Papermaking workshop photos continued...

In my last post I  shared some photos from a papermaking workshop I held several years ago. The last post showed the equipment, some of the pulps, etc. This post shows some of the examples of the actual work produced by the students. 

I still can't believe it has taken me nearly 2 years to be able to find these photos.

Papermaking workshop photos

I just found some photos from a papermaking workshop I ran a few years ago. I had always planned to publish them on here but when my computer died a few years earlier I thought I had lost them. I just found a copy on an old portable hard drive. It reminds me of the importance of backing up your work. I will post a whole pile of the photos (yes I'm biased) but I think there are some really great ones.

I haven't taught papermaking since this last workshop as there is a huge amount of preparation needed. Maybe one day I'll teach another one.

The photos shown were a 4 day workshop that included a whole range of papermaking techniques.

Some of the equipment for the day

Some of the additional plant products I provided for adding to the paper pulp

The room setup with vats everywhere.

Tubs of cross shredded paper waiting to be processed.

White paper pulp with dye squirted on top- yet to be mixed

Some of the many sheets drying.

How I use my sketchbooks Part 1.

I’ve been keeping sketchbooks in various forms since I was in Year 12 at High School. Our Year 12 Art teacher made us keep a sketchbook where we did drawings and also collected images of interest, newspaper clippings, etc. I still have my 2 sketchbooks to this day.

I used to put all my drawings, things I collect etc. all into one sketchbook. It got too hard to find what I was looking for and so I made my sketchbooks for specific purposes. I still have lots of different sketchbooks nowadays, but each one has a different purpose.

I have a small one (10 x 15cm) that is handy just to put in your handbag when going to an art exhibition, etc. It is small enough to draw ideas in while in a gallery etc. without it being overtly obvious what your doing. This one is really my only multi purpose sketchbook.

Some photos of pages from my small sketchbook are below.

As I said earlier, most of my sketchbooks are for specific purposes. The one below was dedicated to Papermaking. I would included samples of papers I was making, write questions I wanted to find out the answers to, draw ideas, etc. See images below.

Handmade Paper Art and Textiles Flickr Group

I recently set up a group on Flickr called 'Handmade Paper Art and Textiles. The aim of the group is for people who use handmade paper in their artwork to post photos of their work. Photos of just handmade paper sheets are not excepted. The photos have to show how you use handmade paper in your art and textiles.

Below is an image of the first page of photos from the flickr group. If you would like to add photos to the group, you will need to hold a flickr account. Flickr is a great website for artists to promote their work and it is a simple site to use. You can upload 6 photos a week to the group.

Here is the address for the flickr group        http://www.flickr.com/groups/handmade_paper_art_textiles/

                              Please feel free to go and check out the groups work.

Starting a new body of work

As well as working on textile pieces for the SALT (South Australian Luscious Textiles) group I'm part of, I'm also starting planning for a whole new body of work. I'm crazy about hand made paper and so this is the area I will be working in. The work will not just be paper however, it will also incorporate stitch and the use of armatures. I've already started doing a few small samples for ideas I'm working on.

There will be an overall theme but I won't announce it just yet. Lets just say it is linked to leaves, vessels, handmade paper and trees. Does that help?

The photos below are a few of my experiments so far. The first thing I've been playing around with is stiffening hand made paper. All the paper below are pieces that I made myself.

Handmade paper glued onto black shapewell (Slightly blurry photo sorry)

Handmade paper ironed onto iron on interfacing.

Handmade paper painted with White glue (PVA).

Jackie Abrams Workshop final baskets

Well here are the final photos from the Jackie Abrams workshop. I've had a really bad neck and so haven't been able to post them before this.

I posted this little basket in an earlier post as being finished. I've since bent the corners down a little bit more so that you can see inside the basket better.

This is the start of a bought basket that I covered in my handmade paper.

This is the finished basket, I really like this piece.

New work on Flirckr

Whilst cleaning up my studio, I also photographed some work I had hanging around. Its work I made at the end of last year but had never got around to photographing before.

This piece is hand stitched paper (the bottom right corner) onto a black fabric backing. It is stretched around canvas frame.

The 3 pieces above are part of a set. They are all hand stitched paper stretched over canvas frames. I need to photograph them all hanging together so it makes sense how they work together. I think that will have to wait for another day.