Tissue paper
Tissue Paper: read the 20 gsm examples and handling notes. Folding, cutting and glue tips. Find craft uses, sheet sizes and weight equivalents.
Craft tissue is a very light cellulose sheet made from pulp and coloured for wrapping or decoration. Bleeding tissue releases dye when wet; non-bleeding craft tissue is made to retain its colour.
- Typical weight
- 20 gsm
- US lb · calculated at the named basis
- 12.3 lb tag equivalent (24 × 36 in, 500 sheets)
Weights to look for
Folia’s coloured craft tissue is 20 gsm. This is a useful light flower-paper weight; choose a labelled craft tissue rather than assuming all tissue has the same weight.
Folding, creasing, cutting and gluing
- Fold
- A stack can be accordion-folded into a flower. A single sheet is too floppy for most standing origami.
- Crease
- Make light fingertip creases. A hard tool can tear thin tissue at a fold.
- Cut
- Cut a supported stack with sharp scissors. Open the cut sheet a layer at a time so narrow bridges survive.
- Glue
- Use tiny dots or a thin glue layer. Choose non-bleeding tissue where damp glue must not carry colour into a neighbouring layer.
What to make
This is the material for our layered flower and light cut-paper flag. For a flower, separate the layers after tying the pleated middle.
Common sheet and pack sizes
Common craft sheets include 20 × 30 inches and 50 × 70 cm. Trim several equal rectangles for a layered flower.