papermaking process
After a year of waiting for COVID-19 restriction to allow for in-person workshops I was finally on my way to Womens Studio Workshop (WSW). A tuition grant from Surface Design Association (a fantastic, fiber and textile focused organization, journal and resource), allowed me to financially access a paper making studio and a hands-on learning experience.
Read MoreI was excited. I was finally unloading the dry box where the paper that I pulled from the last week had been drying between felts and cardboard (read the last post to see what happened last week). Found ephemera was layered between different paper combinations. Layering these materials while wet and unstable means that I could only make educated guesses as to what it would look like when dried into a paper sheet. Only through experimenting with different pulp combinations and materials was I able to see which was the most successful in interpreting my vision. Abaca and flax, cotton and abaca or flax, two layers of flax or abaca etc.
Read MoreOn daily walks I collect birds’ nests and eggshells. A small but poignant reference to the cycle of life, nurture and industry, ingenuity and adaptability, I marvel at the intricacy and variety of materials found within each nest. I admire birds’ problem-solving abilities in making use of whatever materials are available at the time. This ingenuity parallels how artists work and how women adapt and improvise while juggling many expectations, demands and limitations in daily life. For a long while I have envisioned deconstructing these nests and with the eggshells and other found organic ephemera, embedding them within handmade translucent sheets of abaca paper capturing and preserving their resilience in another organic material.
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