Paper Making Workshops

A stack of handmade papers

Recently I've been running some paper making workshops for Prism Arts Studio Theatre West Coast group and students at Distington Community School. Following on from their wonderful Vikings project Studio Theatre are now working on another Heritage Lottery Funded project 'Cumbria's Atomic Story.'  The story starts with Cumbrian scientist John Dalton who began looking into atomic theory. His mother was a paper maker, which is where I come in!

Ripping up paper

Ripping up paper

Ripping and soaking

For the first session I worked with the Studio Theatre participants so that they could get a good idea of the process and help me run the following session where we would be working with the school students. We had a lot of fun experimenting and we had lots of interesting discussions about paper; what we use it for, where it comes from, how it's made and how the process has changed (or not) over the past few hundred years. It was great having this session as it meant the participants were really able to engage with the school students in the following sessions and help them with the process.

Pulling sheets of paper

Pulling sheets of paper

Pulling sheets of paper

Paper making can be very complicated but it can also be very simple, I wanted to use a technique that would work well with a wide range of abilities and that would allow plenty of scope for experimentation. For this reason I chose to demonstrate how to make handmade paper using existing paper. We created a basic paper pulp using sugar paper and a bit of cellulose glue and added a few other bits (such as newspaper) as the fancy took us. The basic process is to rip up the paper, soak it, blitz it in a blender with the glue, pour the resulting pulp into a tray of water to create a suspension and then use a mould (like a screen) to create sheets of paper. Usually you would use a deckle on top of the mould to get nice neat edges on your paper but I felt this was an unnecessary complication for these workshops.

Pressing the paper onto jay cloths

Decorating the paper

Decorating the paper

One of the reasons I chose to use sugar paper was that it allowed us to explore a bit of colour theory and mixing. It's great putting two different colours together in the blender and seeing them being mixed to create a new colour. We also had quite a giggle deciding what food the resulting pulps resembled (we made a lot of mushy peas and various smoothies!)

Decorating the paper

Decorating the paper

Paper drying out

Once we had the basic paper pulp mix and had got the hang of pulling sheets of paper we were able to explore different ways of altering and customising the paper. I think this was the most exciting bit and it was very interesting watching how different people approached this stage. Some people had a very clear idea of what they were after and were very controlled and ordered, others had a much more random approach. The paper can be layered, with or without things trapped between the layers, things can be pressed into the paper, it can be pushed around to create different surfaces, layers can be gently peeled back to reveal what's underneath, the possibilities are endless. I took a limited assortment of things to add into the paper (threads, feathers and sequins) and it was amazing the variety of effects that were achieved.

Interesting textures

Interesting textures

Interesting textures

I've enjoyed running these workshops so much, it is such a fun process and there are so many variations. Seeing how differently everyone has approached it is really inspiring. In fact I've been so inspired that I've been doing some paper making of my own, It's given me a bit of a kick start in my practice as I was starting to feel a bit unsure as to where to go next but handmade paper may be the answer.

Paper Stack

Sunny Day Dyeing

Solar Dye Jars with flowers from the garden

In my recent post about natural dyeing I mentioned solar dyeing. This is a really simple and easy technique with highly variable results. Essentially it involves filling a jar with fabric and dye stuffs and leaving it in the sun for a month or more.

My first jar

The rusted iron I added turned the water inky black

I tend to take a very unscientific approach to dyeing generally and solar dyeing lends itself well to this way of thinking as living in Cumbria the solar element is highly variable. I really like the unpredictable element of natural dyeing, I've had mixed results from my solar dye jars but as it's such little effort if I'm not happy with the results I can just stick it in another jar with a different set of leaves or flowers and try again. One of the main attractions is the funny marks and leaf traces that are left on the fabric.

Unwrapping my first solar dye jar

Beautiful patterns on the fabric

I've mostly been using cotton fabrics and silk organza for my experiments as these are the fabrics I use most in my work. The silk takes the colour much more readily than the cotton, even when a mordant is used, so I think my future experiments may involve using different types of silk fabric.

Sorrel leaves sandwiched between cotton and silk

In the jar with more sorrel. The fabric ended up a mink brown colour, much stronger on the silk than the cotton

A selection of jars at different stages

Some of the most successful pieces have been the ones where I've added bits of metal to act as mordants. When iron is used it alters the colour quite dramatically, creating rust tones (not surprisingly) and also lovely grey tones and turning the water an inky black colour. I have a rusty hammer head that I found in the garden that is my favourite thing to add into my jars, it's quite well rusted so gives lovely black tones rather than oranges.

Iron and geranium on silk (left) and cotton (right)

Iron and geranium on silk (left) and cotton (right)

Dock leaves on silk (left) and cotton (right)

I've been using a range of different plant materials to dye with, I love walking round my garden, picking leaves, flowers and twigs and wrapping them in fabric. I should really document what goes into each jar but it's much more fun just leaving it and being surprised by the results!

Natural Dyeing: An Experimental Approach...

Natural Dyeing: Results from a steamed bundle

I've always been interested in dyeing my own materials and since school I've experimented with colouring the cloth I use in my art. I've also always liked the idea of natural dyeing and have done bits and pieces but I was always a bit overwhelmed by it and worried about using the right mordants on the right fibres and all the many permutations out there. Last year I treated myself to India Flint's book 'Eco Colour' and I was really inspired by her textiles and her 'try it and see' approach. Her advice is very practical and it's inspired me to stop worrying about having exactly the right quantities/mordants/tools and so on and to just give it a go.

Solar Dyeing: Jar of water, rusty nail and random leaves and twigs

Solar Dyeing: Jar of water, rusty nail and random leaves and twigs

Solar Dyeing: Jar of water, rusty nail and random leaves and twigs

There is a lot of interest in natural dyeing at the moment; along with crafts of all sorts it is seeing a resurgence of interest as people look for ways of reconnecting with the natural world and with using our hands in our increasingly technological and digital world. One of the things I think is great is that a lot of what I've learnt about natural dyeing has been online, marrying the best of both worlds.

Dried Marigolds collected last year, boiled up with frozen marigolds (also collected last year) to make a dye bath

Fabric and threads in with the marigolds

Simmering the marigolds

Another reason for shying away from natural dyeing was that I wasn't aware of which plants to use to get the colours I wanted (you can get an awful lot of yellows from plants, not a colour I use a lot of) and I wasn't confident about the colour fastness. As my work has grown and developed these concerns have become less important and my knowledge of plant dyes has grown through reading about them. I'm now more willing to embrace chance in my work and I'm not so worried if the work changes over time, I see this as part of it's evolution.

Fabric dyed with marigolds drying outside

Fabric and threads dyed with marigolds

I've also become increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of my work. I've always been interested in green issues and have tried to 'be green' as much as possible. Using natural dyes is another step towards living a more sustainable and ecologically sound life. It also gives me a great excuse to spend more time growing things and going out and about collecting things (in an environmentally conscious way, I only collect if there is an abundance of it and it's a common plant and I never take more than two or three leaves from each plant.)

Black beans: Soaked to create a dye

Fabric in the black bean dye bath

Colours from black beans

With all this in mind I've been doing lots of natural dyeing recently. I've adopted the 'give it a go' mentality so rather than using a plant to create a specific colour I'll use a plant to see what happens. By adopting this highly unscientific approach I've created a range of colours that I have no idea how to repeat again, which is part of their charm. I've been experimenting with solar dyeing (stick stuff in a jar in the sun and leave it for a month) steaming (wrap fabric and leaves into a bundle, steam for half an hour, see what's happened) and more traditional dyeing; making up a dye-bath of plants and immersing fabric in it.

Fresh out of the black bean dye bath, fades to blue and grey

Solar dye jars

Solar dye jar

It's really exciting colouring fabric this way, it's unpredictable and the subtle variations add a character hard to achieve with other dyes. It also requires patience, making me slow down and appreciate and think about the fabric and the colour and the work I'm creating with it.

Leaves laid onto cloth, ready to be bundled and steamed

Steaming the fabric bundle

Winter Sunshine

Sunshine and plants

Recently Mr. Stitches and I headed off in search of some warmth and sunshine to Tenerife. Neither of us had been before but we were in need of a rest and a bit of vitamin D and decided that it would be a good place to try.

We visited lots of gardens which really inspired me and has made me very keen to get out into my garden. I particularly enjoyed the Jardines Aquatico as it is tiered and pretty well hidden so you keep coming across different parts of it and it feels like a sort of secret garden. I also really enjoyed the Botanic Gardens, so many amazing plants! It felt a little odd to see a lot of the plants we grow as house plants in this country growing outside quite happily there.

Much of the landscape is quite harsh, it is a volcanic island and there is evidence of this everywhere. We went up Mount Teide, the tall volcano that dominates the island and controls much of its weather, which was really interesting as we saw a range of landscapes high above the clouds. Mostly it was pretty rocky but there were some interesting plants and we were also lucky enough to see the elusive mouflon, a mountain sheep native to Tenerife.

The other highly visible evidence of the volcano is the black sand beaches on the north of the island, where we were staying. I loved the contrast of the bright blue water and the black sand and the strange contrast of my feet burning walking across the hot black sand and then freezing as I stepped into the cold Atlantic surf. There were people swimming in it but a little paddle was enough for me! I was intrigued by all the rocks that has been arranged into cairns, hundreds of them right along the sea front.

I had hoped to see a blue chaffinch whilst we were over there but sadly we didn't manage to track one down. I was, however, highly amused by seeing canaries in the Canaries. Simple things. Many of the birds out there were familiar but with slight differences, the blue tits for instance are much more strongly coloured than ours. We also saw a great number of lesser kestrels, blackbirds and of course a good few gulls. We also went exploring on the water and saw Atlantic Spotted Dolphins and caught a glimpse of Short Finned Pilot Whales, which are actually also a type of dolphin.

We had a peaceful and relaxing week, walking in the morning and sleeping in the afternoons. I've returned feeling a lot more rested and ready to get back in the studio and to start some new projects.