Micro Furniture - Sofa and Chair

After verifying that yes, my sofa pattern works, I set out to test paper.  What would happen if I used something thinner?  Something thicker?  Something patterned?  Something textured?  At this scale, every tiny bit counts.

I went through my paper stash and picked three pieces of paper that I thought might look good as a sofa.  It was easy to test, I simply held the page I had cut my test sofas from over the potential pages and looked through the holes left behind.

I looked at all the tiny print pages, but also the ones with big, busy prints.  Sometimes, something can be so big that the little bits will work, too.

Things I discovered:

Thicker papers work better.  Thinner papers don't fold as well (I don't know why?) and tend to mash around the edges more quickly. However, there's hope!  Since there's three layers of paper, you can use two layers made out of plain cardstock, and then glue your preferred pattern to the exterior, cutting off the tabs first.

Papers with the same color core are also better, but with a narrow brush and a tiny bit of matching paint, the problem is easily solved.  In fact, the brown one I painted is currently my favorite.  This was one of the textured papers, and it ended up needing paint, because the colored texture had a tendency to scrape off in tiny bits.  It has a white core, so it really needed the help.  Fortunately the paper was quite sturdy and the paint didn't warp the paper.  

I haven't yet attempted to print my own, but it seems perfectly reasonable to do so, if your printer can do the fine work on cardstock.  Both the chair and sofa fit in a 1" x 2" block, so you don't need much!