My medium is acrylic on handmade paper.My style of papermaking is called Western style. I think of the papermaking process as making a 3-D canvas. When the pulp dries into paper, I can paint with acrylics as on any canvas.
Cotton fabric is beaten with water in a machine called a Hollander Beater into pulp. This pulp is then added to a vat of water. Enough internal liquid sizing is added to the slurry to make the paper hard after it dries. Several methods are used to create my paper. For flat sheets I use a mould and deckle (like a geometric sieve with another equal size frame on top) to pull through the slurry of pulp in order to retrieve the fibers. The mould and deckle are then slightly shaken in order to even out the pulp. After some of the water has dripped off, the deckle is removed and the wet sheet of pulp is turned unto a felt. The back of the mould is sponged off well and the mould is removed and the sheet of pulp adheres to the felt until it is removed after drying.
The other method allows me to create a more organic form. I cut a shape out of any ridgid surface as a well for the pulp (a cookie cutter would be a small version of this). I lay this form over a sheet of screening and pour the pulp into the cavity. After the form is removed, another sheet of screeing is layered over the wet sheet of pulp and sponged until most of the water is removed.
In both these methods I now have a surface for embossing – pressing textures into the wet surface. I airbrush with pigments and when the paper is dry I paint with acrylics mixed in my studio from acrylic base, pigments, and mica powder. The last stop is to glaze the surface with methylcellulose gel so I don't have to frame my work. It can be cleaned by feather dusting or rinsing with water.
