The Sunday Paper #247
February 17, 2019

Paper of the Week: Envelope Light Catcher

If you have a copy of the Twelve Months of Paper Calendar, have you created the February project, the envelope light catcher?

If you don’t have a copy of the calendar, I wrote a guest blog post on how to make these a couple of months ago for Stencil Girl Talk. And in my upcoming (brand new) online class, Flexible Book Structures, we’ll be making be using multiple envelopes to create a structure that can be transformed into a book, lantern, folding screen or wall hanging (registration for this class will open in early March).
Have you used envelopes in a project? They come is such wonderful colors and sizes! Here’s a pinterest board I made featuring all sorts of envelope projects, and in my recent Weave Through Winter online class, several participants used the patterned paper found in security envelopes in their paper weavings.

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In the Studio:
I know I showed you this honeycomb watermarked paper last week, but I can’t get enough of it. I’m making five colorways for my upcoming paper sale (it begins next Sunday, so make sure you read the blog if you need some paper). In case you’re interested, here’s what went into making this paper, which you’re viewing wet and freshly couched. I created a stencil/watermark pattern in Adobe Illustrator (with the help of a designer) that I had cut in a thin rubber material with an adhesive backing. I placed the resulting stencil on a 12″ x 18″ mould. I prepared two batches of pulp: one coarsely beaten cotton linter that I mixed a bit of beaten abaca into for strength and pigmented yellow; and another batch of finely beaten cotton linter that I pigmented with a silver metallic pigment (it had a bit of metallic sheen when wet, and I’m curious to see how it looks when it dries). I pulled a sheet of the plain yellow paper on my other 12″ x 18″ mould, couched it, and then pulled a very thin sheet of the silver paper with the watermark – the pulp slipped off of the stencil and into the hexagons. I then couched the silver sheet on top of the yellow sheet.

Probably more than you wanted to know, but I hope it helps you appreciate the process (and the price I charge for my papers)!

© Megan Singleton, “Dear Jeremy”, letters from Megan to her late brother, in which she talked about childhood memories and other things that she never got to say to him.

On the Twin Art Gallery walls at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) nearly 61 works of calligraphy on handmade paper hang to celebrate 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth (Gandhi was instrumental in revitalizing papermaking in India). I love this sentiment by Jaya Jaitly about calligraphy: “It conveys meaning by illuminating a word or an idea. It’s like how a dancer internalizes the movement and expresses herself in a swoop. Similarly, you can’t hesitate in calligraphy. One has to plan the imagery and internalize the idea that has to be communicated.”

Parameshwar Raju’s Gandhi’s Three Monkeys

Here’s a clever gift idea for the first wedding anniversary – the paper anniversary – from Paper Rose Co. out of Richmond, VA: Paperversary Bouquets!

Michael & Charlotte, Paperversary bouquet by Paper Rose Co.

Scott Reinhard creates these unique maps by combining geologic maps with digitally-rendered 3-dimensional elevation.

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