Stealing time to create

The last weeks are filled with working in my daughter's house: stripping, plastering, sanding, prepping and painting. It seems to take ages, well it is taking ages to get the house done.
It was previously rented to an Afghan family and where they painted the walls blue (or yellow, or red or purple), they also took parts of the ceiling, doorposts, windowframes, central heating etc. with it.
So really most of our time is spent removing paint... And that takes more time than actually painting a room (after stripping the old wallpaper, filling the gaps, sanding and prepping).

Luckily I found some time and inspiration to work on this piece that was hidden in a pile of painted and collaged papers.
I added some Tyvek, ironed some cotton with Wonder Under to it and did some hand stitching.
It is not finished yet - I want to cut out a stamp and stamp over the work as well.
Since I come back home exhausted most of the time, I only get to work at it an hour or so now and then.
Boy, hope that the house get finished soon (but that can take another 3 weeks) and that I can use this summer to create in the garden.... Hmmm, what a wonderful thought!

New Round Robin on ABEurope group

Front cover

Back cover

This month we will start a new Round Robin on the Yahoo ABEurope group, called 'True Colours'. There was a choice between altered books, tipins and fabric books. I did sign up for the two latter options.
For the tipins I choosed Black&White as colour and 'Typography and ornaments' as a theme. I altered a book by gueing loads of Black and White text and images that fit in the theme, on the covers. In this book I will glue the tipins in. Most of the pages have been cut away, leaving a small stub on which the tipin will be glued.

Papermaking, part 2

Here are more pictures of my adventures in papermaking (see my previous post). In the picture above you see a little sheet that I pulled after I mixed the red and purple pulp in one vat. The colours did not mix completely, so I got this variegated effect.
When the sheet was still wet, I added the little (normal) pieces of paper. Just pressing them into the sheet was enough to keep them together.

Folding wet sheets after pulling gives a complete different effect than crumpling or folding dry paper. I hope to use pieces of this sheet in textural collages.

Anothere effect that I got after pressing the wooden stamp too hard in a thin sheet: it tore the paper. But I like it - now I have holes to sew unto fabric! I like the very rough edges of this sheet. The stamp was not inked, but it might be the old ink that was still in the wood that left the print.

There is so much what you can do when making your own papers. Here I layed out some fibers on a larger sheet and then couched a smaller page over it. Just a slight pressing and then waiting for it to dry!
I had so much fun trying out these ideas, and I think that I will come up with more ideas the next time...

Papermaking - just a bit different

As a child I was always attracted to paper. There was some magic in a blank sheet, waiting to be written on, or painted on. No need to say that there is always some special paper in my collection. Often so beautiful, that I hardly dare to use it...
Of course I had to try some workshops papermaking, but did not have the mould and deckle and other tools to really start making it at home.
There are defintely different ways to make paper. In their book: Paper, Metal and Stitch, authors Maggie Grey and Jane Wild show how to use paperpulp in a very creative way. They inspired me to give it a try and explore the possibilities.
The picture above shows the results of wrapping threads around a plastic frame and then weaving through it to make a very, very rough screen. The frame was pulled through the paper pulp and the threads caught the pulp. This frame was then set apart to dry. Only then I cut the threads from the frame. The result is a form of a waffle-like textured paper.

These samples were made by pulling thick papers with a simple mould, made of plastic screen (the one that keeps insects outside). I then stamped an old indian hand carved stamp into the pulp. To keep the texture I did not press these little pages.
I used coloured paper to make the pulp: red and a purple. After working just with the red paper, I poured in some purple pulp. The colours did not mix, so I got a variegated effect! What a bonus!

Normally one would make paper without any holes. I guess, that does not apply to me. After pulling some 'normal' pages, I just went bored and started to make with a small stick and moving the pulp. The result was a pattern with texture as well.

For these samples I teared some wet papers that I had pulled in pieces, and wrapped them partly around a piece of thread.

All these samples will be used up in other projects. Within the next month I will participate in a 'True Colours' Fabric Book RR on the ABEurope Yahoo group. My colours are Red and Purple. So hopefully I can integrate some of these pieces into my book. Can't wait to paint, emboss and embroider them!

Coast of Bretagne

We spent our one week holiday at the north coast of Bretagne this year and it was marvellous. The coast is very rugged and varied. There were beautiful rock formations everywhere and the influence of the sea so impressive.
I had some watercolour paints with me, but transparant watercolours were not very suitable to try to capture the rugged landscape.
Luckily I just had bought the book: Paper, Metal & Stitch written by Maggie Grey and Jane Wild for me to read on vacation. I found some inspiration in it! The supermarché sold brown kraftpaper, needles and threads. Together with the cardstock wrappings of our groceries, I made several collages.

Detail of the first collage

These materials suited much, much better! At home I added acrylic paint and mounted the collages on thick paper.

Second collage of the series.

Detail of the second collage.