Paste Paper Wedding Guest Book

One of my best friends got married Saturday. It was the second time around for both bride and groom and marks the beginning of two families joining together not just two people. The ceremony, in a monastery chapel with huge windows overlooking a beautiful valley covered with trees, was everything it needed to be: special, elegant, and heart-felt. The reception, held at Genitti's Hole-in-the-Wall had, as you might guess, a more fun, casual feel to it. The bride asked me to make the guest book. With the less formal feel in mind, I made the following book...

First, I paste painted a large sheet of Fabriano paper. One side has lines of varying widths that act as guides for the guests to write on. The other side is painted in the same colors but has no discernible texture to it. Her daughter and sister wore green attendant dresses so that's where all the green comes from. The color of the dresses and the book is a light "celery" color.

I kept it pretty simple as the words from the guests on the inside are the most important part of the book.

This is the picture she gave me to work with. Nice of the two of them but a not-so-great background. I sanded the background over a textured printing plate and then scratched into the background with an awl. Then came watercolor and oil pastels. Finally it was sprayed with a fixative.

On the inside front cover the Irish Wedding Blessing was printed on a sheet of vellum and then tucked into the folded cover. The folded part, on the left, is glued down and holds the vellum in place.

For the structure I used Teesha Moore's wonderful 16-page-book-from-one-sheet-of-paper directions. You can see the video here. I had to change Teesha's directions to fit the dimensions of my paper so this book was not a vertical 8" x 10 but about a horizontal 9" x 7". This structure worked really well as the book could lie flat when open so people could write in it without the cover getting in the way. While not a typical, "sign here" type of guest book, it fit the occasion. Guests were able to write a prayer, a wish or some light-hearted advice where ever they wanted in the the book, including tucked away under the gatefolds.

Their day was beautiful and I hope their new life together is too. They deserve it.

Lorrie

Special Mother's Day Gift - Papermaking

Kids love to get their hands into the pulp and mom's love to get handmade gifts from their kids. So, in a well meaning marriage of the two ideas, each of the students in my daughter's 4th grade class made a handmade paper book for Mother's Day.




Each year I go into my kids' classrooms and make paper with the students. Therefore, some have been lucky enough to have the experience several times but for others it was a first. It doesn't seem to matter: first time or xth time, they always have fun. These pictures were taken before and after the whole group (22, I think) came in to work so they certainly don't show the excitement and BIG energy that was in the room but it gives you an idea of how I set up each of the four stations. You also get to see my daughter and her buddies, Sarah and Julia, at work.

Each station is a large black vat with a smaller dishpan size vat inside. The smaller vat holds the pulp while the larger vat catches spills and holds the mould and deckle (when not in use) and a sponge. This set up significantly cuts down on mess. I had four stations for this group.

The girls are pulling a sheet of blue paper with confetti paper/glitter inclusions. You can't seem to have an elementary school art project without glitter!

As you can see, we used boards as our drying method. While the boards are a bit awkward to carry to/from school, I most definitely prefer this route. The kids can also press objects into the wet pulp and add interesting textures to the sheet.

After the paper was dry, I went back into the classroom to help the kids bind their books. The title page of each book is "I love you because..." Some books had only a couple of pages and some have as many as eight. From what I saw, all the books were great and the moms will be pleased.

I'm finding that the main challenge for me, now that I don't have a dedicated papermaking space, is the preparation. My papermaking equipment is disorganized and buried in the basement. Having to look for what I need, borrow what I'm missing and lug it upstairs for transport is becoming a bigger job than I like. Since my youngest will be in her last year of elementary school next year, my hope is to get a small grant (rather than this freebie, cool-papermaking-mom thing!) and really go out with a bang completing a bigger papermaking installation project. That should be a great culmination of almost 10 years of paper projects at the school.


And to all Moms out there: Happy Mother's Day. I hope you enjoyed a great day with your family!



Lorrie

Honor our Earth - Papermaking project

For years I've been making paper with younger kids at the elementary school level on an Earth Day project. For a month or so prior to the actual papermaking day the kids collect all the blue and green paper they get in their regular mail or school handouts. You'd be surprised how much blue and green paper is in use, especially in elementary school!

When the day arrives, we put the paper into the blender and I show the kids how the paper breaks down. (I beat most of the paper ahead of time in a bigger beater or we'd be at the blender all day!). Oh they love to push the "blend" button and see the pieces of paper go whishing around. Now they have pulp to play with.

Using the tin can/pouring method to make round sheets of paper, the kids use the blue pulp to make the oceans and the green paper to make the continents. Some kids try to be so precise with their pours. Others just dump it in and are done. All of them have a ball. I board dry so they can do some embossing on the sheets as well. As you can see in the picture, this little artist chose to also use some oil pastels and outline a heart.

After the sheets are dry, I go back into the classroom to help them each bind an Earth Day booklet in which they write their wishes for the world. Here are a couple of things that the kids have written: I wish pepeal wouldn't litter, I wish there was a law when you cut down a tree you had to plant one. I can recycle by wrighting on both sides of the paper.

This is a great example of taking a curriculum topic and turning it into a fun classroom activity. In fact, papermaking can be turned into almost any school topic: chemistry, colonial careers, the Oregon Trail, botany, etc. If you're interested in additional details on this Earth Day project, I wrote an article on the process for PapermakingZine a few years ago and would be glad to share it with you.

Lorrie

Whole Lotta HeART - Part Two

Here we go with more pictures of artwork created by students at the Whole Lotta HeART retreat at the Crystal Lake Art Center this past weekend. On Sunday Pam Yee taught how to turn one the sheets created on Saturday into a book. Everyone made templates for the binding, measured and folded the spine and sewed. All managed to get some pages decorated and no one left early (except for one student that had quite a drive in front of her). All photos are courtesy of Pam Yee.

Both days were quite full as we began at 9 in the morning and finished at 4. And, as you can see from these pictures, Day 2 of the workshop was much less sloppy than Day 1!

All students went home with new knowledge, a large stack of paste painted papers, a beautiful handmade book, new friends and memories of a fun, creative weekend. Pam and I went home exhausted but smiling. Sharing our knowledge and seeing such enthusiasm for our artistic love is a grand reward.

If any of this sounds of interest to you, please let your local art center know.

Lorrie

Whole Lotta Heart Girlz Weekend Retreat

Happy New Year!

Today I am going to do a bit of shameless self promotion. Information about a class I am teaching has been up in the sidebar of this blog for about a month. And, you've certainly heard me talk about paste painting before (if not, look back to some of the October posts). Anyway, a talented bookbinder and I are teaching later this month and we'd love to have you join us.

* * * * *

Was one of your year's resolutions to try something new? Are you in need of a mid-winter creative pick-me-up? Or, maybe, your family skis but you don't? Join me at a Girlz Weekend Retreat in beautiful northern Michigan at the Crystal Lake Art Center. Located in Frankfort, Michigan near Crystal Mountain Ski Resort and various other wonderful "up north" places, we'll be spending January 24 and 25 playing and creating.

On the 24th, from 9:00 to 4:00, I'll be teaching The Art of Paste Painting. This surface design class, suitable for all ability levels, is an exploration of color and texture. It is basically finger painting for adults. Just try to make that un-fun! At the end of the day you'll have lots of beautiful sheets of paper to use in bookbinding, collage, scrapbooking or even to display proudly in a frame.

On the 25th, from 9:00 to 4:00, Pam Yee will be teaching a bookbinding technique that she calls the One-Sheet-Wonder. You'll use one of the many sheets of paste painted sheets of paper to create a one of a kind book.

The cost for the weekend is $100 but if you bring a friend and there is a discount for each of you! Hotels are discounting their usual rates for those enrolled in this retreat. For more information contact me or look at the information on the Crystal Lake Art Center website. If you'd like to register for the class, please contact the Crystal Lake Art Center directly at
231-352-4151. Registration ends January 12, 2009.

Best wishes for 2009!

Lorrie