Paper Making Demo

Heirloom Hand-Made Papers

Last Saturday was the Auckland Area Creative Fibre A.G.M. and I was asked to set up a display table showing the basic process of how to make sheets of re-cycled paper. Making paper from scratch is always a fun activity, and the results look gorgeous. No matter that the ones that include a lot of fresh or dried organic material are more decorative than functional. They always seem so very Victorian and feminine, and are beautiful additions to any craft project that incorporates paper as a decorative element.

Sampler Booklet

For my paper-making workshops I like to spend the morning making the sheets with the students, stop for a shared lunch while the paper dries, and then spend the remaining time putting all our hard work together in the form of a keepsake record sampler book. It always makes for a day of great fun, good food and interesting people. Listening to the reasons why each person wants to learn this basic, environmentally sound technique I find it is usually to enhance or to support a completely different skill or hobby. Mainly envisaged as being used for presentation paper for anything from home preserving to hand-made cosmetic or soap products. Some just want to work with the pulp so that they can go away with the experience and explore the moulding or casting possibilities their art direction is leading them towards. It is this  very broad end use aspect that makes basic paper-making such a very cool medium to explore. 

It is fine to reconstitute waste paper for use as writing/drawing paper, however a good quality end paper is dependent on the initial materials used in the pulp mix. 

Keep those photo-paper off cuts in mind next time you are trimming up the edges, and put them aside separately with other better quality papers if you are wanting to make acid-free sheets for exhibition quality drawing or painting. 


Also, if you are looking for waste paper to re-cycle, a good source for raw materials are the offices of local law or architect businesses. Their shredded paper waste is usually made up of better quality papers and light card and they are usually o.k. with passing it on for paper-making purposes.

Living by Tapestry Weaving in NZ

I have been thinking about the time-wasting element of my day to day endeavors. Setting up my studio 18 months ago started with such enthusiasm and an absolute art focus. I believed as a professional weaver, an absolute income sourced from weaving related activities was not only desirable, but was expected from me. I have no spouse or possible family inheritance to help support me on my artistic quest, and apart from a sturdy Certificate in Adult Teaching, designed and tutored by the wonderful Penny Brownlee, my qualifications on paper are sparse, so it was always going to be a big ask. 

Bad Mood Arising




Overtaken by an obsession to be financially strong, a flurry of production weaving took over the sacred space, scarves, baby buggy blankets, travel and floor rugs were woven, in the process destroying the very thing I enjoyed most about my weaving..... THE ART.

Despite being on the Creative Fibre Tutors List, I have not had any viable interest. I was led me to believe that being on that list would field interest from them for workshops at this end of the country to help spread the technique of tapestry weaving. In particular I hoped it would give me the opportunity to share what I have learnt about tapestry design over the 20 odd years I have been weaving. Tapestries that I feel are unique to this small country of ours, Aotearoa - N.Z.

I do get people to teach and share with though, but it is such hard work having to chase this sometimes. It is always a joy to be asked.

This photo shows the the work corner of the downstairs studio and gallery area. The looms show from left to right, a rug in the making, a portrait weaving at rear and the smaller un-dressed loom. This small loom is a great size for beginners, and with 4 heddles, could be used for many different types of weaving styles. It is reasonably portable, and fits comfortably into the back of a larger hatch-back car. Looms like these can be bought for between $50-$150 through on-line auction or through those involved with local weaving groups.

E.P.I. EXPLAINED

Ends per inch or e.p.i. are used to indicate the number of warps (vertical threads) that the tapestry weaving is woven onto for every inch you measure across the completed work.
For example the rug you can see being woven on the loom here is set at approximately 5 e.p.i. This means that for every inch across the entire horizontal row of the warp threads there are 5 vertical threads. This is referred to as a low warp.

It also means that creating vertical lines in this particular rug design should be avoided as much as possible. The low number of e.p.i. will always dictate the limitations of the end design.

E.P.I. CONTINUED....

Woven on a much finer warp thread at approximately 10 e.p.i. allows for more detail to be incorporated into a design. Being woven at 10 ends-per-inch still makes it a reasonably low warp count and the jump from vertical warp-to-warp threads is clearly noticeable where the line of the cheek on the face meets the main background. If the warp had been set at 20 e.p.i. this would be far less obvious, however the hours of work involved completing it would be much increased.

I love this weaving …Beyond The Wall Of Melancholy

Every now and again you produce a piece of work that you feel is as close to what you were trying to create as you wanted. For me this is definitely one of those pieces. By having such a strong visual impact, it manages to strike a chord with viewers, and got a half page review in the FEATURE PLUS section of the Timaru Herald when it was exhibited at the Aigantighe Gallery while promoting the 2009 National Creative Fibre Exhibition in April last year. It is often this type of unexpected hands-on support from people who are unfamiliar with me or my work that feed the artist within….. Soul food is good too.

* If you would like to help feed the artist without, the piece remains unsold and represents approximately 40 hours work. Offers that support the principles of N.Z. Fair Trade can be sent to me via my blogspot E-mail address.