Beginner Friendly: A Kickstart for Papercraft

As a fisherman always says, you need to prepare the right gear for the target fish(yes, I fish). 

You will need the right equipment for paper crafting, they will minimise the trouble you might face so that you can dive into this paper world enjoying all the fun aspects of it!

• Item 1, 2 & 3 Container, Toothpick & Glue

Glue, toothpick and a container to hold glue. The one I use is all-purpose white PVA glue, it can be easily found on supermarket stationary shelves. I am lucky enough to have a glass container that its bottom is a concave shape which holds the glue just fine. Alternatively, you can use tiny sauce dish. Toothpick is used to take the exact amount of glue when we paste, few amount, many times.

• Item 4  Tweezers

Tweezers are very handy where our finger cannot reach. Recommend to have 3 types of tweezers, they are labelled as ESD 12, 13 and 15, it can be a reference of size. The general idea is we need 1 off round end, 1 off sharp end and 1 off sharp end with angle. 

•  Item 5 & 11 Knife Pen & Cutting Mat

Knife pen is one of the most essential tool we need for paper craft. When you have complicated edges, it is impossible to use scissors. Of course all work should be carried out on cutting mat, you would not want a desk full of scratches. 

• Item 6 Carving Indentation Pen (Optional)

It can be used on paste edge to increase smoothness. 

•  Item 7 Scissors (Optional)

 If we have knife pen, we do not really need scissors.

• Item 8 & 9 Ruler + Awl

When these two work together, we can use it to 'draw' the line we will need to fold. With the crease we mark on the paper, it will give us a clean fold. 

• Item 9 Awl

Awl can also be used to make paper curvy. I may get into detail for this next time.

• Item 10 Water Colour Pen

No matter what gsm (paper weight) the paper has, there is a certain thickness of the paper, our cut will have a white edge. We would not want this white edge kills the image of our final work, therefore we will use water colour pen to eliminate this white edge, choose the colour as close to existing as possible, it does not need to be exactly the same though. Grey is always a very useful colour in this case.

 

 

These are the basics I would like to share with you today. Hopefully it can help the beginners with a quick start. If there is anything you use that is not described here, please share your useful tactics with me.

See you next time!