MY FIRST TEAR-BEAR CARD
First time I found "Tear-bear" technique was when I search about Hanji, papercraft from Korea. Hanji paper is paper made from paper mulberry bark (latin name Broussonetia papyrifera), and it can be made for many handicraft, include boxes, lamp cap, and even fashion.
"Tear-bear" is a technique to make 2-dimensional bear (or any other objects) by tearing the paper, which can make 'fluffy' effect to the objects. Originally, the suitable paper for the technique is mulberry paper. But in Indonesia, it's difficult to find mulberry paper, even in the handicraft store. So I try to find replacement for the mulberry paper, by using craft paper/recycle paper with similar texture with mulberry paper. I found 'kertas bumi' at Crayon Craft Store Bandung, and the result is not bad. I want to try the technique with real mulberry paper, so I can find out how 'fluffy' it should be.
In Indonesia, actually mulberry paper (or paper made from plants belong to the same family of paper mulberry tree) has been produced years ago. For example is daluang paper at West Java.
This is how we made "Tear-Bear" :
1. Trace the pattern at the back of paper (you can find the sample of pattern here)
2. Wet the trace outline using water and paintbrush
3. Tear along the traceline. Be carefull when tearing the paper, don't cut beyond the traceline. If it's hard to tear, wet the traceline again. (note: for thick mulberry paper, sometimes you don't have to wet all the traceline because it's easy to tear it neatly)
4. Place the bear parts according to pattern (or as you wish), glue with PVC glue.
5. Add some embelishment (eyes, nose, ribbon, etc)
Isn't it cute?









