Thursday, January 24, 2019

Papermaking with friends

Last weekend members of Papermakers and Artists Qld met in Tenterfield (Northern NSW) for two days of papermaking with artist Liz Powell, who has set up a paper studio there.

We experimented with a variety of fibres including hemp, yukka, heliconia, lemon grass, bromeliad, banana, and ginger.  We took our new Hollander Beater and gave it a good workout.  The heliconia and bromeliad fibre was from my own garden, I've been doing a fair bit of tidying up lately, so it was easy to keep some of my plant waste to cook up.

Papermaking is a lot of work, requiring physical stamina and effort, but the load is lightened when working in a group.  Lots of fun as well, playing with water in temperatures over 30 degrees celsius.

I used a 30cm long mould & deckle to make a range of botanical papers, I hope to use these in an artist book in the future.

Selfie with some of the girls and the beater.
L to R - me, Zela, Tricia, Ngaire and Liz.

Chopping up plant waste to cook.
 
Hollander beater in action.  The cooked
fibres flow around to be macerated by the drum.
Our beater was made by Mark Lander
 in New Zealand, paid for with a
community grant.

The girls are separating the fibres to help the beater.

Close up of the beater.  Its a beautiful machine!

Papers drying in the sun.

A selection of my dried papers.
Some rough and textured, some smooth,
some with flecks, some with chunky bits!

A highly textured paper, might be good
for chine colle and collage.
Or just to admire its beauty.
Some of the wonderful food from the local
caterers, there's nothing better when working hard
to enjoy some tasty treats.

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