Your shredder broke down and you have some private papers that need to be destroyed. You tear the pieces as small as possible and drop them into trash like new-fallen snow. With no envelope opener, you tear open your mail. Excited children rip off wrapping from Christmas presents. Your want to save a recipe from the newspaper. On a public bulletin board, your tear off one of the advertising stubs. At the theatre, an usher tears your ticket. And on it goes

There’s another kind of tearing…artistic in nature. White paper that has print, when torn properly will leave a white edge. This is especially true of security envelope paper. Try this: use a letter knife to slice open a security envelope and turn it inside out to reveal the texture and ink used to block someone from looking inside the closed letter. Turn the color/texture side down. Hold it down with index finger and with the other hand, tear on an angle. The result is a white edge that contrasts with the security print.

Using your imagination, try to create a white- capped ocean or lake scene. Line up the wavy tears and overlap them using glue on a cardboard base. Try making a note card using this technique. See the photo that goes with this essay.
This art project is fun for all ages. You can make waves, big or small.