Do you watch the TV show Chopped where contestants receive random ingredients to creatively use in a dish? Arts and crafts can be like this when you stumble on a bargain item and try to come up with something to make with it.
My great find was a $1.97 clearance item in a craft store – and after a lot of thought, it became the inspiration for what I call The Honeycomb Girls!
Honeycomb Paper – What Is It?
Honeycomb paper is multiple layers of attached tissue paper, and when you pull on two ends of the sheet, it opens up in a honeycomb shape. It’s most often found in already constructed objects like honeycomb wedding bells for showers and parties.
In this case, however, there were two small sheets of honeycomb paper in the clearance packet – each 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ – one orange and one purple.
Honeycomb Paper – And What To Do With It??
Immediately I thought of Halloween as an option with these two colors, but I wanted to include something that wasn’t Halloween-themed.
I picked up these two honeycomb papers for days, carefully opening them to see their tiny honeycombs – trying to decide what I could make with them. It was a bit of a challenge until one day it hit me – of course, skirts!
The honeycomb papers could be hand cut into little skirt shapes – actually, half a skirt that when opened could be attached to a surface on both ends and would make adorable, three-dimensional skirts for paper dolls. Finally, I had it, so now it was time to get to work!
The Girls
For the girls, I decided to draw two of them – one would be used with a Halloween theme, and ultimately she became the front of a greeting card, and a second one of her was featured in a printer-tray assemblage.
The other girl was a (non-Halloween) greeting card front, and she also was used as an element for digital art similar to the digital artwork I’ve previously posted.
The Daily Artisan blog is full of my paper doll art, so it won’t surprise anyone that doll skirts made of honeycomb paper would be how I celebrated my $1.97 purchase!
Materials
In addition to the honeycomb, I used a pencil to draw the girls; COPIC Multiliner Pen and COPIC Sketch Markers to ink and hand color each of the girls; patterned paper for the physical greeting cards; digital papers and words for the digital card and pictures; a small, dark brown, printer-tray and three-dimensional objects like the Halloween potion glass bottles I filled with tiny beads; grosgrain ribbon; and a metal clock charm.
All of these items I already had from over the years – so the only purchase was the $1.97 honeycomb papers!
Here are some photos of the honeycomb papers in case it’s not something you’re familiar with – I taped open a corner on each so you can really see the honeycombs.
And, you’ll see the little shapes I cut for the skirts, with 4″ scissors. (The honeycomb papers came whole when I bought them; this first photo shows them after I’d cut the skirt shapes.)
Honeycomb Girl #1 – Stella!
Our first honeycomb girl, Stella, needed to have long, orange hair to fit Halloween, as well as some stylish thigh-high leggings – and she will be wearing the ORANGE honeycomb skirt!
Stella’s hands are up as she ultimately will be pointing to the clock charm – indicating five minutes to the bewitching hour of midnight.
Now don’t be concerned when you see in my initial pencil and inked drawings of the girls that they aren’t wearing anything where their skirts go – all in good time!
I made two Stellas – one I scanned in black and white; hand colored her; added her three-dimensional skirt; and then placed her on the front of the Halloween card – and the other one I cut out; added her honeycomb skirt; and then used her in the printer-tray assemblage.
She’s wearing a different colored (pointed collar) top in each, and her leggings are different as well.
And, next up is Stella in the printer-tray assemblage for Halloween:
Honeycomb Girl #2 – Skylar!
Our second honeycomb girl, Skylar, will be wearing the non-Halloween, honeycomb skirt in PURPLE, and she needed a different look from Stella’s. She’s sporting a bob hairstyle with headband; polka dot and striped top; green tights; and a low-slung belt on her honeycomb skirt!
With a decidedly more casual look than Stella’s, you’ll notice Skylar’s hands nonchalantly rest in the pockets of her honeycomb skirt.
The first way I used Skylar was on the front of a retirement card I made for a colleague. I scanned the inked drawing; hand colored her with COPIC markers; added words; and – of course – added her three-dimensional honeycomb skirt in purple!
And, next up is Skylar used as a (scanned) digital art element for patterned panels with words added – and used on greeting cards and as little pictures:
So, those are The Honeycomb Girls – Stella and Skylar – and if I’ve ever gotten more fun out of $1.97, I don’t know when!
Have you ever started with a random item to inspire an art project? I’d love to hear about it – please comment below!
