I carried out a few experiments on paper customization by means of painting. I used very cheap printer paper and some student grade acrylic paints applied with a dish sponge, the first in 1 layer and the second in two layers.
I decided to test it with my favorite fractal tesselation design, the Hydrangea by Shuzo Fujimoto. This design has some complex folding techniques and becomes progressively fiddlier.
In all honesty I was not expecting this experiment to go well at all but in the end, I was quite pleasantly surprised. The acrylic paint imparted some of its strength flexibility to the insubstantial printer paper allowing me to fold 6 iterations of petals! Who would have thought?! It also provided some body allowing the petals to stand proudly at an angle rather than flat.
I unfolded my first experiment to examine the memory left of the design and then flattened it with an iron set to very low between two sheets of baking paper.
