Post #519250 by DejaVoodoo on Mon, Mar 22, 2010 9:02 PM

So, here we have the humble beginnings of homemade tapa.

I took ordinary 3M brand brown postal wrapping paper and cut about a five foot length from the roll. Then I brushed both light and dark brown acrylic paint across the surface in wide, sweeping strokes with a rather large brush. The first pass was thinned with water and once that dried, I followed suit with a mixture of paint and glaze in a dark brown color. Next I drew some preliminary guidelines with a pencil and straightedge, such as the band at the bottom and the triangle pattern, and then using an acrylic paint marker, I went to town first freehand tracing the pencil lines I'd made earlier and then adding what little decorations you see in the picture below.

I haven't quite figured out what I want to draw in the rest of the blank areas (any ideas?), but so far, I think this looks pretty good! I think when all the black is finished, I'm going to further age/distress the entire piece with a lighter glaze wash to simulate the woven fibers of fabric. Then again, I might not. It all depends how brave I'm feeling at that point!