A Mermaid Place

Here is the result of all the manic paper manipulations.  I love the textured look and the bright colors.  Think I will do some small similar ones while the whole sea world of papers is strewn over the table.  Please comment, I need feedback!  And thanks for looking.

Heidi from under the sea, blub blub, off to search for the mermaid.  Oh and by the way, this is now available in my Etsy shop!

Paper Pulping

While the cold continues, I am inside doing more paper manipulations.  It is a sickness.  Currently I am obsessed with pulping up tissue paper and water, then straining it with a flat seive thing I have, then dumping it onto a flat surface, pressing the water out with a towel, poking holes in it with an orange stick, letting it dry overnight, glueing sand or fibers onto it, then painting it.  A lot of work, but it keeps me out of trouble, and the results are pleasing to my sight.  Here is a piece I have just glued sand to:

And here are two painted pieces, one with sand and one with gampi fibers glued on.

If all goes well, I'll have a finished collage to post in a day or two. 



Making Paste Papers

I am collecting ingredients for a mermaid themed collage, and needed some paste papers in blues and greens, so here's how I made them.

My working surface is a sheet of the white siding used in milk barns and greenhouses.  Any smooth surface that's easy to clean will do; plexiglass, formica or enamel tabletop.

I used white, acid free cardstock.  Colors are nice too, just be sure the paper is heavy enough not to shred when wet and worked on.  You will also need various tools to manipulate the paste:

Here is my paste recipe.  There are many others, but this one is cheap, easy to make, and has a nice smooth consistency.

1/4 cup cornstarch
1 3/4 cups water

Mix cornstarch and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan until smooth.  Add 1 cup water and cook over medium high heat, stirring continuously, until it thickens like custard.  Remove from heat, stir in 1/2 cup water.  It will be runny at this point.  Let cool thoroughly without disturbing it.  It will take a couple of hours to rethicken.  Once cooled, strain the paste through a seive, then divide it into small containers - cottage cheese cartons work well.  Stir acrylic paint into the paste until it's as dark as you want it.  2 - 3 teaspoons is usually about right.  You can also leave the paste uncolored and drop colors of paint on top of the paste after it's spread on the paper, as I've shown in this demo.

Brush or sponge the paint so it mingles and covers the paste.  Sponged papers are particularly nice for landscapes and fantasy collages.

For a slightly different look, add paint and paste to another sheet and press the two together, then pull apart.  This creates wonderful lacy designs that look like trees or shrubbery.

You can also brush the paint on smoothly, then draw combs or tools through it to leave marks.  It's particularly interesting to paint a sheet of paper first, maybe with metallic or pearlescent paint, then, when dry, add a dark colored paste over the top.  When you comb through it, the underpainting will shine through, making very colorful, complex patterns.  On the following sheets I've experimented with some shell shapes.

And here is a sponged paper with silver over blue.  Very mermaid-looking, don't you think? 

Lay your wet paste papers over a rack or carefully on newspapers to dry, but if you use newspapers, check a few times to make sure the paste paper isn't sticking to the paper beneath it.  When dry you can either iron the back side or press under something heavy to help keep the paper flat.

The next step is starting on the collage.  Results will follow!



A Plethora of Papers

 I have been going through my decorated papers today because I have ideas for new ones and simply don't have ROOM for any more!  So I've decided to offer some for sale at my Etsy shop.  Many of them are hard to part with.  Each has a story, and quite a few have been featured in collages I've made.  But it's time to let some of them go, and maybe they'll inspire someone else to create something beautiful.  I hope so!
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There will be three lots of 25 papers each, varying in size.  The smallest are about 3 1/2 by 5 inches, the largest is 8 by 8 inches.  Most are paste papers, some are crinkled metallics and there are many lovely spattered and sponged pieces, all painted on good quality, acid free paper.  There are even some bubble prints.  I hope to have them in my shop in the next day or two, so if there are any paper lovers out there who love to collage, or make cards, or decorate journals or scrapbooks, these are for you!

 



Coming soon:  I will share paste paper recipes and techniques when I begin a new batch.

Have a nice weekend!  Heidi

New Year Activities

Today I did seed inventory, so that means ordering seeds is next on the list.  And all I want to do is draw dragons!  But gardening is our business at On The Wind Farm, and you can't grow much without seeds, so I'll be pouring over the catalogs for the next few days.  But I'll squeeze in some dragon drawing time too.  I'm working on a new one which will appear on my "Tales of Minglemist" blog shortly.  There are dragon scales to fill in, and a giant crusty mushroom to finish, and endless blades of grass springing from a mossy carpet.  Meanwhile, I had my first Etsy sale - hurray!  And I have met some wonderful fantasy artists on two Facebook groups: Fantasy Art and Fantasy Art Promotions.  So the January days are passing, and will be gone all too soon.  Winter is creative time - my favorite!



A Few of my Favorite Things

Pretty much anything goes with mixed media collage.  But every artist has his or her favorite ingredients.  I want to share a few of my own here.  First there is the paper.  I must admit, I'm a paper junkie.  I love the feel of it, the sound and smell of it, the many different textures, colors and qualities.  My favorite paper store is Handmade Paper Superstore.  But be forewarned:  you can get lost in the marvelous papers this shop has to offer, and wind up spending far more money than you had intended.  I only buy certain special papers there, like lace papers and a few lightweight, fibrous mullberry papers.  I used to buy assorted colors (who can resist all those luscious hues),  but found that some of the colors are produced with dyes that fade quickly, so now I prefer to buy plain white paper and decorate it myself.

 I use 90 pound watercolor paper, acid free cardstock, mulberry and tissue paper, and an oriental paper made for calligraphy that is very lightweight but strong.  It is available from Dick Blick art supplies.  Paste paper is a favorite, made by cooking a cornstarch and water paste on the stove, straining it to remove lumps, then adding acrylic paint.  The colored paste is sponged or brushed onto paper, and can be combed through with various tools to produce patterns.  It's especially effective to paint on an undercolor, perhaps metallic, then add a different color paste on top and comb through it so the bottom layer is revealed.  Diane Maurer-Mathison has published a wonderful book called "The Art of Making Past Papers", which gives detailed instructions. A fellow mixed media artist, Paula Guhin, has recently published a book called "Creating Decorative Paper".  You can find out more about her book and her work on her lively blog, http://www.mixedmediamanic.blogspot.com . 

Two other books I love are "The Art of Paper Collage" by Susan Pickering Rothamel and "Handmade Paper Collage" by Dawn Ackerman.

Now, for embelishments:  I use silk yarn for added interest.  The Handmade Paper Superstore carries it, as well as many other online shops.  Plain cheesecloth can be dyed with acrylic ink such as Dr. Ph Martin's Bombay Ink.  Cheesecloth can be used in all sorts of ways: as a stencil to leave mesh lines on your work, or glued onto the paper.  Mica chips are great for adding texture and sparkle, and even come in different colors.  You can find them at craft stores or from US ArtQuest, an online store.  I also like to add bits of abalone shell or other shells collected at the beach years ago.  Good old sand makes a wonderful texture either sprinkled onto wet paint or glue, or mixed right in the paint as it's brushed on.  Fabric paint can add great detail and is so easy to use.  In the picture below, you can see dots and zig zag lines of fabric paint dancing through the collage, as well as shells, mica chips, yarn, and many of my hand decorated papers.

My favorite glue is Perfect Paper Adhesive, though there are many glues that will work.  Just be sure to use acid free, non-yellowing glue if you want your artwork to last.  PPA is available from US Artquest and also from Amazon.com.  I love its smooth, non-sticky texture and its strength.

As you begin to experiment, you too will find your own favorites.  Mixed media collage is a wonderful, liberating experience!

Garden Party

I am posting some flower collages today.  Many of us have just endured a wild winter storm.  Luckily we didn't get a lot of snow like some places, but it has been very cold and blustery.  These flowers are a reminder that, though the earth is sleeping, spring will come again.

These collages are available for sale in my brand new Etsy shop.  Please come by and visit!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/onthewindart