Papermaker

Tags

crafts, creativity, DIY, dyeing, nettles, paper

Yesterday I decided to do a test round making my own paper. I’d bought a small deckle to begin with thinking it would be post card sized, and it was – on the outside! The actual papers turned out to be only 12 x 7½ cm. I also think I may not like the fine silk screen used, it takes forever to drain the water. So I’m going to have to make my own deckle after all I guess and have some mosquito netting I’ll try for that. Once I get some wood.

Mark making

Tags

art, brushes, crafts, creativity, doodle, homemade, inspiration, mixed media, paper, Photoshop, stamp, texture

I have a special to-do list for occasions where either pain, fatigue, Resistance or muddled concentration keeps me from the projects that require thinking/planning/energy, but also don’t want to “just” read or knit. Or simply to shake up a stuck imagination by doing something new and relaxed.

Plant watercolours

Tags

colour, dyeing, flowers, paint, paper, watercolour, yellow

Heidi told me about making water colours from plant dye, so I just had to give it a go even though I don’t really have the time or energy right now for another project.

I still need to work on getting a more concentrated solution, the day I did this I had to go out, so I couldn’t let it sit on the stove to steam for hours. There’s also a matter of how long it’ll keep, my first jars were too tall for the fridge, then I managed to not have time to test the liquid for days. Then it got cold and rainy and not good for picking flowers… you get the idea.

So I’ve just been doing some washes, layering the solutions to see how dark they would go, adding iron and copper as well as soda ash and vinegar to modify. Nothing happened in fact, it may need to be heated – again, no time. And then I noted several days after, that my swatches had changed colour. So there is a possibility for modification, but a high rate of unpredictability or a steep learning curve in knowing what you’ll get eventually.

I started out with coreopsis and tagetes, meant to do a batch with weld also. But, well. The tagetes turned out very greenish yellow and the coreopsis nearly brown, so I’ll have to do perhaps birch for a warm yellow (or Dyer’s chamomile, which I only have in a dried variety by now)

Then there’s coffee and tea, tea with iron. I’m thinking mainly backgrounds for illustrations, to start off on something not white.

I tried getting direct prints from the flowers by “hammering” them into the paper, but just got brown smudges. The colour is not waterproof after drying, so wetting these papers again for eco printing would probably wash most of it away.

I’ll investigate some more, at some point, for now I hand over the torch in case somebody else has the urge or would like to share their knowledge. I used 10% alum in proportion to weight of the liquid.

Plante-akvarel

Et meget kort og forhastet forsøg på at lave akvarelfarve fra planter. Det fungerer – men er lidt upålideligt mht farveændringer via kobber, syre, base, jern osv, da farverne først skiftede på papiret flere dage efter jeg havde malet det på. (og allerede smidt varianterne ud). Måske det virker bedre at opvarme hver enkelt variant eller lave dem mens det oprindelige bad er varmt.

I virkeligheden havde jeg hverken tid eller ork, skulle i byen den dag jeg kogte blomsterne, så jeg kunne ikke lade dem stå på blusset og dampe mere ind, vejret blev skidt til blomsterplukning og jeg har bare for meget at se til.. Men hvis nogen skulle få lyst og måske endda dele deres erfaringer, så er bolden hermed givet op. Der er brugt 10% alun i forhold til væskens vægt.

Jeg brugte tagetes og skønhedsøje, egentlig ville jeg også prøve vau og birk, men det er det så ikke blevet til endnu.

Calling all watercolourists

Tags

art, chalk, paper, pastel painting, watercolor, watercolour

I bought this structured paper by mistake – must have either clicked the wrong box or left my head under my arm that day – and while it’s a lovely, heavy watercolour paper, it wasn’t what I was looking for to do ink/linedrawing as a base for watercolour painting.

So, having forgotten most of what I even know about watercolour, I’m a bit clueless what to do with this. Any suggestions for technique, media and otherwise from those of you who are watercolour experts (or pastel chalks?!) would be greatly appreciated. From those of you who do not watercolour, do you know anyone who you could send to my page, any gallery links, tutorials, anything?

In another word: HELP! 😉 (please)

And now of course to try and find online the type of smooth, hard paper I was looking for. Hot pressed, yes?

I’d also like to know which watercolours brands and types you prefer working with. My old W&N look a bit tired and almost used up. I don’t want the really, really cheap hobby store type, you get exactly what you pay for is my experience.

Sometimes I just feel like working smaller, as well as wanting to improve my drawing.

.

Akvarelhjælp søges

Jeg har fået købt noget meget tykt, struktureret papir som slet ikke var det jeg ledte efter til blæktegning og akvarel farvelægning mm.

Og da det er mange, mange år siden jeg sidst har leget med vandfarve, så aner jeg faktisk ikke helt hvad jeg skal bruge det til! Forslag ønskes. Hvis ikke du selv har erfaring med akvarel kender du måske nogen du lige kunne sende herover, sprede budskabet? Gode links til gallerier, tutorials?

Og hvad er dit yndlingsmærke i akvarel, skal det være faste blokke eller på tube?

Paper prints

Tags

art, colour, crafts, creativity, eco print, flowers, inspiration, leaves, mixed media, paper, plant print, plants

This gallery contains 24 photos.

Dry flowers apparently aren’t my thing, they look very dull and broken, some leaves might be useful. I don’t know …

Continue reading →