Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Yabbers again

We had Yabbers today and started by showing off all the cards that were sent, here you can see both sides.


We then discussed and started work on our contribution for the upcoming Papermakers of Vic Exhibition. We decided to spell out Yabbers '08 vertically with the hemp paper we had made two months ago and the paste papers we made last month. Here are pictures of the front and back of the pages which will form our banner.


We then made some vege papyrus but instead of making straight papyrus we made it on paper. These pictures are of some that I'd made last week from zucchini, celery, bouganvillea, kiwi fruit and canned beetroot. The straight papyrus was made from canned beetroot.

These pictures were taken through the paper into the light.
Celery and bouganvillea

zucchini

Beetroot on paper

Straight beetroot

I have some instructions on my website under vegetable laminates but these ones were done by cooking all the fruit and vegetables except the canned beetroot for 2 minutes on high in a microwave then placing them on freshly made hemp paper (could be any paper) then pressing them. Some I dried in my usual way of rolling onto fibro cement and the others by pressing between cotton cloths in my book press and changing the cloths daily.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Postcards and Yabbers

The postcards are starting to come in for My Land, My Paper. Three this week from the US, Spain and Canada. I have put pictures here.



At Yabbers we've decided to send each other postcards using the techniques we've done at the meetings. At our last meeting we made paste papers using a method Dineke taught at a recent workshop. You colour your paste as usual but you paste on lots of layers of paper and fabric, mine turned very red as you can see.

Front:

Back:



I've made two postcards, one I kept plain and the other I did gold embroidery on. At the last T'arts meeting Lesley Uren showed us how to couch gold onto fabric. The butterfly wing and coiled piece were some cheap gold wire and the other bits were what I brought home from Lesley's. Now to see if they go through the post!







I have been making some new journals lately including some from the leather scraps from Reverse Art and some small Chinese swords from a $2 shop.

Here are some exposed stitch bound books using an adaptation of a method I learned from George Matoulos many years ago.


Preparing to sew:

The completed books: