as excited as I am. Let's move on to the next video.
3. Painting Abstract Brush Strokes: [MUSIC] In this lesson, we are going to paint some expressive abstract
brush markings. I have here a bond paper that is roughly 70 GSM in thickness. I just measured
some squares over here and the measurement is
four inches by four inches. So far, this is the
best measurement for me when it comes to
folding paper butterflies. We will be using
this silver brush black velvet in size 8. This is an example of a paper butterfly
made from bond paper, and the design on this
paper butterfly was just some expressive
brush markings that we will be doing right now. Let's grab our brush and
dip it in the water, and then grab some paint. You can use any
color that you want. Right now I'm using the Art Philosophy
watercolor confections in the current set. Let's start painting by dragging our brush and changing the
pressure in our brush. As you can see, I am just swinging my wrist, and I'm also changing the
shade of blue that I'm using. You can also tap your brush
and create some tiny strokes. You can also practice
your C strokes. If you have taken my
floral classes before, this is a good way to
practice those strokes. Or you can use this
to paint some leaves. Or you can paint
some wiggly lines. Try to practice applying less pressure and more
pressure on your brush. We will be painting all over this bond paper and
this will look a lot better if you will change the shades of blue that you
will use for the pattern. Another idea that I
can give you is to use brushes that you
don't normally use. I have here a dagger brush, and let's just try to
paint some strokes. You have a class on using a dagger brush and there are
many brushstroke exercises. I think that you can apply
that to this project. This is a good way
to get to know your brush without
feeling the guilt or without feeling the pressure to create something perfect. Now let's try to grab
a more pigmented blue so I can suggest using
indigo or Payne's gray. This will give more
contrast to your pattern. What I'm doing now is I'm
making sure that in one square, there are big strokes, medium strokes, and
also some tiny strokes. Here I have a flat brush, and let's just try to
paint some fun strokes. You can just stamp
the tip of this brush on the paper to create
those thin strokes. Sometimes I like adding
a little bit of green. Just have fun and there's really no right or
wrong way to do this. My tip is to make
sure that you have painted on the sides
of the squares. Try not to leave white spaces on the edges because when you're folding the
paper butterfly, it will also leave a white space on the wings of the
paper butterfly. We want a seamless pattern. You can just go back in to paint some strokes on
those white spaces. I'm going to show you
an interesting brush called a deer foot brush. This is from the
brand Princeton, and I love the effect
of this brush. Some people use this for the
fur of an animal painting, or they use this to make gas for their
landscape painting. But right here we're just
going to stamp it on the paper and just create
those fuzzy strokes. Another alternative is to
use an old toothbrush. We are almost done. I'm just going to
fill in some of the white spaces on the
sides of this paper. Well, I hope that you
had fun doing this. Just remember that there is no right or wrong
way to do this. You can definitely
create your own pattern. Now let's wait for
this to dry and then you can cut
it into squares, and then let's fold it into a paper butterfly
in the next video.
4. Class Project: Paper Butterfly Using Bond Paper: Now, I have my
little square over here and I'm just going to flip it and then we're going
to fold it in half. Again, this paper is 4'' by 4''. Let me just flatten this. I'm going to open
the paper and then we're going to fold this again. I'm just going to align the
corners and then I'm going to press the part where we
folded the paper right there. When you open it, we
have a cross over there. Then we're going to
fold this diagonally. We are going to form a triangle. Then I'm going to fold it
again on the other side. This is easier if you
try to align the corner first before you press
on the folded part. Now let's just open it and let's flip it to the part
with the design. I'm just going to pinch the
corners of this square. This is in preparation
for the next step. Now I need you to focus
on what I'm about to do. Now I'm going to put my
finger on the two sides. I'm going to press the two
sides until they meet and then we'll be able
to form a triangle. You will have some
flaps on both sides. Now we are going to
fold this again in half because we are going to
cut this corner over here. We're doing this to
get a nice shape for the wings of the butterfly. I'm going to get my scissors. Again, this is the side
with the loose flaps. It doesn't really have to
be perfect, don't worry. Let's just open it up and
going to rotate this triangle. The longer side
is facing upwards and again the flaps are on
the side, this is just a tip. You can check the
inside of the flap. You can choose which design
looks better and that will be the one that will show on
the wings of the butterfly. It's not time to fold again
and I'm just going to grab one flap on the right and
just fold it downwards. Let's grab the one on the
left and then they will just meet in the middle
and right now, I have just created
this diamond shape. I have this small
flap at the bottom. We're just going to pull it and fold it upwards until
we reach the top, which I'm going to show you now. Let's pull this tail and move it upwards until we reach the top and you'll see
that small triangle. Let me repeat that again. I'm going to show you what
it looks like at the back. As you can see, I'm
just pulling it upwards and it will feel like you're going
to tear the paper, but you really won't. I'm just going to align
this and just create that small triangle at the top and this is what it
looks like at the back. Now it's time to fold
that small triangle at the top and just pinch
it really, really hard. This will keep this
butterfly in place. Then I'm just going to
fold this butterfly in half because we want a nice
shape for the butterfly. We don't want a flat butterfly. You want it to look
3D just like this, it has a letter V-shape. Now let's fold it in half
and I'm just pinching the part where the
small triangle was. Because this paper is quite
thin it can hold its shape but later on when we're going to fold the watercolor paper, we will need to put some glue to keep this shape
of the butterfly. Congratulations on
your first butterfly. We did that in
about five minutes. I'm pretty sure that you'll
be making some more later. Don't forget to check out the next video where
we will be folding paper butterflies using our
watercolor practice sheets.
5. Class Project: Paper Butterfly Using Watercolor Paper: [MUSIC] In this video, I'm
going to teach you how to fold the paper butterfly
using watercolor paper. This is just 200
GSM in thickness. Here are some of my
practice sheets. As you can see, I've painted
a lot of leaves and I'm pretty sure that you have some
practice sheets like this. I just measured some
four-by-four inch squares on this practice sheet. Let's start folding. The procedure is
just the same as folding the bond paper
that we did earlier. But as you can see, this paper is just thicker. You might see me
struggle a little bit when it comes to
folding this paper. That's why I recommend using paper that is less than 200 GSM. I'm just holding
the paper in half. You're going to try
to make a cross, which I'm going to
show you in a while. Just try to press on the folded part and
make it really flat. Now let's open up this paper and then you'll see
that you have a cross. Now let's fold it diagonally
so we can create a triangle. I'm just aligning the corner
first before I fold it. I'm really trying to flatten
it as much as I can so that it's easier to fold the
paper butterfly later. Let's open it up and then
fold it on the other side. It's the same procedure. We are just folding
it diagonally. Now we have another triangle. We folded it in lengthwise, crosswise, and the
two diagonal folds. Let's flip this to the
part with the design. Then right now I'm just going to pinch the four corners
of this paper. We are doing this in
preparation for the next step. Now we have the four
corners pinched. Then I'm going to put my finger right there in the center. Then you're just going to
flatten the top and bottom. Then we will create a
triangle like this. Just try to flatten all the folds and just
press it really hard. If your paper is quite thin, you can do this just fold
the triangle in half again, and then you can
just cut the corner. But in this case, the paper is quite thick, so it's difficult to
cut on thick paper. I'm going to cut
this separately. Let's cut one corner first. Let's create a round corner. Now let's cut the other corner. If one side doesn't look even, we can go back and
just cut it some more. Now let's rotate this paper so that the longer
side is facing up. I'm just checking the design
on the inside of the flaps. I'm choosing which one looks better for the wings
of the butterfly. You can use the front set of flaps or the back set of flaps. Right now I just flip my paper. I'm using the back part
because it looks nicer. Our goal here is to
create a diamond shape. Let me just for the
right flap first. It might be just a little bit of a struggle because the
paper is quite thick. Just fold it really well. Now let's fold the other
flap and when you're folding it just
makes sure that you reach that middle part. After folding the
flaps you will get a diamond shape right there. Now we have this small
flap at the bottom. What you're going to
do is you're going to fold it from the
bottom going up. It might be a little difficult because the paper
is quite thick. What I'm going to do is
I'm just going to bend this paper back and forth and make it a little bit softer, a bit more pliable. This is what it looks
like at the back. I'm just constantly
bending this paper. Now let's try to pull it
up until we reach the top. Then you'll see that
small triangle. Now let's fold this
small triangle and just try to press
it really hard. So this will keep this
paper butterfly in place. While holding a small triangle, I'm going to try to fold this paper butterfly in
half just like this. I'm doing this so that
the butterfly will have a nice shape and that
don't look flat. I'm just pinching it over there. Now this won't really hold that well because
the paper is thick. We need the help
of a super glue. I'm just going to grab
my super glue and just put a small dot on the inside of
that small triangle. Alternatively, you
can use a glue gun. Just be careful so that
you don't burn yourself. What we want is a glue
that will dry pretty fast. That's why I'm using superglue. Or you can use glue gun. If you are using a thin paper, you don't really
need to put glue anymore because it
will hold its shape. But when you're using a
thick paper like this, most likely it won't
really hold that well, that's why we need
the help of a glue. Let me just press that
part where we put the glue and let's just wait
for it to settle and dry. Because I use super glue, it's starting to dry quite fast. I will just fold
this paper butterfly and hold it in this way. I'm doing this so that we can keep the structure in place. I think the glue is already
dry and we are done. Now we have a small
paper butterfly that you can use
as a decoration. As you can see, we
have a nice V-shape over here because we folded
the butterfly in half. Let me just put this
side-by-side with the paper butterfly that
we made using bond paper. As you can see, the watercolor paper butterfly, it looks a bit sturdier compared to the one
made with bond paper, but I think that they're
still both so pretty. Let's now move on to
the next video where I will give you some ideas on how you can use this paper
butterfly as a decoration.
6. Tips on Using the Paper Butterfly: [MUSIC] Now that we
have learned how to fold paper butterflies, I will now share with you some
ideas on how to use them. The first idea is to stick this paper butterfly on
our wall right here. In order to stick
this on the wall, we need an adhesive. I will be using this
adhesive called Tack-It. I'm going to show you what
it looks like inside. It looks like clay. The way to use it is that
you just grab a small piece. So I can just grab half only. It looks like this. This looks like a clay, and you stick it on the surface. What I love about this
is that it doesn't damage the surface,
unlike other adhesives. I have my paper butterfly here. I'm going to show
you what it looks like when you stick this. It's just like that. I'm going to press
this on the wall. Let's try it out. This is our wall
and as you can see, it's not a flat
surface but because our adhesive feels like clay, it can stick on this wall even if it's not a flat surface. I can just fill in my
wall with a lot of these paper
butterflies and create my own art installation at home. What's nice is that you can
customize this so you can make paper butterflies
in different colors. This is a good way to decorate your wall without
spending too much money. [MUSIC] Idea Number 2 is to put the paper butterflies
on a frame. This is just a blank
picture frame. It's so easy. I just put some Tack-It at the back of the paper
butterfly and we are just going to stick
this on the glass. Or if you don't want
to use the glass, you just use a board and just decorate it in
any way that you want, and you can also use
different colors depending on the theme of your room. It looks like this. I think that it's
really, really pretty. Idea Number 3. If you have a paper bag or a gift bag and you just
want to spruce it up, make it really pretty, you can use the paper
butterfly and just stick it on the paper bag. It just gives that extra
effort on your paper bag. I just love it.
It looks so nice. Those are my three
ideas for you. I'm pretty sure that you
can think of more ways on how you can use the paper
butterfly as a decoration. So let's now move on
to the next video.
7. Final Thoughts: [MUSIC] We have now reached
the end of the class. Thank you so much for watching. I hope that this class
gave you an idea on how to up-cycle your
practice sheets or scrap paper and turn them into something
really beautiful. I think that this is
a good idea if you're renovating your room
or you just want to put up a new decoration in your workspace just to change
the ambiance of the room. Don't forget to upload
your project in the project gallery
section of the class. I'm really excited to see what you can do with the
paper butterfly. If you are going to
upload it on Instagram, don't forget to use this hashtag so that
I can see your work. I guess that's it, I will
see you in my next class.
Joly Poa, Watercolor Artist
