Mixed Media Collage: Comparing Medical Exam Paper to Tissue

Comparing Tissue Paper with Medical Exam Paper in a Collage Paper Tinting Experiment
Have you heard artists talking about using the paper they put on medical exam tables as semi-transparent collage paper? Apparently mixed media collage artist Kim Hamburg was at a doctor appointment and suddenly wondered if the paper she was sitting on would be good for collage...now this is a girl after my own heart! Check out Kim here on YT ‪@kimhamburg-sj4dy‬
I've heard good things about it recently but I wanted to do my own comparison with standard gift wrap tissue paper (which I have used a lot of) just to see if they are interchangeable, or if one is better than the other. I thought you might want to see the results!
You can learn more about my Layered Botanical class here (early bird pricing ends May 1!) : marabethquinart.thinkific.com...
Or if you're just wanting to dip your toe into the world of collage, this intro class is a great place to start: marabethquinart.thinkific.com...
For my Favorite Art Supplies and Materials (including the Medical Exam Paper), just visit my affiliate page here: www.marabethquinart.com/favor...
Video Chapters:
0:00 Introduction to the comparison
0:58 Tinting the papers with NovaColor paint
3:38 Taking a look at the papers after they are tinted and dried and evaluating the characteristics
6:28 Doing some gluing in the sketchbook to see how they perform in comparison to one another
9:37 Where you can learn more about tinting papers and the layering process
#collage #mixedmediacollage #mixedmediaart #collageartist #collageart #collagelife
You can find me here:
www.marabethquinart.com
/ marabethquinart
marabethquinart.thinkific.com/

[@PaintedPaperStudio]

Marabeth - I love that you did this color experiment with the medical exam paper! Great test 🥰

[@marabethquinart]

So glad it’s helpful-I always love to see side by side comparisons.

[@suehushin7115]

My daughter bought a roll of pattern tracing paper for sewing. It is very crinkly and smooth. I'm thinking they could be the same type of tissue. And yes, Nova paints are beautiful to work with.

[@marabethquinart]

I wonder-it really could be very similar. Where do you find that paper? I might have to experiment with that too… 😊

[@jillpontiere1814]

The Nova colors are gorgeous. Thank you for doing the experiment as I have been traveling and not able to do so myself. ❤

[@marabethquinart]

You are so welcome! I think you’ll be happy with the paper, Jill. And yes, the Nova Color paints are just wonderful…

[@mos8756]

Thank you, Marabeth.

[@marabethquinart]

You are so welcome! 🤗

[@judygordon-qp4dh]

Thank you, Marabeth for the side by side comparison of these papers. Have you had a chance to paint botanicals on the exam paper yet? I would be curious about the results of that.

[@marabethquinart]

Yes and it does great!! I will try to do a video on that soon…

[@sue8237]

One of the biggest differences is that if you are using paper with white edges over something else, the exam paper melts more seamlessly into the under layer.

[@marabethquinart]

Yes I have been delighted to see this as well! Could not be happier with this quality. Thanks for the comment 😊

[@LynnHPalmertree]

I have a big roll of the medical paper I used to trace my sewing patterns onto. Now I have something to use it for. Thanks.

[@marabethquinart]

oh how wonderful!

[@RobinGayl]

Thank you! Gives me more confidence that my "life time" supply of exam paper was a great investment! I gel printed with it and it worked well and yesterday tinted a bunch with inks and watercolors (loved it)...and now have to experiment with layering them all in my sketchbook!

[@marabethquinart]

It sounds like you’re having a ball with that lifetime supply! 😆 I really am enjoying the way it performs.

[@ilenearena9166]

So pretty ...I refrain from cutting my papers into quadrants because I want to frame something as my end product . I don't want to " waste " my time & energy but I probably need to experiment more and accept cutting up my work .

[@marabethquinart]

It can be freeing sometimes, for sure. 😊

[@mayetmahulilileilani2501]

I've been using medical paper for a while and love everything about it. I really enjoyed seeing the comparison and I also loved your scaling up to a larger size layered tissue art piece video... I followed along w my papers on medical table paper and loved my end result. Thanks so much for all the great vids on your channel.

[@marabethquinart]

I’m so happy you found the video helpful and glad you enjoy the medical exam paper too-I only recently heard about using it for collage and I’m so happy I tried it.

[@lynnez606]

This topic was on my radar. Your video has been timely and very helpful, thank you. I purchased some Nova paints for an abstract class. I haven't tried them yet, but I look forward to checking them out.

[@marabethquinart]

Glad it was helpful! I’ve used my Nova paints very little as well, but I can tell I already love them. Can’t wait to do more.

[@suzen7987]

Thanks for the video! I’ve been curious about medical exam paper. The link for it on your website is not working.

[@marabethquinart]

Thanks so much, Suzen! It’s working now, thanks to you xoxo

[@user-nd4on7vb6r]

would you use this in place of the Abaca paper ? or just instead or normal tissue paper. Does the abaca have specific qualities that would be better than the exam paper.

[@marabethquinart]

They are different from one another, so I use both for different things. But the medical exam paper is a nice substitute for tissue and the ways that I use tissue. They are extremely similar but there are even some things about med exam paper that I like a bit better.

[@ilenearena9166]

Hi ... I went to order the set of Grabbie watercolors but Amazon doesn't seem to carry it anymore . Any other recommendations?? Thank you !

[@marabethquinart]

Thanks for telling me about that, Ilene! Here’s an accurate link amzn.to/3Lg4GyK (this is an affiliate link so I get a small commission at no extra cost to you, but you can just search for them on Amazon yourself without using a link as well)

[@gailierunninglynx7310]

Couldn't find your Amazon link😢! Give me a hint!! 😊

[@marabethquinart]

It was a glitch but it’s working now-you can find it here about half way down the list : www.marabethquinart.com/favorite-art-products

[@eloradanan1837]

Question about how the papers tear. I notice when I use the tissue paper, it tears in fairly straight strips in one direction, but but resist tearing in the opposite direction. Did you find that exam paper reacted differently?

[@marabethquinart]

I know, some of the tissue I’ve bought tears just how you described, and other kinds will tear easily in any direction. Fortunately, the medical exam paper is the latter and tears easily in any direction. One thing that helps with that tissue that only tears easily in one direction is if you take a small brush and just run water where you want it to tear, then it will easily give way. Just recently discovered that.

[@eloradanan1837]

@@marabethquinart Thank you for letting me know. I did take your intro into collage class and got frustrated with the tissue paper, as the paper petals were too ragged for me. Do you still use tissue paper in the new class and is the new class an expansion of the into into collage class? Also, I know you use watercolor in the new class, which makes me question if the glazing fluid smear the watercolor when you begin layering?

[@Grognardlass]

Hello… I’m so glad I found your channel! The YT algorithm worked, yay! I adore mixed media and anytime I can get my hands into a medium is a good time for me 😊. I’ve used tissue, mulberry, and other papers but never thought of exam paper! Thank you! (My order is arriving Thursday, lol.)

[@marabethquinart]

Sorry I didn’t see this question sooner! I use some tissue, but also some other papers in the Layered Botanical class. Some of the main differences in the new class is that it’s more focused on botanicals, you don’t have a paint base layer, you paint onto the papers and just layer them to make your painting. It’s quite a different process.

[@marabethquinart]

So happy you’re enjoying the channel and the medium!

[@cherylschliske5811]

Is the exam paper stronger than tissue paper?

[@marabethquinart]

Depends on the tissue-there’s so many different brands of tissue, it’s hard to group them all into one category at times. But I would say that it compared pretty evenly with the particular tissue I was doing the experiement with. Probably a lot less strong than a wet strength tissue though.

[@BestFavorite]

Do you use the medical exam paper to adhere to canvases for mixed media art?

[@marabethquinart]

Yes, I use it in place of tissue paper now. It works great.

[@BestFavorite]

@@marabethquinart thanks for your response! And sharing your wisdom with us all

[@marabethquinart]

My pleasure!

[@rhondafrazier5232]

When I paint the tissue paper I can’t pick it up. It falls all to pieces….what am I doing wrong?

[@marabethquinart]

you’re probably just running the brush over it too many times-it takes a bit of practice to learn how much is ‘too much’ and it also just needs to be babied a little bit, so keep working with it and you’ll get the feel for it!

[@MixedMediaArtByTrina]

Love this comparison! I have found that wetting the exam paper before laying it on the acrylic medium gives even more transparency. 😍

[@marabethquinart]

That’s so interesting-I wonder why that works…I’ll have to try that.

[@MixedMediaArtByTrina]

@@marabethquinart I don't know. I say Jackie Benardi do it and it worked great!