How to make seeded paper

Customize your plantable seeded paper by using any color in the rainbow

I learned this new skill for my son, Jake, and his wife Lindsey. For their wedding, I made favor packets of seeded paper confetti in heart shapes for guests to throw at the couple in place of rice or to take home to plant by scattering the confetti in their yard. I had never made paper before, so I was excited to learn this new skill.

I made two kinds. One was seeded with flower seeds and one with herb seeds. I used the smallest seeds I could find of each type, because larger seeds would have made the confetti harder to cut into shapes and would have made the pieces more awkward.

For the flower paper, I bought impatiens, pansies and petunias and for the herb variety, I bought basil, mint and lemongrass. This is a cool project because the seeded paper is versatile, and can be used to create a plantable card, plantable picture frame or what-have-you.

First, you will need a large tub-type container. I used a Rubbermaid storage container. You will also need a framed screen for dipping in the tub. The screen should be a bit smaller than the size of the tub and be whatever size you want your paper sheets to be. I made mine using some old window screen stapled to a picture frame, about 8 1/2 by 11. I also used a couple of grease-splatter covers just to be able to make smaller pieces.

You will need lots of old towels or rags to lay between your finished paper sheets as they dry.

You will need plenty of paper scraps. I recommend old construction paper for the bright colors you can find and I do NOT recommend old newspapers unless you want to make dingy gray seeded paper, in which case, have at it. Prepare your scrap paper by ripping or cutting it into pieces as small as you can stand to rip or cut. Depending on how much seeded paper you want to make, you will probably need more than you think.

For my flower-seeded paper, I used paper in shades of pink, red and purple and for my herb paper, I used blues and greens.

The perfect way to recycle old paper, you will begin by filling the tub about halfway with warm water. Add seeds and paper scraps. Let this soak for a while, at least 20 minutes or so.

Before dunking in your screen, swirl the water with your hand or a spoon to make sure the seeds are floating and mixing in with the paper pieces.

Dunk in your screen, making sure it gets coated well on the top side. Pull it out of the water and balance on tub or over sink to drain. Let it drain for as long as you can stand to. This is one reason I also used the splatter-screens, because I am impatient and would make second and third sheets while waiting for the first one to drain.

Place a towel or rag over the wet mush that will be your seeded paper on the top side of the screen and carefully flip over so that the paper-mush lies on top of the towel. Lay this on a flat surface to dry.

While working on this project, I commandeered the kitchen, covering every available surface for more than a day. If you’re smarter than me, and you probably are, set aside a low-traffic area of your home ahead of time.

Continue swirling, dunking, flipping and laying sheets out until you run out of mush.

When you run out of space to lay them, you can stack the sheets with dry towels between them. This will serve to flatten and straighten the sheets if you have a lot of them to do. Weight down the stacks with heavy books to help even more.

The sheets take a while to dry, especially if you cannot take them out into the sunlight to dry, so be patient.

I think the ones I made took about a day to dry, and I checked them impatiently so many times I had to force myself to go read a book or something while I waited.

Once the sheets are dry, you have seeded paper.

Go nuts. Make stuff, cut it into shapes, throw it at the neighbor’s yapping dog or mail it anonymously to people you want to bother. Just kidding, don’t do that. I’m pretty sure that’s illegal and besides, you just spent a lot of time making this awesome paper, do you really want to mail it anonymously to people you want to bother? NO.

Instead, mail it to Mom or Grandma, after you have written something sweet on it. Moms and grandmas eat that stuff up and you will gain valuable points for being so thoughtful and making something so nice. Girlfriends and wives will probably also be impressed but I am offering no guarantees.

Okay, so there is your craft idea. Have fun with it, folks.

Patti is a Staff Writer for the Greene County Daily World. She loves to laugh and also loves kitties. She’s kind of weird but has a heart of gold. If you would like to share a story or just make a friend, she can be reached at pattippdanner@gmail.com.