Pics!

A-ha!
Here are some photos from the paper making workshop several weeks ago, as well as from the book binding and letterpress workshops that are ongoing... I had to get people to remind me to take photos!
Next week we start sewing our text blocks together in the book binding workshop and on Tuesday everyone (fingers crossed) in the ABCs of Letterpress class will be printing their one colour broadside on the Vandercook SP15 and learning how that press works.

A freshly pulled sheet of white cotton.

Andrew is adding some found suburban detritus to his pulp before making his sheets.

Andrew's sheet with suburban detritus inclusions (Oo! that sounds  so pretentious!)

Dan peeling his sheets off the felts after pressing. He pulled such nice thin white sheets of
paper that he found using some newsprint pressed onto the damp sheet was helpful in pulling it off the felts for drying.

Andrew laying his cover on his accordion book while Sophie watches.

Cori looking happy with her wee accordion book.

The beginning of Dana's broadside.

Checking out the wood type and metal type before composing broadsides.

Sheila is going to try to set some rules on angles!!

Kerning the wood type.

Making paper again

This is a large sheet of paper made from kozo fibre that a client ordered back in May or June. Unfortunately it has been such a humid summer that I couldn't work with the kozo fibre until just recently! When it's too humid the fibres go mouldy too quickly or they don't dry properly and end up making a very soft floppy paper. The ideal time for working with kozo is when it is dry and cold. I did that in an unheated studio in Japan when I was apprenticing with Richard Flavin. We took turns thawing out our hands over a small portable kerosene heater. 

Project for my heart.

I spent a while working on this project. Days actually. I created the two heart ornaments for a gift exchange for mother's who have last their infants.  One ornament was for a local mom and the other was sent to a mom in Florida, USA. I hope they like their pieces!

I set the type for the names and dates of the two babies. 

At the last moment I set the butterfly dingbat in.

The names and dates were letterpress printed onto some of my handmade paper. 

The hearts are made of cotton pulp. I cast each half of the heart in a mould and then glued the two halves together. I decorated the heart after the glue had dried.

and now for a paper making studio!!

I'm puttering around in the studio basement getting the space ready for a hand papermaking workshop that I'm teaching. When I got the studio we put in a bunch of pot lights to make it brighter, but It's weird being down there and not knowing if it's light or dark out. This must be what it's like to work in an office building cubicle.

Checked out my beater and I guess I haven't used it since it was used in "The Time Traveller's Wife" movie. I have an extra pipe (I think it's theirs), my drain stop has a broken handle and my makeshift engine protector is missing. Ugh! Have to do some McGyver-ing!

My felts are all in one place, I have to clear the air dryer, and put the press on the floor by the drain... hmmm... better check to see if the pump has enough fluid to create pressure... and where are my boards?!?
The workshop starts this Sunday and the first thing we'll do is talk about types of paper, what the differences are, fibres, and ways to manipulate pulp. After that we'll start getting the dry stuffs ready for pulping. The five participants will be learning how to make paper from scratch. We're starting with cotton and linen fabrics for the pulp. Using linters will come later when we need a boat load of pulp to work with!

I love the fact that I can turn our old rags (t-shirts, pants, towels, etc.) into gorgeous pieces of coloured papers. That is what I call Up-cycling!

I've got the rags but I'm still waiting for the riches!