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If you love the look of traditional mosaics, but don't have the skills to create one of your own, try using paper to make some! It's quick, easy and can look fabulous!

If you have skills in scrap-booking or card-making, then you can easily transfer these skills to paper mosaic making.

Spend some time looking on the Internet or in your local library at pictures of mosaics. Choose a design that you like and draw it out on your base. I suggest that you find quite a simple one to start with. Underwater scenes always look good. Perhaps a simple fish would be a good starting place.

For a base, you might choose a piece of board for longevity, but as you are only going to be using paper to make your mosaic, you can use a heavy paper or light card to support it.

Now find the paper that you need to make the mosaic. Choose any paper that you like the color or texture of. This can come from wrapping paper, magazines, greetings cards, packaging, art shops or can be your own handmade paper or hand marbled paper. You can use old photographs or bookmarks, even bits of old prints or damaged books.

Cut your paper up into squares. The best thing to use when doing this is a guillotine. If you don't have one and are going to do a lot of mosaics, it is worth investing in one. If you don't have one, use a steel ruler and a craft knife to cut the paper into even squares.

The beauty of paper mosaics is that you can spend time laying out the design before you have to glue any of the pieces in place.

Start laying out the pieces on your background paper. Start with the lightest colors first and work towards the darkest. You can cut the squares down into triangles if you need to get into awkward corners.

When you pieces are all laid out, stand back and take a long look at what you have done. Do the color flow? Does one area stand out too much above the others? Is there a good balance of dark and light areas? If there are any things that need changing , now is the time to do it.

Now you can glue the pieces in place. Once they are glued, leave them to dry. You can then seal the piece with a spray sealant or a liquid varnish.

Frame your mosaic, and you have a piece to be proud of!

Learn more about this author, Susan Hibberd.
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