Paper Making

This summer I had time to make some paper using old newspapers and little bits of  ..... netting from onions and a little twine ....

Below ... dyed cheesecloth with bits of thread from some napkins I made plus the third photo shows one with flower petals.....

Bits of novelty yarns are fun to use in paper .....

Here's one with a flower petal plus some of those threads from the napkins that I finished with a raveled edge ....

Now to make some clay tiles as these were made with wall curves in mind but little paper features are fun to use in any mixed media, cards, etc. They are just fun to make even if only to make a stack!

Oh in the top photo are some papers with spices (turmeric, pepper flakes), some flower petals, crochet yarn and paint.

Hope you're having a fun, creative week!

Paper and Paint

I finally cooked the bits of seaweed I picked up at the beach and tried it in my paper making experiment. Because I felt bad collecting seaweed I did not pick up much; just enough to try it out. I cooked it for several hours with washing soda because I didn't have any soda ash, so it didn't get very soft. But once it cooled I cut it into small pieces and put it into the blender with some water. I really didn't have very much so added some cut up used paper that was destined for the recycle bin. With very little I simply poured directly from my blender jar to my screened frames. Below are the pieces drying. I found this batch dried very crinkled and some broke as I tried to press them flat. Next time I would be careful to press more water out when making them. I did a lot more pressing the first time round. But they will be fun to incorporate into some work this winter.I found some very old fabric paints and an old white sheet in the rag bin. Below is some of my paint play.The top left is a layer of pretty peach tissue that a friend had wrapped the giant zucchini from her garden in. (Thank you Sandra for the tissue and zucchini!) I used paint to adhere it to the sheet and then continued to paint over it. Next time I'll wrinkle the tissue so it adds some texture that the sheet alone could not have done. I continued on with the piece below and now it awaits for some netting and sewing to hold those pine needles in place. And speaking of pine needles I'm anxious to put some of my dried bits of nature into some fiber studies and pots this winter!

Making Paper

My husband and I are down to very little garbage with almost everything that isn't kept for reuse is recyclable. But those recyclables pile up! So I've been wanting to try paper making for a long time. I've taken a couple books out of the library and have learned enough to at least give it a try....
So I picked up some inexpensive frames and cut some screening from the hardware store to fit them. I'd read about using tacks to hold the screen down but I thought that would lift the deckle away from the frame's surface and mess up the paper so I bought some nice green duck tape. I've heard you can do anything with duct tape and it seems to be working. One of my online friends, Judi/Approachable Art, said I could even use old pantyhose stretched over a small frame. Having lived in South Florida for several years I'm glad wearing pantyhose is now only a memory, so good use for some old pantyhose!

I simply tore up bits of newspaper and put them into the blender with some warm water. I decided to add some allspice for color and speckle it also gave a nice aroma. I'm noticing some of the allspice speckles may come lose from my papers but I'm not planning to write on this paper but rather include it in some way with my fiber studies and hopefully with my clay.Above photo shows a piece where I've added some cut bits of yarn to the paper.Then I thought I'd add some weeds and flower pieces I picked while out walking yesterday. I also sprinkled some turmeric on the pulp while it was still on the screen to add the yellow.A little piece of crochet cotton yarn was added and onion skin to another sample.I'd read about enclosing texture in your paper so I poured some pulp into my frame than laid a thicker piece of cord on it and poured another layer of pulp to create this raised piece.And then I threw some turmeric into the pulp to give a golden paper rather than the gray. This was so much easier than I expected so I'm sure I'll be experimenting lots more. One book suggests creating paper from seaweed so a beach excursion should be coming up soon!