Creative Quarantine: Paper Azulejos

This easy DIY is a simplified twist on my embroidered azulejos from a couple of years ago, inspired by the gorgeous tile work in Lisbon.

Material

• Colored Paper (foreground) - here I'm using plain sugar paper that I've added a few light brushstrokes of paint to. Construction paper, plain wrapping paper or wall paper are also good options.

• Printed Paper (background) - here I'm using a magazine clipping, other great options would be newspaper, origami paper, photos, old sketches, maps or even flyers

• Box Cutter/x-acto knife

• Ruler

• Pencil

• Glue

Step 1:

Fold your foreground paper into quarters then cut down to a square (mine here is 8 x 8cm).

Step 2:

Trace out guidelines connecting opposite corners and along the center of the tile horizontally and vertically, these will help with symmetry.

Step 3:

Sketch out shapes on one quarter of your tile. Draw out the mirrored reflections relative the the guidelines on the rest of the tile. The patterns don't need to be perfectly symmetrical (the beauty of handmade is its imperfections!) but a good trick is spin your tile 180 degrees to adjust the pattern while it's upside down, for some reason asymmetries become instantly obvious!

For inspiration, here are a few photos from my trip or google azulejos and zellige for tons of other gorgeous patterns.

Step 4:

With your box cutter, carefully carve out the shapes cutting through all 4 layers of paper. Make sure to protect your table with a cutting mat or spare piece of wood.

Step 5:

Unfold your paper and cut along the creases to form 4 separate tiles.

Step 6:

Glue the tiles on your background and cut off the excess paper.

Step 7:

Add on extra detailing: small dolts with markers, puffy paint or stickers; I even added embroidery on one set! (Check out our Embroidery on Mixed Media tutorial for tips on embroidering paper.)

Step 8:

Play around arranging the tiles to form different patterns. I made several different versions in the same color range to mix and match in a larger frame

I'd love to see your paper azulejos! Post them to social media and tag me, I'll be sharing my favorites on my instagram stories!