Hi Dale,

Sounds like the tissue paper worked just fine, so this really isn't much help at this point. Rice Paper (very thin tissue, really) is often used to cover free-flight model airplanes. Hobby Supply South (linked below) is one source. They refer to it as "Esaki Japanese Tissue" on their web site, but I'm fairly certain it's much the same as what you were looking for. They offer two grades on tissue -- 4 grams/ 18" x 24" sheet and 13 grams per 24" x 35" sheet -- and a variety of colors. I know of a couple other companies who sell it (or did last I checked) -- Peck Polymers and Hi-Line Electric, but I don't think either company has a web site. I've used it to cover models, and it's lighter, more transparent, and has more tightly packed fibers than dime-store tissue. Nice stuff.

For what it's worth, Nick

: The other day I needed to find some of the infamous rice paper so I could put
: "Handcrafted by Dale Frolander" onto the coaming before I
: fiberglassed it. I couldn't find rice paper anywhere. Most people at the
: craft and office stores just looked at me with a blank stare.

: I thought about trying some of that tissue paper that is stuffed into bags
: with presents. I bought some, took it home, and taped it to a piece of
: paper along the leading edge. Then I stuck it into my inkjet (HP) and
: printed on it.

: I took a scrap piece of walnut (since that's the wood I'd be using), put some
: epoxy on it, put the tissue on it, then some fiberglass cloth and then I
: wet it out with more epoxy. I did it in that order so I wouldn't rub
: across the print. The print turned out great. It didn't run at all, and I
: can only see the tissue paper if I really study it (faint difference in
: color that I can "see" only because I know where it is).

: By the way, I made some tick marks inside for the station locations to help
: line up things like rudder pedals and stuff. I made them with an ink pen
: and the ink did run slightly from the epoxy.

: Dale