experimentation!

Working with a screen printer, Lynne Blackburn, we hope to come up with handmade paper that can be used for her non-oil based inks.
I gave her a selection of papers - all with different contents, ranging from recycled paper to traditional Japanese papermaking fibres.
The following shows the results.......

The inks worked better than I expected.....only a few papers had bleeding from the ink.   The screen printed image on several was extremely sharp (especially the ones with  processed plant (rose petals and daffodil leaf) fibers....nice!

Text and Tie

I am experimenting with different types of text .... recyled .... pages .... for my personal interest and for a screen printer friend.

At the same time (i never use just one type of pulp) I am experimenting with some more of the silk tie material.....and mixing them together.....hmmmm really should be making paper for my collagraph class that I'm taking next Sat....

oh....also this week...pigmented gampi with a warm yellow and added some iridecent pigments..

then played around with the pulps that were left over from another project!

Bespoke Papers

A friend at work asked me if I could make some paper and add the petals from a rose that she had been given......

as the rose had been left intact while drying the centre had become mouldy and unusable....

.....cooked up the petals.....
 .... yes. they loose their colour ....

added pigmented gampi....then plain abaca....

done!

While waiting...

As I took a few days off from work to get my flat in order .. I arranged to have furniture delivered ... during one of the waiting periods I was going through my stuff (collected over the years and sent over from the States) and emptying a box when I came across the silk tie samples that my friend (Joyce) and I found in a shop in Berkeley, California ..... I originally brought 12 rolls but over the years...not knowing what to do with them - I gradually let them go..

 But now having found the last roll ... what was i thinking ...

 Brilliant... now need more ...

Workshop at LCBA

This was my second workshop at the London Centre for Book Arts and it was rather enjoyable.The 4 students (two architects, a textile grad and a student from Camberwell MA Book Arts course) really got involved in the creative process and, as per usual, I was very pleased with the work created by all of them. I never know how these workshops will go ... they are very organic ... and I am always amazed by the outcomes!

June.....a new start...

In my new flat in Walthamstow......all Ikea stuff put together (wrist and elbow suffering from screwdriver use) papermaking studio area set up in the kitchen and a week off work!!! The flat has a huge airing cupboard which turns out to be a wonderful place to store and dry plant fibres.
So, the daffodil leaves that I grew in Brixton have dried nicely and are ready to be made into paper. Ah... the joy of having my own place to do what I want / when I want / without having to clear away the vats etc after each session ....

This mushy pulp, when added to other pulps, makes some of my fav papers. I didn't cook it for the usual amount of time.....which made the fibres less fine - ok for a change but will cook longer next time.

Started off with adding abaca to the daffoldil pulp .. then violet/iridencent gampi  ..then warm yellow/iredecent gampi .. then abaca .. then ..cool yellow+blue abaca .. 

.. then abac ..