Adventures in Paperland - Paper Heart Giveaway

As promised I am here to share the results of the hearts.  After a little finishing and adding some simple cotton cord I think they are quite presentable.  Definitely good enough for a giveaway.  You could use it as a gift tag for a present or save until Christmas to adorn the tree, the choice is yours.

There are 3 up for grabs, so 3 lucky people will each receive one each.

To be in with the chance of owning one of the hearts I would like you to do the following:-

1.  Leave a comment on one of the recent Adventures in Paperland posts
2.  Head over to my Facebook page and click 'LIKE' then tell me which heart I should send you if you are lucky enough to win.
3.  Follow my blog

At the end of the month, I will put all the names in a hat and draw out three names
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Adventures in Paperland - using the pulp

My initial plan for the pulp was to try using the same crocheted doilly to make and impression.  However, something inside of me kept telling me that I need to make either a clay impression or get a vac  form impression, so I won't damage the doilly.  Sound advise so I think I will wait.

So I chose to work with shapes instead.  I dug out my stencils and pastry cutters that I use for craft groups and looked through for a simple shape.  I chose a heart,  I know it can be interpretted as a valentine symbol but my thought process was taking me to gift tags for family and friends.  Ideal for Christmas and Birthday pressies.

The next thing I had to do was lay out a few paper making frames, which were going to serve as drainage trays.  Then I put all the pulp into a bowl so it was easier to transfer it from this instead of the food processing bowl.

I laid the heart shaped cookie cutter onto the gauze placed a straw near the top then scooped up a small amount of pulp and popped it inside the shape.  Then using a clay tool softened the edges.  It was a little bit tricky holding the straw whilst distributing the pulp but I just about managed it.  The reason for the straw was so there would be a hole to thread ribbon through when the shape was dried. 

I continued in this way until all the frames were filled and I had finished all the paper pulp.

The tray of frames were then put on the shed roof to dry.  I will share with you how they turned out in the next post.

to be continued

Adventures in Paperland - preparing the pulp

Following on from the paper casting, I decided to have a go at the same thing using pulp.  This is quite an easy process as it is basically the same as paper making.  If you're curious have a look at the post I did last year on 27 July 2011.

So, it starts with lots of paper torn into small pieces.  I tend to save up the scraps I have left over from making my jewellery pieces.  Ideally you should leave the paper soaking in water for a couple of days, but I'm always too impatience so I tend to tear the paper and work on it by squeezing the paper by hand so it gets really soggy.

Squeezing the paper by hand

 Once I have done this I get my trusty food blender out which I keep specifically for crafting.  I can't believe it is 30 years old and it was second hand when I got it.  Anyway, I digress.  I transfer small handfuls of soggy paper into the blender and give it a whizz.  If you try this yourself, I would advise giving it  short bursts as the central fugal force can send water out of the top.  Also, keep taking the lid off to redistribute the paper, adding a little more liquid from you bucket as you go.

Eventually the paper will break down into a pulp.  As you check it, you need to make the decision when to stop.  When I make paper, I like some of the words from the book print to still show, but on this occasion I wanted all the print to be eradicated.  To do this I had to transfer half into a container so I could get the pulp finer.

Pulp with consistency of Whipped Cream

Once the pulp is how you like it you need to transfer it so that it is ready to use.

to be continued

Adventures in Paperland - Paper Casting

I've spent pretty much all day last Friday working with paper pulp.  It was a follow on from the previous Thursday, when I wanted to have a go at paper casting.  I really would love to able to make a clean impression of a crocheted doilly.  Oh the joy of capturing the stitches.  This is something that has been on the back boiler for a while, amongst the other multitude of ideas and techniques that I want to explore.  However, setting time aside, and then not getting too absorbed is something I find quite difficult.

Like most things, when you create, you need to give yourself time to take the any new technique you have learnt or taught yourself and then allow yourself time to experiment and then develop the technique to suit your own purposes.  We can all copy, it's easier, but not as satisfying.

 So here's my attempt at papercasting. For this, I used toilet roll paper and laid it across the doilly, first vertically, then horizontally.  I repeated these layer making sure I damped each layer using a plant sprayer.  Once I had a few layers I left it to dry in the sun.  Once dry I removed the crochet, and voila!  I'm wondering what it would look like using paper pulp.

to be continued