hibiscus staining

In my drawing class I am beginning a series of drawings that use hibiscus imagery. Today I used soaked blossoms and the resulting tea to stain some handmade kozo papers that I made at the beginning of the summer.

terrain

acrylic and collage on canvas - hand-beaten kozo, flax, abaca, tracing paper

papers

cotton, flax and abaca hand made papers

hand beaten kozo papers

kozo

Last night in my paper making class we were working with Kozo fibers. This particular Kozo came from a mulberry bush in Korea. The fibers you see floating in the pot with water have been cooked and are the layer of fiber just below the bark, called the pith. Most eastern papers are traditionally hand beaten. You take the long strands out of the water, remove any stray chunks of bark, and beat them with a mallet on a hard surface. This took a while because the fibers have to be beaten enough so the evenly disperse on a screen.

Pictured above are the beaten Kozo fibers suspended in water and a small screen. Traditionally the screens are made of woven bamboo and mounted onto a wooden frame, but we were using wire mesh. Eastern papers also don't use a deckle mold.

Once the screen was passed through the water several times collecting fiber, we pressed it onto a piece of taut fabric stretched over a large wooden frame. A sponge was pressed gently onto it from the back, to transfer the surface tension from the screen to the fabric. When the screen was pulled away, the paper was stuck to the fabric. When it is dry it will be peeled off.

papermaking studio

I have been taking a paper making class Wednesday evenings at the Springfield Art Association. Last night was my second session and I thought I'd share some of what we are doing. Below is an image of the Hollander Beater. The loose plant fibers go into this beater with water and are beaten to a fine pulp that is suitable for paper making. Depending on the fiber and how fine you want it, preparation in the beater can take up to 24 hours!

Last night we were using dyed Abaca, or banana leaf fibers. When pulling a sheet of paper, a screen with a wooden frame is dipped into a vat with the fibers suspended in water and then gently shaken and pressed into a piece of felt.

drying felts

Last night we were using an air compressor to spray paper pulp onto a large frame; and when I say large, I mean huge. You'll notice that it is suspended from the ceiling. This is a way to make large single sheets of paper when the size becomes unmanageable with a vat and a screen. Here we are layering up different colors of Abaca to get a mottled look. 

We also experimented with a vacuum table. Paper will conform to objects and dry with their impression or texture. We hand built small items and patterns out of oil based clay and then laid them down in a box with a pegboard bottom. Then we pulled a sheet of paper from a screen directly on top of our objects. The box was ceiled with plastic sheeting and a shop vac was hooked up to the bottom, creating a vacuum chamber. The paper will dry around the objects and hold their indentations.

So far I am loving this class. Last week we got a crash course in fibers, were working with cotton and experimented with pulp painting, stencils, and other forms of creating designs on one sheet of paper. Next week we are going to begin working with Kozo and other traditionally eastern fibers.