WAFER PAPER BUTTERFLIES

Wafer paper comes in thick and thin varieties. We need the thin kind. From the thin paper, we create flowers, butterflies, and ruffles for cake decoration. It's best to work on a silicone mat to prevent our butterflies from sticking to the surface.

We printed a pink background on the wafer paper, traced the butterfly using a stencil, and carefully cut it out. Cutting needs to be done delicately because the paper is fragile. You can print not only the background but also the ready-made butterfly image.

PDF file for printing butterflies.

You can make butterflies from white paper. Cut out the butterfly using a stencil. Shade it with dry pink dye.

Wafer paper has two sides: the front, which is more porous and rough, and the back, which is smooth.

The rough side absorbs paint better. We only glue the wafer paper with vodka, on the smooth side. If you use water, the wafer paper dissolves and distorts. We attach a wire to the smooth side, moisten it with vodka, then apply the patch and go over it again with vodka. You can create double-layered butterflies. Just glue them together with vodka.

Let the butterflies dry for about 5 minutes. The wings touch the mat while we lift the center. After that, we paint them with a fine brush. We use gold luster dust diluted with vodka.

Wafer paper should not be stored in the refrigerator or in high humidity.