Tales of a Crafty Student Teacher: Mosaic Binder Craft

I was looking for something crafty to do while home for Winter Break, and finding a tough time with it considering all of my craft supplies are back in my dorm room at school and I currently have no money. However, a friend of my mother recently dropped off a large amount of office supplies to my house for my future use as a teacher, which included a heck of a lot of white binders. I have previously decorated many of my binders back at school with decorative tapes, (which I will explain further in my decorative tape post), so I decided to try to decorate one of these binders since I was feeling especially crafty. We just remodeled our basement, so we have a lot of painter's tape laying around. I tried to make a cute design out of the tape on the binder, but it looked cheap and unattractive, unlike how my decorative taped binders turn out.

It took me a minute for the connection to click in my head, that I was using painter's tape. So I decided to create a sort of mosaic on the binder. I found some acrylic paints from some Paint-By-Numbers kits I had already completed and decided to repurpose the paints. I wasn't sure if it would turn out well or not, but I actually thought it turned out really well and I am really proud of it. It is extremely easy to make, but takes about a day or two to complete.

To start, you will need the following:

~ hard cover binder (I chose a cheap, plastic, white 1" binder for my first attempt)

~ paints (I used acrylic paints I had from some Paint-By-Numbers I had already completed)

~ painter's tape

~ scissors (I would suggest using a small paper slicer if you have one available)

~ paint brush

~ q-tips

~ tissues

~ small cup of water

~ paper towels (to wipe your brush on)

~ old newspapers (to protect your workspace from paint)

~ a finishing agent of some sort (I used Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating)

To start, line the outside edges of your binder with painter's tape to give yourself clean edges along the sides.

Then, you will cut up pieces of tape in various sizes and lengths. I first tried this without cutting the tape, but it ended up looking strange and with too many large gaps.

I recommend cutting the tape into strips between 1/2" and 1/4" in width. A paper slicer would help with this, but I used scissors and had no problems.

Once you have your tape cut up (you can do this as you go, as I did) arrange the tape in various patterns along the front side of your binder.

MAKE SURE that the tape is firmly sticking to the binder and that there are no spaces where the tape is not attached. A trick I used was to take a credit card along each piece of tape to make sure there aren't any bubbles or gaps that paint would slip through.

Once you have arranged your tape, start to paint in the various shapes you have created. Try to use enough paint so that you cannot see the binder through the paint, but not enough that it is excessive or globby. If you use too much paint, just try using the paint brush to wipe some off and then spread the remaining paint around.

Here comes the part that i personally hated... The waiting. DO NOT pull the tape up while the paint is still wet. It will be a disaster. Let the binder sit overnight in a place where nothing will disturb it.

Once the paint has dried, carefully remove the tape. There will be various spots where the edges aren't perfect, I had quite a few, but no worries! They can be fixed with a little light work.

For removing the paint blemishes, I used a little water, the back end of my paint brush, q-tips, and a tissue. I was able to touch up the binder in about 20 minutes and had it looking great.
First, put a small amount of water on a q-tip and gently wet the spots that you would like to remove. Then, take the back end of your paint brush and scrape at the paint until it comes off. Then, take the tissue to wipe off the removed paint. Use the dry end of your q-tip to remove any excess water or paint the tissue missed. Repeat for each spot.

Once you've finished the spot work, I'd let the binder sit about an hour to allow any paint you may have gotten wet during this last step to dry.
I recommend a finish of some sort, probably either Mod Podge or some sort of clear finishing agent, to ensure that the rain or a sort of spill does not ruin all your hard work. I used Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating to finish off my binders.