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After three days of work and much trial and error, my first paper pulp project is finished! An Easter gift for my grandmother, this hanging plaque magnet was made of individual pieces that were then all glued together afterward. The blue scroll was definitely very challenging, being my first attempt at such a miniature object, and it came out very well!
The wings, heart, and flowers were made using stencils to get the overall shape, then manipulated from there. The wings were essentially filled in bit by bit by just squirting a pile of pulp onto the screen and grabbing little chunks using tweezers.
The text was made the same way, carefully "drawing" out lines using tweezerfuls of fiber at a time, a very time consuming task. I wrote it out in reverse on the screen (the printed text laying underneath) then flipped it over onto the white plaque and pressing it in. Worked remarkably well.
I accidentally ended up pressing the wings too soon, as they were warping, and they ended up flattening out, so they were not textured like the rest of the project.
Please take a look and tell me what you think! 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/willowleaf … hotostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/willowleaf … hotostream
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WillowleafArtistry wrote:
The text was made the same way, carefully "drawing" out lines using tweezerfuls of fiber at a time, a very time consuming task. I wrote it out in reverse on the screen (the printed text laying underneath) then flipped it over onto the white plaque and pressing it in. Worked remarkably well.
Excellent... I can see several applications of the method; I like that it is controlled to a degree (screens may be aligned to a reference, registered if necessary), while retaining flexibility (lacking the constraints of a stencil, there is room for spontaneity, improv).
WillowleafArtistry wrote:
I accidentally ended up pressing the wings too soon, as they were warping, and they ended up flattening out, so they were not textured like the rest of the project.
Photos only tell a version of things; to my eye, it looks to work in your favor. Just as elements might be lost if all the same colour, variations in texture make a huge impact. I would like to see more contrasting texture- smooth lettering over a rough background, a pattern pressed into the background (lace, doily, paper cut, bent wire, etc. embossed and removed) -just to distinguish the elements.
I am hungry for more. What's next?
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Lovely work Willowleaf. Very delicate. The flowers almost look like real pressed flowers.
I too like experimenting with very tiny amounts of pulp. As you said, it is very painstaking but extremely rewarding. I find old dentist's tools really useful for such intricate work.
I'm sure your Grandmother must have been delighted with it.
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Very nice to see your work. I'm sure that grandmother will be delighted. Damping a dried piece will give the chance for some surface moulding. See the work of Nives Cicin-Sain who sometimes lays in string before covering with delicate laminate.
For interest, though it is not papier-mâché, you may be interested in the collage work of a Polish artist. http://guriana.blogspot.com/2011/04/muz … zenia.html
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Very nicely done! Jackie is right, those flowers look like real pressed flowers.
Sue
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Thanks everyone! She did indeed like it, it's the sixth thing I've made for her since I started with artwork.
mavigogun - Since they're wings, I intended to have them textured so they had a "fluffy like clouds" sort of appearance, and also that thicker objects have more surface for glue to hold onto. Being flat, they were more challenging to attach to the heart, and are therefore now a weakness of the piece. Live and learn! Since I had very little time to make this, I didn't have the chance to experiment with embossing and such, but will definitely be doing so in the future.
Jackie - I did the pansies with a pieced stencil, pressing down on each petal as the next was filled in, to try giving them some definition, didn't come out to bad but they were a little small for a real visible effect. I wasn't fond of how the daisies came out, though. I made each petal separately with yellow/orange, but once they were all put together they merged and the orange ended up looking like the center itself, instead of part of the petals. I probably just layered on too much pulp instead of a "blended" colour effect. They really drove me nuts 
Using the tweezers and having to be so delicate made me feel as if I was performing surgery! 
Thanks again!
Last edited by WillowleafArtistry (2011-04-26 02:15:25)
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