In My Workroom: Paper, Paint, Stitch and More... Lesson 3

Layers

As referenced in the previous lesson, there are many types and weights of paper that can be used for stitching and essentially it becomes a matter of personal preference. Once you have taken into account the necessary stability required for your work, the choice of paper is up to you. You will be making the decision of whether your finished piece will be mounted on another substrate and therefore it does not need to be substantial in and of itself or whether it must stand or be displayed on its own.

Paper can be layered to provide greater strength and this layering also provides interesting creative options.

Simple layers

Some paper/textile artists use two or more sewn layers of paper (folded and not) to create amazing geometric works of art
White on white layers can be mesmerizing in their simplicity and complexity

Collage

Different colours and weights of papers providing background interest to stitch
Use of translucent and textured paper
Prints from Gelli plates or stencils providing form to be stitched
Torn edges to provide texture

Weaving

Paper weaving can provide texture and visual interest
Paper string as a component of the weaving
Other media woven into the paper (more on this in a later lesson)

Ephemera

Will be considered as a separate topic

Modifying Paper to Use for Layers

There are a number of methods, or surface treatments, that can be applied to paper to make it an interesting layer for use in a project. Let’s look at just a few.

I use diluted acrylic paint as a glaze on tissue paper to make stained tissue for coloured papers for collage work. I’ll direct you to great videos for this technique. Just as the video suggests – you do want to set aside some time and space for making the papers. You are going to enjoy the process and just like potato chips, you aren’t going to want to stop after just one.

Tissue Paper Staining, neutrals - YouTube

Shibori Fold and Dye Technique on Rice Paper - YouTube

I’ve included a few videos to give you some different takes on using acrylic paint to colour tissue paper for use in your backgrounds for stitching.

Howto Use White Tissue to Make Great Collage Paper - YouTube

Making Collage (tissue) Paper with Marie Cummings - YouTube

The same videos that you saw about Gelli printing on regular paper in Lesson 2 can be applied to tissue paper to make collage papers.

You can also use diluted acrylic medium to add fibres such as string to tissue paper to make a textured paper for your project. The following video will show you the steps – it’s really quite easy.

How to MakeTextured Paper - YouTube

Embossing paper can provide a subtle but effective texture.

How to Emboss Paper with Awesome Designs - YouTube

If you have card making supplies like embossing folders or stencils, this video may be of use to you:

How to emboss without a machine - YouTube

Something as simple as crumpling tissue paper, copy paper, paper that comes as protective packaging in parcels can provide an interesting texture to paper that is then painted and used as a layer in your project. The paint or ink will be darker in the creases and provide and interesting effect that could enhance your stitching. We spoke of this last lesson.

If you want the look of layers without the stiffness of a regular collage, you could consider making fabric paper or paper fabric. This is the technique of layering/bonding thin papers on a base of thin fabric using a liquid medium. Typically, a fine cheesecloth or muslin is used as the base (though even dryer anti static sheets work) and a wide range of delicate papers may be used to build up the paper layers. Diluted acrylic medium or PVA glue is used to bond the layers together. The texture of the diluted medium should be like milk so that it can easily saturate the papers and not tear the delicate fibres.

Learn to Make Paper Cloth! - YouTube

Making Paper Fabric Two Ways

Handmade paper has a unique texture, particularly if it is a recycled paper. The thicker quality of the paper and the deckle edges give a stitched piece a character all its own. Making recycled paper does not have to be a difficult or expensive undertaking.

Making Your Own Paper

If you want to try some simple recycled papermaking, here are a couple of videos showing how to do it without investing in much more than dollar store supplies. You will need a bit of patience to let the paper pieces soak to soften but it is workable. If you put the paper through a shredder, it will be smaller and if you soak it longer it will disintegrate even more. You can use an immersion blender if you don’t have a large one or even pull it apart by hand if you have the patience. (Make sure to clean the blender out well when you are finished). When you are squeezing the water out, you can also run a rolling pin over the tea towel to get some extra water out. Make sure you protect your surface before you start this project.

How to Make Paper | HomemadePaper (Recycled) - YouTube

Handmade Paper using dollar tree supplies / without blender tips - YouTube

My Attempts

Acrylic ink or diluted acrylic paint added to the paper slurry will add colour to the paper but will stain any towels that are used to dry the pages. (a sponge might be better in this case) The colour will be lighter when the paper dries.

Creating Fibre Skin Layers

Paper is made out of plant fibres – cotton, cellulose, mulberry and many different kinds of barks and plants. It is a matter of breaking down the plant fibres so that they can be beaten and pulped and recombined into sheets of paper. We are going to take a look as something slightly different and the term used is skins. This comes from the fact that acrylics, when left to dry, will form a pliable skin on a non-porous surface that can be carefully removed in one piece. We are going to use that property to make a sisal fibre skin that can be used to add texture and dimension to your work. It is easy to stitch through and easy to manipulate.

To begin you will need a non-porous surface to work on. I used freezer paper, and cling wrap but a Teflon sheet or plastic sheet would work. You will need watered down acrylic medium (consistency of milk), a brush that you use with acrylic medium, and a piece of sisal rope.

You need to separate the strands of sisal rope and keep separating them until all you have are fibres. My rope consisted of three large strands which broke down into smaller strands, which then broke down into fibres. Start with a piece that is 4’ to 5’ in length. It is easier to unravel smaller pieces than larger ones. You can always cut more.

Brush a layer of the diluted medium on the freezer paper and begin laying down the fibres (though the fibres are so thin, it also works with just a layer of medium on the top of the fibres - that is necessary if you are using cling film because the medium just beads up on the film). When the fibres are in place, put more medium on top of the fibres to hold them in place. Let everything dry and then peel the sisal off the backing.

In the video below, you’ll see that I used cling film for this try.

Making a Sisal Skin

Making a Cheesecloth Skin with Text It was an interesting idea

Weaving Paper

Weaving paper strips can add a lot of texture to your piece. In fact, you can create an entirely new piece of paper from scrap strips of paper that will provide an interesting background for your work. We all have offcuts of paper from trimming things down to size. If you’re like me, it’s hard to throw beautiful and even not so beautiful paper away because you never know when that piece may be just the one you need. Well, now the time has come.

If you don’t have a pile of scraps, you can take old book pages, old maps, artwork you are unhappy with, pieces of wrapping paper, newspaper, or even paper you paint especially for this purpose and cut up just for weaving.

Here is a video that shows a very simple way to do a basic under over weave that let’s you secure as you go and doesn’t have you working with too many strips at once. Those weavers among you, please feel free to disregard this method.

Weaving Paper Scraps Part 1- Weaving and Stitching - YouTube

The following is a link to some free paper weaving patterns:

Paper Weaving Patterns | Kids Paper Crafts | Origami Resource Center(origami-resource-center.com)

I will be sending you Paper Weaving Templates – my license allows for personal use by my class only (not to be distributed or shared to others)

Paper weaving to aspire to: (I can only dream – but her work is so beautiful, that I had to share the video)

Jessica Pribula, Paper Weaving - YouTube

Paper String

In addition to paper weaving, paper string can be added to you piece or even used as a component in the weaving. It can be purchased inexpensively from $ stores and craft stores and even made from newspaper or other delicate papers.

Paper thread or yarn is made by cutting continuous strips of thin paper from a large sheet. These are then rolled until they form one long thread. The Japanese use this thread to make a traditional woven cloth called Shifu.

The following is a video demonstrating the process of rolling the strips:

Rolling Paper Strips into a Thread - YouTube

This video shows the process of cutting the paper into strips and shows an abbreviated rolling procedure to give an overview of the entire process.

Paper Thread making for Shifu- YouTube

When you work with newspaper or tissue paper or any other delicate paper, you cut the paper into thin strips 1cm to 1” and roll in between your fingers to get the twist. When you get close the end of one strip (about an inch from the end) overlap the beginning of the next strip of paper and continue twisting. There will be a slight thickening of the paper thread but that is to be expected. Sometimes it helps to slightly dampen the paper before you begin to work on it. Remember that western papers are delicate because the fibres are short.

You can also twist the paper using a drop spindle. You would join the paper strips in much the same way as working by hand. Here is a video by Noreen Crone-Findlay to explain:

How to Spin Brown Paper Yarn by Noreen Crone-Findlay - YouTube

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