In My Workroom: February 2024

While there are a number of DIY recipes for Paper Clay on the internet and some excellent videos for making it on You Tube ( Make Paper Mache Clay WithWurth Joint Compound (youtube.com)), I’m choosing to use a prepared paper clay, Creative Paper Clay. It’s an air dry clay that must be kept in an air tight container once opened.

We are going to be making very simple bowls. Correction – I’m going to be making a very simple bowl, using another small bowl as my mold. Taking a portion of the clay and using a piece of parchment paper that I’ve taped down to my work surface, I’m using a non-porous rolling pin to roll out my clay to an even thickness. My clay is about 3/8” thick and roughly 7 – 8 “ in diameter. I am going to drape that over the small silicon bowl that I am using as a mold. I am using silicon because it has some give and flexibility which means that I should be able to remove it from the clay reasonably easily. (I hope). If it were a harder surface I would have covered it in cling wrap so that I would have had some way of separating the clay from the mold.

When you press and shape the clay to the outer side of the mold, you may get cracks or tears and you will need to patch these up. This is when you may need to dampen the clay to smooth out the cracks. While the clay is moist you can use your tools, to smooth the side or add texture to the side, whichever you wish.

If you plan to stitch into your vessel, you will need to add the stitching holes before the clay dries. If you plan to have a stitched edging, you will need to add holes along the top edge of the vessel. You can use the awl to mark the placement of the holes while the vessel is still on the mold, but the holes will not go all the way through. Once you have molded the vessel into the shape that you want and the vessel has had some time to partially firm up ( not long), you can release the vessel from the mold, and it will retain it’s shape. You can then use the awl to complete the holes that were marked along the edge of the vessel. Re-pierce each hole, from the inside to the outside, making sure that it is large enough for your needle and thread to go through. Use a twisting, drilling motion if necessary to make sure that the awl goes through – do not use force.

If you plan to add stitches at any other points in your vessel, you will need to add the stitches holes now. It is much easier to do when the clay is still damp.

Leave your vessel to dry. There may be some shrinkage. Your vessel may be painted and or decorated before stitching. A varnish can be used to protect the surface.

Making a PaperClay Vessel

Resizing Holeson Your Paper Clay Vessel

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Extras

Paper String

I didn’t mention paper string in my class description because I hadn’t found it in my stash at the time, I was writing the proposal. It was only when I began playing with the paper mâché that I found it, began unraveling it to see if it would work as a paper to use in the process and then began to wonder about what else I could do.

Not long after I began playing with it, paper string, paper twine and raffia began popping up in my feed. My search algorithm for paper artists who made vessels was finally starting to get results and my poor efforts were put to shame as you will see in Lesson 3 – Inspiration.

What I am sharing here are some of my efforts using “extras” not mentioned in the official class description in case you might want to experiment. I’ve included the links to the demo videos that I made as I played. Have fun. – it’s all completely optional.

Using Paper String As Is – Twined or Rolled

This has to be the easiest way. You cut a fairly long length – I can’t give you an exact amount because I’ve only tried this twice, but I must have used at least a meter. You can always add more. I made a medium sized vessel on a balloon, and I would suggest a balloon (at least for your first) because this is quite rigid when done – not a lot of wiggle.

You soak or dip your paper string in your water/glue mixture (yes, this is messier than the paper mache). Pull it out with your fingers and wipe off excess glue and begin wrapping the string around the balloon that you have attached to your container (note: the width of the container will be the width of the vessel opening). You wrap from the top of your balloon on an arcing angle down to the neck of your container and back around the other side up to the top of the balloon again and move over a bit and go back down in another arc. You don’t have to be perfect; they can be somewhat random, or you can try to make them evenly spaced if you want. My first attempt was somewhat random, my second attempt I tried to space them roughly 1.5” apart. You keep going until you run out of string. Random or precise- they both work.

When you get to the end of your string, make sure the end is glued to another piece of string so that the ending is hidden. You will find that the string wraps tightly near the neck of the container – this makes the neck of your vessel.

Video – Wrapped Paper String Vessel part 1

Video – Wrapped Paper String Vessel released

Video – White Wrapped Paper String Vessel released

After I played with this, I found that this technique is actually quite common in lighting fixtures. There are many You Tube videos that will explain in detail, if you search String Lighting Fixtures.

Using Paper String Unwrapped

Another way to use paper string is to untwist the paper string first and then use it. Apparently, there is quite a resurgence in Paper Twist craft in many areas. Again, after I began to play with it, I found more and more images showing up in my feed. Most of them had to do with lighting fixtures (involving LED lights, naturally). Paper string is sturdy paper – well, sturdier than tissue – and can handle be untwisted with care and glued to your mold. I did use a little wet strength tissue to reinforce mine when I was releasing my vessel from my mold. I twisted and untwisted my paper string and bent it into the shape that I wanted it to have.

Since paper string comes in so many colours it opens up many possibilities.

Video – Paper String Vessel part 1

Video – Paper String Vessel released

Using Other Fibres

You can add other fibres to your vessel. I’ve added sisal fibres to a vessel by untwisting a piece of sisal rope and shredding it into its fibre components and then glueing them to the vessel. I also used the buttonhole stitch at the edge to additionally secure the fibres.

I’ve added lace between layers of tissue with the lace extending above the tissue. The water/glue mixture is enough to stiffen the lace into the shape that you want for your vessel. The same can be done with scrim or other textile fibre.

Video – Rice Paper Lace vessel reveal

Newspaper Extras

The following videos are not mine but I came across them when I was looking at paper mache and paper related projects. You might find them of interest. Take a look at some of their ideas and see where your imagination takes you.

CESTAMULTIUSO DE PAPEL. TUTORIAL (youtube.com) (not in English but self explanatory)

Recycledmagazine bowls basket - DIY Useful Idea (youtube.com)

(2)How to Make Paper Rope or Cord - YouTube

RecycledNewspaper DIY | Easy to make Home Decor | DIY Creator | nami (youtube.com)

(2) COMO HACER CUENCOS BOWL DE PAPEL PERIÓDICO REVERSIBLE Cuencos de papel paso a paso - YouTube (not English but you can set English subtitles and watch without sound)

Decorating with Napkins

When you have made your paper mache vessels, an option for enhancing the vessel is to decorate them using images from paper napkins. Napkins come in all size and some have incredibly beautiful designs on them. They've long been used for decoupage on a variety of items so it should come as no surprise that they would work well to decorate delicate paper vessels.

Most napkins are two or three ply and you only need the single play that contains the actual image. This give you a very translucent image to work with. Remove the other layer or layers of paper before you begin to isolate the images you want. If your fingers are good enough, use a piece of painter's tape on the back of the napkin to pull away the extra layers of tissue.

Rather than cut out your image, which will give a hard edge, use a fine paint brush and water. Draw a thin line of water around the image you want and gently pull the extra napkin paper away from the image. The paper with feather and tear along the water line. This ragged edge blends in more seamlessly than a hard edge does when you glue the image onto your vessel.

Use a wider brush to apply a coat of glue/water mixture to your vessel. I do this while my vessel is still on the mold so that it will retain its shape while damp. Gently lay the image onto the surface, patting it into place. I find that if I do this slowly and carefully, I get few wrinkles -- it conforms to the shape of my vessel and I pat it into the vessel's nooks and crannies. I then gently (lightly) apply another coat of the water/glue mixture, starting from the center and moving outwards.

Video: Decorating with Napkins

Have fun!

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Lesson 2

Adding Stitch

Show and Share Lesson 1 Slideshow

Now that you’ve had a chance to study your released vessel from all angles, you can decide where you want to decorate with stitch. For this first vessel, we are going to start with an edging. Please note that all decoration is at your discretion – you can choose to add it or not. I’m simply going to go through the steps that I take. The decision is always yours.

Piercing holes for a border edging

The edge of your vessel, (even though you have reinforced it) remains a delicate area, so you will need to manage it with care. We will be pre-piercing the paper with holes for sewing. I find that this makes sewing easier for me and saves my fingers. It isn’t impossible to poke the holes with my sewing needle, but it isn’t always the most comfortable way to do it and it isn’t the easiest way to go through several layers of glued paper.

Using a paper piercing tool, awl, or pin vise, pierce holes about 3/8” to ¼” away from the edge of your vessel. You need to support the back of the paper with your fingers, so essentially you are holding the edge of the vessel between your thumb and two fingers and trying to pierce between your two fingers. Try hard not to poke yourself (you don’t want blood on all your hard work – just joking). The paper needs to be held taut and given support when you pierce it, so it doesn’t try to bend or tear. You don’t want your finger directly behind the area you are going to pierce. You will soon find what works best for you. I also have some small pieces of dense foam that I have cut up and can place behind my vessel edges when I am working, that helps at times.

Follow the contours of the edge of your vessel. If you feel that an area is too thin or the paper tears, you will need to make a decision and place the hole lower or add a patch to reinforce the weak area. If you want to keep the tear, place a hole on either side and you can sew over the tear and make it a feature.

Review the video from lesson 1 about piercing holes

Stitching the Edging

Once all the edging holes are complete, it’s time to do a Blanket/buttonhole stitch around the edge. I use the term Buttonhole and Blanket stitch interchangeably even though I believe there is a slight difference between the two.

All knots are on the inside and secured with full strength PVA, then the tails are trimmed. I use crochet cotton #10, mainly because I then went on to crochet an edging into the buttonhole stitch. Perle cotton, or embroidery floss would work as well if you were not planning to crochet.

Video -- Stitching your Edging

The video shows how I stitched the edge of my vessel after piercing it.

At this point, you can leave the edge of your vessel as complete, or you can continue to work on it.

One thing that you can do if you wish is crochet – that is completely optional. For anyone interested, this is how I began to do the crochet work on my vessel edging. I used the loops that I created with the buttonhole stitch as the foundation row for my crochet. I held the tail of the crochet thread along the edge of the vessel and wove it in as I crocheted along the vessel edge so that there would not be any loose threads. You can see all this in the accompanying video below.

Video – Crochet Edging

I’ve included some How To Crochet videos if you want to brush up your skills.

Video – Beginner’s SingleCrochet 6:19 is where the actual crochet stitching starts

Video– Beginner’s Double Crochet 1:43 is where the actual crochet stitching starts

If you didn’t wish to crochet, you could use the buttonhole stitches as link stitches to allow you to couch fibres to the edge of your vessel. You could take decorative fibres that might be too thick to stitch through the paper and couch them to the vessel using the legs or loops of the buttonhole stitch as anchor places to attach the fibres. Additional touches of PVA could also be used to secure the fibres if necessary.

You could also choose to do a form of needle lace using the buttonhole stitch as an anchoring stitch for your work. The decoration on the edge is up to you and your imagination.

Other Decorative Stitching

The edge isn’t the only place that stitching can be added to the vessel. Holes can be pierced at any point. You may decide on a pattern or design motif and arrange that on your vessel. You can lightly mark it and then pierce where the sewing holes need to be. Once again, knots should be on the inside unless you wish to make a feature of them.

It is also possible to cut out areas of your vessels and stitch over the openings. This can be quite effective. When cutting it can be helpful to use an awl to begin a hole for the blade to start. Always use a sharp blade, a cutting mat and follow safe cutting practices. The glued paper can be quite hard.

Video – Decorative Stitching

Stitching ideas will vary as widely as your imagination. One thing to keep in mind when making your vessel, if you plan on stitching, is the size of the opening. I have a broad hand and a small vessel opening means that I am limited when I try to put my hand inside.

Have fun experimenting!