The Sunday Paper #481

October 8, 2023

My paper community, The Paper Year, is now open for registration (through Tuesday, 10/10). Would you like to join us? Click through to watch the video, read more and register. Here’s what June Tyler, who has been a member since the beginning in January 2021, has to say about her Paper Year experience. Thanks, June:

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It is never too early to start prepping for the holidays. When you think about making a Christmas stocking, the effort involved ranges from slapping together some pretty fabrics to intricately embroidering the whole front panel with a custom design before assembly. The Gathering Folds Smocked Stocking Stitch-A-Long with Madonna Yoder is on the low-effort end of that spectrum, but with highly appealing results. The pattern is derived from origami tessellation techniques, yet no folding is needed – you mark points on the fabric with a template, then stitch groups of points together. It’ll take between 4 and 8 hours to complete, with detailed videos on each stage of the project released at 1-week intervals in November. Signing up for the videos and digital files costs $15, and reusable physical pattern templates can be added for $88 (including shipping inside the USA). The cutoff date for guaranteed delivery of physical templates before the SAL videos are released is October 11th, so make sure to sign up today!

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I had the pleasure of interviewing Dorothy Field on Paper Talk. Field is a visual artist who uses handmade paper for sculptural works and artists’ books who has traveled to the Himalayas numerous times. She is the author of Paper and Threshold: The Paradox of Spiritual Connection in Asian Cultures.

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This is a lovely profile of Ramona Garcia, who hosts workshops to teach others about the history of the traditional Mexican paper mache doll, which grew in popularity during the Mexican Revolution, and incorporates art therapy to promote mental health.

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Since the holidays appear in this post already, here’s a tutorial on making a paper ornament. I love how open-ended it is, with lots of suggestions for variations.

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Paper Tidbits

• I’ll be teaching a Woven Book Cover project to Heather Martinez’s Let’s Letter Together group on Tuesday, October 17th. You can join us for a small fee.
• Will I see any of you at the North American Hand Papermaker’s Paper Tides conference (10-19/21)?

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Featured Projects: 

I enjoy seeing what you create with the guidance of my books and workshops, so please consider sending me images! Carol Marie Vossler made paper with six pounds of daffodil stems and leaves from her yard. She used a lot of  formation aid to pull the pure pulp and then slowly added cotton rag. She reports that the paper is strong and translucent, and has a nice snap.