The Gilded Leaf

So Claudia and I went to pick up a guillotine from Robert Owen Roberts whose business is called The Gilded Leaf. He is upgrading a lot of his equipment and had some things for sale. Trained as a bookbinder in Chicago, Roberts has relocated to Maryville, TN. His work is astonishing. While some of his work is extremely creative and has beautiful texture and color combinations as well as unusual decorative elements, he actually specializes in historic restoration. Much of his work is in restoring family bibles and historical ledgers. He showed us a sample of a springback ledger, a style of binding we had never seen. He has an extensive collection of very high-quality marbled papers, made for historical accuracy. Even the cases for the books were as amazing as the books themselves.

There is more information about his work and detailed photos on his blog for the Gilded Leaf:
http://gildedleafbindery.blogspot.com/ (Also linked in the list to the right.)

Itajime II

These are my paper samples using itajime block resist and non-waterproof ink. I found it best to let it dry, then unclamp. Claudia mentioned I should look up orizomegami and shiborizome gami rather than itajime. However, I still have yet to find anything online that shows the crispness and geometry of itajime methods on paper.

Itajime Paper

In teaching a class this weekend on Itajime (traditionally folded/block-resisted/dyed fabric), I wondered if this has been done with paper. It has, of course-- but not much. I couldn't find much online on how to do it. However, I decided to work with some of my eastern-style handmade papers.

Here's what I came up with after a couple tries:
1. fold then wet the paper by spraying it with water.
2. clamp the paper with plexi blocks and C clamp.
3. brush on INK- I used black non-waterproof (but I read somewhere that waterproof is best?) I think this is better than having to rinse the paper after dyeing
The result:



















The problem I ran into was: Should I let the piece dry, then unfold it --or unfold is when it is damp so that the folds do not stick permanently?? This is something I'm still experimenting with. The ink bled into the resist very quickly when it was unclamped while damp- so maybe I'll try letting it dry and see if the paper survives...

[My original Itajime samples which inspired this project.]

Distressed

So the denim pulp idea was put on hold for taking forever-- also the studio had to be used last weekend for my Itajime workshop. Today I divided up what I had in the beater initially and decided to resume beating it in smaller quantities. After restarting it today, I had to call in Cherry Cratty to troubleshoot. The material was not breaking up. She brought over a great book and suggested that I lower the beater blade more- and also cook the rest of the material in soda ash. I had lowered the beater blade when I had the original large load in the beater and felt like I was overworking the machine and getting it too hot. With less material circulating this time, it was safe to lower it and make it work. Within minutes I could see a difference. Thanks, Cherry!!!

































*Claudia returns from John C Campbell folk school today. One of her upcoming workshops, Handmade Paper: Beyond the Basic Sheet, will be here at the Appalachian Center for Craft July 18-23. Registration is still available at 615.597.6801. I'll be there as an assistant, Claudia's workshops are always a hit (very productive too), and this place is so beautiful this time of year.

Lake Paper

Not too long ago a photo of someone making paper in the ocean inspired me to create large deckle boxes. Using cheap wood, polyurethane, hardware cloth, and screening, I made a series of boxes-- the largest of which is 2'x4'. I plan to use them in Center Hill Lake, a short hike from my cabin at the Craft Center. I tested out one 2'x2' deckle box at Liberty Paper Mill yesterday. I lined a wooden frame with plastic and filled it with water until it the deckle floated inside, I pulled a sheet of paper, and I let it dry in the sun. Claudia told me that it should be completely dry before I took it off the screen so that it would restraint dry as much as possible. When it was dry, I peeled it off and had a beautiful large sheet of paper. The deckle box materials cost less than 50$ total at Lowe's. I can't wait to try it out in the lake this summer.

Sparkle and Fade

Claudia has been teaching me how to pigment pulp using a Whiz Mixer. I have learned about how to add Retention Aid, Sizing, and Pigments. I made pulp in tan and terracotta- which I now know press and dry much much lighter than they appear when wet. I also have been adding Supersparkle from Carriage House, testing out what happens when the powdered mica (which is Supersparkle) is added to the vat or sprayed onto pressed wet sheets. It is very pretty and really seductive.


















In addition to learning about pigments and other additives, I've been experimenting with beating cotton rag- specifically denim found in the "free box" (where students donate/ recycle old clothing here at the Appalachian Center for Craft).





I was warned by Claudia that we have so much soap in our clothes that I didn't need to "wash" the denim, I could simply rinse it a lot before beating it. I was lucky and the suds didn't get too out-of-control. The color is BEAUTIFUL. I still have a ways to go in beating it, so i had to put it on hold for a while.









[Cotton rag shredded on the left and halfway beaten on the right.]

The Secret Of Kells

Beverly Plummer, Joyce Seivers, Claudia Lee and I saw the Secret of Kells at Nashville's Belcourt theater. It was fantastic! The hand-drawn animation contained imagery based on the Book of Kells. We all loved it- it was the perfect movie for a group where we have combined experience in bookbinding, papermaking, calligraphy, and printing (as well as other media). The movie was really touching, we were all inspired, and I think we all want to see it again after we research more on the Book of Kells.