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!

Editing photographs in Photoshop

I like taking photographs, but landscape photography is not really something that I can do well. I like to take shots when being on a holiday, but often I tend to take out a sketchbook and start sketching the surroundings. Maybe because sometimes I just feel lost in a landscape, or feel overpowered by the atmosphere. By sketching I can just pick out the things that I like in the scene and draw this - omitting the rest of the landscape...
But I think it is about time that I start doing something with all these landscapes that I have taken in the past. So here is a picture of last summer when we were in Bretagne.
In this part some of the houses are built near the rocks to keep them safe from strong wind and storms.
This photograph was cropped, the sky was replaced and the colours were turned into Black and White and then coloured in a cold blue tone.
The picture is very simple, but the textures come out very nicely, I think.

Secret Garden spread in Altered Book

Linda's book in the "My Own Theme" Round Robin is about secret gardens. She asked us what our secret garden would look like and express that in the spread in her book.
I love gardens, but are not so good in gardening - the weed is always winning in our garden... But I do have several ideas about how I would like to see my secret garden. To put all these ideas into the spread was impossible. So I used just some of the ideas.

I kept the spread fairly simple because of all the images that I wanted to use. It is mainly paint that I used plus I typed out the characteristics of that secret garden on our old type machine - much quicker than stamping these sentences. Just hope that Linda likes the spreads. This book is so inspiring!

Samples

It has been a while since I worked with textiles - apart from handquilting an enourmous quilt which will take ages to finish. I really like stitching by hand. It is very relaxing.
Inspired by the workshop "Layering" taught by Cherilyn Martin, I decided to get going. My aim is at this moment to try out techniques and make samples, so no pressure for complete projects!
Here a piece of layered papers and paint, sewn to felt. Straight running stitches surround the little piece.
Easy and fun to do!

Felt beads

It's been a while since I took some time to experiment and try new things. I have been to a workshop from Zijdelings by Cherilyn Martin called Layerings and tried some new techniques which I definitly want to explore further.
Today I managed to take some time to make beads from felt and cotton, winded with wire and embossed with embossing powder. The beads were then 'blasted' with a paintstripper ( I do not have a heatgun, and this seems to work as good as a heatgun). The acrylic felt melted partly away showing parts of the underlying fabric.
Now I need to find a way to prevent the cotton from fraying...

Portaitcourse

Last month I took a short portrait course. We worked with flashlight and soft boxes which gave beautiful light. Especially after trying out several positions and fiddling the camera!
This portrait was from the first lesson and I have worked it into this digital collage. The elements on the background were photos taken in France on a holiday.

Altered Book Spread about Time

This is the spread that I made In Tari June's book Wishes and Dreams. My wish? Going back in time and undo some of my mistakes that I madein my life!
I used the new colour of my favorite brand acrylics ( Galeria from Winsor and Newton) Copper! It does not look well on this picture, but when you see it, it looks like I have used a thin copper sheet for the sides, it looks soooo good!
The spread is very simple, so I added a beaded fringe at the bottom of the pages. Here is a better view:

Book of Dreams arrived home!

My book: Book of Dreams, from the Crazy Round Robin came home! I never realized that the book was considered to be bright coloured - I thought they were soft colours... Beautiful spreads were made by: Claire (UK), Linda (UK), Jill (UK), Shakti (Spain), Pascale (France), Susan (Germany) and Mika (Spain).
Thank you all for making this book shine so brightly!

To see how the book started out, see: New book binded for next Round Robin: http://exploringart.blogspot.com/2006_03_05_exploringart_archive.html
And my own alterations at: Book of Dreams ready for the Round Robin
http://exploringart.blogspot.com/2006_03_19_exploringart_archive.html

This was a wonderful RR. The name 'Crazy' refers to the idea that we had to go completely over the top with the alterations and decorations. Well, as you can see, this happend to my book. Despite the extra space that I created by binding in 'stubs' in the book, it is so filled that it can't be closed anymore. It feels so rich...!
I am thinking about making boxes for my altered books, so that they will survive the coming years. But in the meantime I place them in my workroom so that I can enjoy them everyday!

Going to be famous?

This week, we received the book from the photography website http://www.ephotozine.com. The book: Guide to great photography, was created by the inventor of the website Peter Bargh and contains not only his photographs but a wealth of images taken by members of EPZ. Both my DH and I have two pictures in this book published, so I am mighty proud of that!
My images are featured in a portfolio on page 195, together with some text about my method of photography.

If you want a book with plenty of images, short tutorials, different subjects and styles, you will want this book. Never have I seen a photography book with so many inspirational images (even if mine were not in this book....). Especially since all styles of photographers are in here, this is an ultimate guide!

Spread for new Round Robin

On the ABEurope group we just started a new Round Robin. This time we made it very easy, every participant choosed her own theme. I received this gorgeous book Healing Woods from Jill from Germany to work in. She had already put a lot of work in it, which makes it easier to work in.
I painted the silhouette of the tree, altered some images, stamped the text and added some fabric leaves. Now this book is sent to France for Pascale to work in.

Altered Puzzle Pieces for Pascale

Pascale, from France, sent me some smaller pieces to alter. Her theme was Celtic and Medieval art. It was diffucult to work on this small scale. For instance, the postage stamp that was added to the piece on the left, felt completely away after I used a stamp and embossed over it... The pieces do look better in reality, though!

Altered Puzzle Pieces

On our Yahoo group, Pascale from France suggested an altered puzle pieces swap. From Julie from England, I received these jumbo pieces. Since she had no preference for a theme, I opted for Monet and Botticello.
It was a challenge to work with these pieces, especially with the composition. It also took more time than I thought, but then, I tend to change my ideas while I work - a bit too often...

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.

ATC cards for exchange

This week I made some ATC's (Artist Trader Cards) for a swap on Europeanatc (Yahoo group for European traders). The theme was Maps. Earlier this week I bought a 50 year old atlas for 1 euro. The maps on it are not very, very old, but for instance the lettering was still done by hand and stencils. I really like that book and will use these maps in other projects of course.

Felting in summer

A few weeks ago I went to Nellie de Mulder, an artist here in our village, to felt. Apart from the work that she sells, she also teaches felting classes. (See her website at: http://nelliedemulder.nl )
I tried to make pages for a felted book, and wanted to make simple 'drawings' in the felt. In the picture on top you can see how the wool was laid out on the cotton cloth. The fabric is used as a base for the felting and gives a very textural effect after felting. The picture was taken after the wool was felted a little bit.
On the other side of this 'page' I laid out another pattern. Then 3 different pages were felted by rolling them in bubble plastic and rolling over the table.
The felts were great. I like the rippled effect that the cotton fabric within causes. Just too bad that the pages were way to large for a felted book.

Cutting them up will loose the graphic designs on them. So I will probably end up making new, smaller pages for a felted book!