Colorful Cotton Paper

It was great to finally get into the papermaking studio and make a few batches of paper this week. Here is a synopsis.

In early spring I used some RIT dye I had purchased at a tag sale to transform estate sale white cotton sheets into an array of colorful cloth.

Not having the time to turn all of this fabric into pulp, I chose the bottom batch (labeled scarlet but turned out to be more of salmon) and another white sheet to turn into pulp.

First I made ten sheets of salmon colored paper and embedded a piece of fabric into each one. The fabric was originally the trim design on a cotton sheet I got from my grandmother's linen closet. These sheets will serve as covers to journals.

Next I made white paper for the pages. Then I mixed the two pulps to create a range of pinks. Some of the pink reminded me of cotton candy. (Look at that deckle edge!)

Lastly I added some yellow pulp I had on hand to shift the color to a peach.

New Paper

I've taken a break from natural dye experiments to make some paper. The results of my labors of Wednesday and Thursday:

I like the way the colors from an eco-bundling experiment coordinate with the colors of the paper.

Marigold Dye Results

Here are the results of the dyeing I did with marigold (Tagetes sp.) flowers:

                                                                    

Top Left: alum mordanted cotton 

Middle Left: alum mordanted linen

Bottom Left: alum mordanted cotton in 2nd use of dyebath

Top Right: copper mordanted cotton

Bottom Right: alum mordanted cotton dyed with marigold leaves

(the colors are greener and brighter than they appear here on my computer monitor. the photo was taken under fluorescent lights. I will take another photo in natural light then swap it if it turns out better.)

I also did some eco-bundles with fresh marigold flowers and leaves. These are the results:

Marigold flowers

Marigold leaves

Dyeing and Screen Printing

Almost everything I see gives me an idea for a new art project. I write these ideas down so that I don't forget them. I plan them out, but often times when I am about ready to execute them, something else suddenly appears that I want to try and the ideas fall by the wayside. This is okay; I can still pursue them another time. I recently enrolled in a screen printing class at Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, CT. I have some experience with screen printing but want to learn and practice more. In one class our instructor demonstrated how to create a photo emulsion screen from a transparency. He mentioned that objects such as lace and leaves can be placed on the screen and the image "burned" with this process. When he said this, I immediately thought "Queen Anne's Lace flowers", which I have pressed. I brought them in the next week, and "burned" them onto the screen. It was too late to begin printing that night.

On a separate occasion, I was looking in Joanne Fabrics for screen printing ink. In the fabric painting and dyeing section I came across a new line of dyes called Idye by Jacquard. I was attracted to the chartreuse and olive colors. The directions described dyeing in the washing machine. I have been preparing old cotton sheets to be dyed with plants in a few weeks. This product was so tempting with the color choices and ease of process, that I decided to try it. One package was enough to color 3 lbs of fabric so I decided to also dye some old denim jeans that I have been saving to turn into paper as well. I love the results! But I'm not sure I want to turn the cotton fabric into paper pulp now! Then the idea occurred to me that I could screen the Queen Anne's Lace pattern onto them. I mixed colors that match my bed comforter since there is a hint of chartreuse in it.

Chartreuse

Olive

Last Thursday night at class I printed this design on top of some unfinished prints. In doing so, one is now complete, one very near completion and the rest one step closer to compl etion!




For the remainder of the evening I printed on the chartreuse dyed cotton and love the results!! I think I will add some bead work to this and possibly some embroidery, then make a pillow or two.