Module Four Chapter 4

And so on to paper-making.

 

1.  I knew eating so much ice-cream during the summer would pay off as these tubs were ideal for preparing paper scraps in different colours.

 

 

 

2.  The resulting papers.  I merged black and turquoise - rather lumpy though.  The black area has a rather nice boot print which was not intentional but looks interesting.  While the paper was still pulpy I added snippings of red plastic net to the beige sample but found that very few of the snippets adhered to the paper.

 

 

 

3.  I had made a plain piece of white paper to test out my technique, to which I added some scraps of organza, some strands of hessian and finally some snippings of green wool.  I really believed it would all stick but I had to go over the sample again with more white pulp to sandwich the embellishments in place.  Another lesson learned.

4.  Another plain white sample but this time I used a roller to apply acrylic paint in three colours.  I did not want to go for total coverage as I feel the plain paper areas give this a depth which is far more interesting.

5.  Just for fun - I noticed I had some Xmas stamps from last year which complemented my colour scheme so I ripped one into tiny pieces and applied the scraps to a piece of red paper.

6.  I had bought half a dozen new bobbins and tried pressing them into the beige paper while it was still damp.  The result reminds me of fossils!  Unfortunately I could not get the impression to go through to the other side, which would have been just as interesting.

 

 

7.  I had the bright idea of cutting letter templates from a giant sticky label.  Sadly, the wet pulp flooded underneath the templates, lifting the labels and just making a very large sheet of paper.  I would have to use something with stronger adhesive, although this could damage my screen.

8. I picked up on Sian's suggestion about sandwiching threads and ripping through the top layer.  I took a piece of red paper and laid down some wire in a random, "wiggly" shape.  I then overlaid some turquoise paper and saturated the whole piece, being careful not to dislodge the wire.  Once the whole thing was thoroughly dry I carefully ripped out the wire.

 

 

 

 

 

9.  I had made more samples in red which turned out much finer and less "chunky".  I sandwiched some green threads and ripped out a "window" in the top piece of paper, revealing the threads underneath.  I left the fringe of threads in place.  Wetting and pressing down on this sample created lovely wrinkles in the paper.

 

 

10.  I made some green paper which was quite fragile.  I folded it over into a sort of pocket, trapping some red wool.  While the sample was still damp I impressed a pattern with the end of my (cold) heatgun and to my amazement the pattern showed even after the piece was completely dry.  Again, I've left the thread to form a loose fringe.

11.  I hunted around for something to make a corrugated pattern in paper and came across some "hoof sticks".  I sandwiched them beween two layers of beige paper and pressed the layers together firmly.  I also spritzed a little green acylic ink while it was still damp.  Once completely dry some of the sticks dropped out of their own accord and some are still trapped inside, but the tubular structure has remained.  In the top sample you can see where the paper has ripped, forming a litle window through which you can see the trapped stick.  I was pleased with this sample.  The empty tubes could be filled with thread or wire (or just about anything I suppose!).  This gives yet another design option.