Welcome to Busy B, home of paper tole in Alberta. Browse this site to find paper tole supplies, information on classes and to see some of my finished work.

There is a lot of speculation about the origins of paper tole. Some people believe that it originated in Japan with their art of transforming a 2 dimensional piece of paper into 3-D creations.

Oriental lacquer work formed the basis of the development of the 17th Century art form decoupage. The craftspeople of the day embedded designs into furniture by applying successive coats of lacquer, sometimes using 15 or 20 coats. This art form was refined by the French into a type of art known as "Vue d'Optique" which is considered by many as equivalent to the modern method of using paper sculpture to create 3-dimensional pictures.

More recently paper tole has been significantly refined to a wonderful level of artistry using advanced shaping and sculpturing methods. The craft as we know it today really developed in the 1930's in the USA. 

Below is an example of some of my work. This was before framing so that you can see the detail in the work.