Forthcoming exhibition

 I have an exhibition at Bulleen Art and Garden 

https://gallery.baag.com.au/event/p-l-a-n-t-w-o-r-k-s/

Three Rivers Exhibition, better late than never

 Here are a few photos of my works that were in the exhibition

Rainbows in Lockdown

 It has been over a year since I last posted and one of the first things I said I'd do was to update my website, sorry that hasn't happened yet and I've had three months!!!
I'm posting this here as an addition to the Papermakers of Victoria magazine The Deckle Edge. I wrote an article about making some rainbow paper but there wasn't room for all the images so here is the article with all the images:-

Rainbows and light

When Anne Pitkethly threw out the challenge to put a paper rainbow in my window I accepted and broke up a batch of recycled letterpress paper into five lots. I dyed them red, yellow, green, blue and purple. I made my rainbow on a mould by pouring the pulp and couching onto a readymade sheet of paper. I then had lots of coloured pulp left over and I made some sheets with a watermark of my old school motto ‘Respice Lucem’ that means ‘Look to the light’. I already had the text cut out of waterproof cloth tape and stuck to fibreglass fly screen that fits on a mould the right size to fit one of the small lamps from IKEA. 

I needed an A3 sized vat for those sheets and was able to pull two of each colour before I drained the vat and started again with the next colour. I have put the watermarked sheets in my window along with my teddy bear and my pulp painted rainbow. I can read look to the light from the inside it could be interesting to see how lightfast the dyes are.

After emptying the vats I still had quite a bit of the coloured pulp left so thought I’d try some pulp marbling. I first learned about this technique from Christine Ballinger at the IAPMA Congress in Adelaide in 1998 and had only used it once before when I was doing a lot of floral pulp paintings and I made a vase using the technique.  What you need is formation aid and although I haven’t tried it you might be able to use okra or prickly pear. Have water and formation aid in a vat deep enough to cover the mesh of your mould but not so deep that it covers the deckle.

Weigh down the deckle so that it doesn’t float off. Mix some formation aid and water with your pulp so that it has the consistency of pouring cream; use a sauce bottle, turkey baster or slip trailer (ceramic tool) to pour the pulp onto the mould.

Once you have coverage you can use a skewer to move the pulp around.  

When happy with the result couch the sheet, then to support it couch another sheet on top or do as I did and couch onto a readymade sheet.

The dry sheet

April and workshop prep

My gelatine printing workshop that is happening in May is already full so we are scheduling another one for August. Check the Papermakers of Victoria website for details. I am also teaching a beginners paper making workshop on the 24th April.

As a result of our T'Arts meeting last month thanks to Lin, I have been trying out some new ideas and have had a lovely play today with some new tools and ideas for gelatine printing.

letter stencil

Cake decorating stencil

Print on greaseproof paper, text written in reverse with shaper tool, spiral cut from laminated paper, pastry brush and picture cut from magazine.

After my last workshop I had a couple of armatures that I had made but instead of covering with gauze and dipping in kozo I decided to use some paper that I made from the hemp and cotton that came from Bangladesh. I love this fibre it recycles so well and the resultant paper is extremely strong.

Bowl1

Bowl with balls (work in progress)

Close up of the balls, each will open to reveal a book.

Book pages to be, pulp painted, the colour is from the coloured sheets

The hemp and cotton paper from Bangladesh thanks to Liz

Other side of the first of the book pages gelatine printed

Contemporary Art Society and Jelly Prints

I started writing this about two weeks ago but life and commitments got in the way. I have two works in the Contemporary Art Society annual members show that is on at the moment at Gallery 341 that is at 341 Church Street Richmond. I will be there on Thursday 24 September after 11 am until 2-3 pm. Here is one of the pieces I entered.

Untitled Collage 42 x 30 cm

I have been having a lot of fun lately with gelatine prints. A few weeks ago we had a weekend away in Anglesea for the Surf Coast Arts Trail and saw a demonstration of gelatine printing in the Anglesea Art Shed. I had to try it out on the spot and I was hooked. I came home and made myself a couple of gelatine plates and have made lots of beautiful pages. It works particularly well on smooth handmade paper. Here are just a few of the pieces I made. 

I have had so much fun with this that I have offered to run a workshop for Papermakers of Victoria next year.

Shadow print of leaves and string

Double print of leaves and string

several over prints with plastic shapes and orange bag

Plastic shapes again

Indian wood block

Printed directly onto card, leaves and string

Collage using the pieces I made in Anglesea along with some silk and handmade papers