I'm teaching tonight, a taster workshop at The Gallery Dereham I'm planning to take some of the things I use a lot, like Brusho and lutradur and hand made paper, and demonstrate making Artists Trading Cards. Then the participants get to play with all the stuff I've brought...sounds promising. I thought it might be a good idea to have some samples for the workshops I'll be teaching through May, and as the first of those is paste papers, I mixed up a batch of paste. I learned how to do this from Joanne B Kaar, a Scottish artist; her recipe is in her excellent book 'Paper Making And Bookbinding'. I've used it several times with no problems, but this time, when I was in a hurry and needed things to go well, the paste was far too thin. The thought of adding flour was just not very appealing; and then I thought of the small tin of thickening granules in my kitchen cupboard. Made by MacDougalls, this stuff, whatever it is, is intended for thickening soups and stews, but I'm here to say that it works very nicely on paste for paste papers.
Then, I thought, what to use to colour them? Joanne uses direct dyes, but I don't have any of those. So I thought of Brusho, and added that to the paste as it cooled. As you can see from the images, I got some great colours. And I'm very pleased with the results. So roll on the workshops!
6 comments:
I love the look of paste papers and have always wanted to try them. Never got around to the real thing but through heavy application of gesso to watercolor paper or canvas, I can brush through it when it starts to dry, then add whatever colors I want. I know it's sort of a backwards way of doing it, but it is another technique you might give a try sometime!
But I still want to try THIS ONE..... :)
I love making paste papers. You are doing some very interesting stuff and the vibrant color rocks! Had never heard of Brusho so I checked it out but don't know if we have it here in the US. Good luck tonite, wish I could catch a flight your way :-)
Oooh, I love pasted papers too. Try using wallpaper paste too, the effect is completely different.
Do you meditate? I so envy the consistency and clarity of your work.
Do you have a secret twin, how do get SO much accomplished?
Love the paste papers.
Your workshops sound very inviting and I wish I lived nearer to you. I'm sure you will all have a great time. Will you show us some of the results please?
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