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Showing posts with the label papermaking

Drawing with the Sewing Machine

This week I've been drawing with the sewing machine... I use a darning / embroidery foot and this gives me quite a bit of freedom to move the fabric where I want it to go.  Sometimes if i'm sewing material I use an embroidery hoop but often I find these get in the way and can be restrictive. Last week I tried my hand at making paper from scraps... as pictured on a previous posting my first attempt ended up with a kinda grey slab... but as it dried - which took about a week!! it slowly lightened and then  left it in the sun where it bleached further... it was rather thick - actually I've seen thinner cardboard but it has a very rustic feel and more importantly its the first paper I have made so I had to find a use for it... After quite a bit of consideration I decided its lovely uneven texture and rough edges really lent itself to stone walls - I'm very drawn to stone walls, often beautifully constructed using no cement just clever placement of available stone they c...

Paper making

Its been another busy week, family to stay and now lots of chores - washing bedding and restocking depleted cupboards... in between this I have somehow found time to try my hand at paper making - I had a long conversation with a friend who is expert in this field and looked at lots on the Internet but it is definitely more tricky then it looks, and now my kitchen is full of damp sludgy grey flattened 'paper' it will take forever to dry and I'm not convinced it will not just turn into dust or that stuff that used to come out of really old mattresses or chairs!!! Someone told me to turn it onto a formica surface to get a nice shiny finish... our dining room (rather grand name for half of the kitchen) table is a delphinum blue formica so I tipped  the sludge from the wire mesh onto the table - having removed as much excess water as I could with a sponge - 5 days later its still there..still damp and still quite sludgy - blue sets the grey off nicely though.... first attem...