In My Workroom: Paper, Paint, Stitch and More ... Lesson 4

Holes

Having holes in your paper can be an interesting device when creating a piece for stitching.

Planned

The placement of holes in your work can be carefully planned and executed. When I was working on my stitched accordion book, I was careful to place my circles in exactly the same place on each panel of the accordion so that they would line up when the book was opened like a codex. I wanted the stitches in each circle to overlay one another and build up the effect. That took planning on my part. I measured and drew my circles from the back of the accordion and cut them out with an exacto knife. I could have used a die cut machine or scissors – use whatever you feel comfortable with.

Random

You can choose to place holes where you want on the paper and while they may be perfect circles or any other geometric shape, they don’t have to be. They can also be placed haphazardly on the paper.

Torn

Holes don’t have to have clean, smooth edges. They may be torn into the paper.

The sample I did using acrylic paint simply had holes torn randomly into the accordion panels.

Tip: Start the hole in the paper with something sharp and then begin to tear. If you tear down (pull down on the paper you want to remove) you will get a smooth edge around the hole, if you tear up, you will get a layered white edge if your paper is painted, coloured, or patterned. The top layer of the paper is removed when tearing up and the core is exposed, and the bottom layer is removed when tearing down.

the paper was torn down in the holes shown below.

Just as the holes can be precise or random, so can the stitching. How you stitch across or around the holes is up to you. My sample above shows random stitching. I crossed my hole and connected my stitches where and as I wished with no real plan other than to concentrate stitches in certain areas. If you wish to create a more even pattern, I’ve included links to some filler stitches.

Interesting filler stitches.

Net Stitch | Easy Hand Embroidery Stitch - YouTube

Detached Buttonhole variations - Stitch Floral

Tutorial: Double Brussels Needle Lace Stitch

When you are working with layers of thin or delicate paper, particularly when you are using machine stitching as a way of holding the paper together, it is easy to remove areas to create holes. For example, when you are using machine stitch to make a grid on newspaper, it is very easy to remove sections of the grid by using water and a paintbrush. Use a waterbrush or dip a narrow paint brush into water and draw a line of water next to the machine stitching. Allow the water to soak into the newsprint. When the paper is wet, it is easy to tear the paper away, leaving the stitching intact. This will leave holes in the grid. You can then apply colour to any of the remaining areas.

Making Holes Using Water

Not only can holes be cut, torn or punched, holes can be burned.

Burning Holes in Paper

Burning holes in your paper can add an additional design element to your work as well as visual interest. One way to accomplish this is through the use of a soldering iron or a woodburning tool. This will allow for a controlled burn. Safety precautions are needed because the tools get to significant temperatures. It is best to work on a heat resistant surface, have water and a damp cloth available as well as a stand or suitable place to rest the tool while hot.

I usually work over an aluminum cookie tray with a Teflon sheet on the bottom. This will catch any ash or embers from the paper. My heat tool comes with its own stand, but I have that on a granite tile as well. I have a spray bottle of water close at hand. I find that this tool is useful for making small holes or tracing a larger shape that I want to take out of the paper.

Here is a link to a tutorial from Papertraders – she uses cut up maps in her work.

PaperTraders Art: Burned and Layered Holes Tutorial (papertraders-art.blogspot.com)

My Experiments Burning Paper

My favourite way of burning holes in paper is to use an incense stick. The smoldering end of the incense is not an open flame ( I did experiment with burning the edges of paper with a candle) but provides enough heat to burn a hole through paper easily. It is also easy to control the size of the hole. You can let the edges of the hole continue to burn away until it is a size you’d like and then blow out the embers. Don’t wait too long, though. It is better to move the incense stick around, inside the hole to make the hole larger.

If you have the option of trying both methods, see which one you prefer. They each have their strengths. In addition to burning holes, both methods are useful for burning the edges of paper. Torn edges can be enhanced by burning, particularly when you are layering differing weights of paper in monochrome layers.

Tutorial: 2 ways to burn paper edges: very different end results - YouTube

Artist links

Adam Pritchett instagram works on textiles not paper but inspiration for stitching holes