Sunday, February 12, 2012

Ideas for Handmade Paper

I started today off by finally finishing my crayon heart valentine's!  Yay, now I'm ready for tuesday, and I won't have to worry about it after work tomorrow!  


Now I want to get back to talking about handmade paper.  Today I want to focus on some idea's of simple things you can do with your paper.  
This first set of papers is a mix bunch.  The upper left paper isn't handmade, I included it because the paper below it is handmade and the effect used on it is a direct result of the paper above it.  I used a sheet of glass, rolled out blue ink, and laid four lace doilies down, and then the store bought paper.  I pressed the items together, and then peeled them apart.  I then reused the glass sheet without doing anything to it on a piece of handmade paper.  The same technique was used on the paper on the upper right corner with yellow paint.  In printmaking the second pull is called the ghost image.  The orange white paper was a happy accident!  In the past I used paper couching sheets to dry my paper, and when one of my sheets had reached the end of it's life it dried it's self to this lovely orange paper I had made.  I enjoy the color and texture of this paper, so I didn't reclaim it for other papermaking ventures.  Here is a close up of the four sheets:

The next four are examples of different way's of using small lace doilies.  The sheet in the upper left is the first pass of the glassed used in the previous group of papers' yellow sheet.  The lower two sheets I used string and yarn in the pulp mix.  The paper on the bottom right I used a mixture of different paint to fill in the doily and make it pop off the sheet a bit more.  
Here is a close up of the doily paper with blue string:
Here is a close up of the handmade paper with yarn and the doily I painted in:

On this set of handmade papers I used a large lace tablecloth to press the sheets against while they were drying.  I also used yarn in the pulp mix for these papers.  
This is a close up of my favorite paper:


That's all on papermaking for today!  I also started working on my DIY for Valentine's Day.  I hate to spend money on Valentine's Day, cause I think it's a made up holiday for the card and chocolate companies.  Plus I think it's a lot more heartfelt, if non of my gifts are store bought.  My gift is going to be 52 different date ideas.  I have a fun way to put it all together, but I'll talk about that tomorrow!  Happy DIYing!      -chris