Make This: Papel Picado

An Extremely Informal Historical Background on Papel Picado:

Papel picado or perforated paper in inglés is a traditional folk art found throughout Mexico and a zillion "my future wedding" boards on pintrest. Aside from being pretty I think it's very cool because the art actually dates the whole way back to the Aztec Empire. 

The Aztecs use to make a very primitive brown paper from tree bark that they cut into flags and banners like the one in the picture to the side While I'd give it 0 points for aesthetics, it gets 10 points for being historically awesome. 

Anyways, when Spain took over in the1500s they started importing tons of stuff from China, all of which came wrapped in colorful tissue paper. The Aztecs thought it was pretty cool and definitely more attractive than their tree bark paper so they made the switch to what they called papel de China. (Which fun fact, it is still called in Mexico to this day). Over the years the art and banner designs have become more advanced and evolved into what you see today.

Awesome Interiors with Papel Picado Banners

To Each His Home,  Bilyana Dimitrova

The Gingbread House

Aunt Peaches

Danielle Rubi

The Transcontinental Affair

Papel Picado DIY

1. Gather: a pattern, x-acto knife, stapler, tissue paper, string. glue and scissors

2. Stack six or more sheets of tissue and then fold them half so they form a book.

3. Staple the edges of your pattern to the tissue paper to keep it in place.

4. Cut. I used an x-acto knife for the center and scissors for the border details.

 5. Remove the staples and carefully separate the banners.

6.  Line the finished banners up and trim them if necessarily so that they are equal in size.

7. Fold flag at the top and center a piece of string into its crease.

8. Apply a thin line of glue at the top edge of each flag and then press the fold down.

9.  Hang up your banner while the glue dries then carefully slide flags into place.

10.  Pat yourself on the back and find a place to hang your cool new papel picado banner.

Here's how my turned out. My brother moved out a few days ago so I hung them on a empty wall in his room last night while the glue set and snapped a (very bad) photo.

Also, I almost forgot if you guys want to use my templates feel free. I couldn't find any printable patterns I liked so I ended up drawing out two patterns I found after a google search by hand. They are far from perfect but still worked.