Papermaking: Round Trials

Over the Easter Holidays (April 4th - 15th) , I started experimenting by making paper at home using a disposable turkey-roasting tin, a spatter guard and paper shreddings from our shredder. This obviously resulted in round sheets of paper, which I think is more interesting/unusual than the standard shaped paper we made at college.

First, I used normal shreddings to make plain paper which also had small pieces of other colours from envelopes etc. I think this added interest to the otherwise plain paper.

I then tried using dried rose petals in the pulp. It turned the water really purple but when the paper dried it was a sort of "aged" brown.

This side was exposed to the air...

... and this side was on the cloth

I have also experimented with using shredded sheet music and using shredded coloured paper to make handmade coloured paper. I also tried adding pine needles and daffodils to the pulp. In my most recent pulps, I have also added cotton fibres to give the paper more strength and it has worked quite well.

I have decided that my final piece for this unit is going to be an artist book using a mixture of the round pulp papers I have made. For the printmaking part of my final piece I have chosen to use an enlarged version of my thumbprint (done in linocut), handprints, the feather lino (which I experimented with near the beginning of the unit) and maybe some little lino bees - more in the "Papermaking: Final Preparations" post. I am also hoping to use some different stitches, both by hand and using a sewing machine, in my final piece.