Palo Alto Library Paper Making Workshop Day 1

Last Monday I conducted the first day of a two day workshop at Mitchell Park Library in Palo Alto. In this class for teens and pre-teens, students learned how to press recycled paper from food wrappers and other paper scraps. They learned how to use this paper to cover wire insects they created in the second workshop day.




















Above, pulling a screen with paper pulp. I make my paper making screens from plastic window screen netting and small picture frames. Just cut screen to overlap edges and use heavy duty stapler to attach it to picture frame.




















Above, adding inclusions of Japanese and Chinese food wrappers and manga to the paper vats.















Pulling a screen through the green vat. We added the coagulant to the pulp first.















Pulling a screen.





















We had four colors to choose from: blue, green, red and yellow.





















I use wooden boards for the paper pressing. You can also press onto squares of felt and place onto a drying rack. With drying boards like these you need to remind the kids to work from top to bottom in transferring paper to boards.















Luckily, it was a nice warm day so I knew the paper would dry pretty quickly overnight. If it had been a morning workshop, the paper would have been dried by late afternoon. I tape up my boards with painters tape to mark off sections for the kids to press their screens into.




















Pressing the screen against the board, the students transfer the pulp by pressing a sponge against the backside of the screen. This presses out the water and makes the pulp stick to the board.

Prepping Paper Pulp for Palo Alto Libraries

Tomorrow I start a two day workshop at Mitchell Library in Palo Alto. Today, with the help of Emily, I prepared the recycled paper pulp.





















I use Magnolia Editions paper making supplies. http://www.magnoliapaper.com/
Retention aid fixes the color to pulp and the formation aid is a coagulant that helps make thinner sheets. The formation aid needs to be prepped the day before so I made it today and will add it tomorrow to the vats. Today I added the dyes to the pulp and placed the pulp in ziplog bags.

















Tomorrow the students will add inclusions to the paper vats. They will tear up Japanese manga comics and Asian food wrappers to add to the pulp. Some papers will be shredded in a blender before they are added to the vats.








































I created an instructional sheet for how to pull the sheets of paper.

Prepping for Palo Alto Libraries Art Workshops

Today I started prepping for the teen art workshops I'll be conducting next week for the Palo Alto Libraries. The theme is Metamorphosis. The project is to make insects of wire and paper pressed of recycled papers. The workshops are broken down into two 1.5 hour sessions. In the first session the teens will be making recycled paper with lots of scraps of Asian food wrappers, kozo paper, manga and other papers. Students will help to create the pulp and will each fill a ziplock bag with the scraps they want to add to their papers. They will be using small paper pulling screens which I made of picture frames and window screen netting. They will pull these screens through the pulp vats and then press the sheets with a sponge to transfer onto wooden boards. Each student will be able to make five or so sheets, perhaps more. Those who finish early will then begin sketching the insect they will create in wire. Each student will draw their insect in at least two different views: cross section and top view.





















On the second day, the students will create the insects from their sketches. They will be using floral wire and pliers. I found these great small pliers at JoAnne Fabric. $7.00 for a set of three. Can't beat that!



















First they will twist the basic form of their insect out of the floral wire.

















Then they will trace the outline of the shape they will cut out of their paper. It is important to remember that the tracing and wrapping is done from the back side.




















Next, each student will cut out the shape.




















Glue is added and the paper snipped at curves.




















The paper is wrapped around the wire and the insect is flipped right side up.



















Finally, the students will add final touches of wrappers, manga and other bits of paper. We'll also be glazing the pieces with a UV resistant glaze.





















The students will also have the option of filling some of the volume of their insects with produce netting. Below is an example of a bee with no papering and only produce netting filling it.

















I was also asked to submit a proposal for a permanent installation that would be partly teen created. It was not selected, but was fun to contemplate and sketch. Below is the concept.
It would be a two layered hanging tapestry created of recycled papers pressed from graphic novels, manga and wrappers. The forward layer would be made of dark blue papers (recycled papers with blue dye added) cut and stitched like a quilt between sheets of clear vinyl. The back layer would be made of scraps colorful manga and graphic novels and kozo papers.