Investigating Inclusions

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craft, decorative paper, flowers, inclusions, paper, paper making

In a couple of weeks I’ll be moving. I’ve sold my one-bedroom apartment and am on the hunt for a two-bedroom. (It’s big news that I’ll have an extra room? This must be Manhattan!) Anyway, I’m putting most of my things into storage before I shoehorn myself and all of my painting materials into Tom’s apartment in the East Village for a few months while I search for my new place. That means that all of my handmade papers will be out of reach, so I thought a post about beautiful papers was timely.

Since summer’s almost here, my mind is on the greenery and the trees that were recently in full bloom and all of the emerging flowers. Some of my favorite papers contain flower petals, leaves and even small object that are bound into the pulp. These types of sheets are called inclusion papers.

This is an Indian floral using rose petals. Inclusion papers come in many weights, from tissue paper to card stock.

Inclusions can be flower petals from roses, chrysanthemums, asters, bougainvilleas, corn flowers, marigolds and so on; stems, leaves or grasses; and fibers such as threads. Even small objects like seashells can be incorporated into the sheet.

But how do they become part of the paper? Why don’t they fall off?

Most handmade paper making methods are based on the same process. Plant or other fibers are made into pulp by cooking, shredding or pounding, or some combination of the three. The pulp is then poured into a vat with water. Sheets of paper are pulled using a mould and a deckle. The deckle, which is just a frame, fits over the mould, which looks like a window screen. They’re dipped into the vat together under the pulp and shimmied until the pulp has settled onto the screen. Both are lifted out of the water, the deckle frame is set aside and the wet sheet is removed.

As it dries, the cellulose in the plant fibers bind together, giving the paper its strength. In the case of inclusion papers, the flower petals or other additions can be incorporated into any stage of the process. They bind to the pulp with their own cellulose fibers. In the sheet below, the flowers were floated above the pulp before the sheet was pulled, so they’re right on the surface of the sheet.

Between the varieties and thicknesses of the pulp, combined with the inclusions and their placement, in addition to the size and color of the sheet, the possibilities are endless.

This is a gorgeous, deeply textured sheet. The orange flowers are about 1-1/2 inches wide.

Inclusions can be quite small to simply lend a texture to the paper.

Or they can be composed to create patterns and designs.

This one is on an especially smooth sheet. It’s made with pressed flowers.

Here’s another pretty one. Composed, but it’s not so obvious.

This is one of my all-time favorites.

Here’s a sheet with seashells embedded into the pulp. What a great idea!

The pulp can be dyed any color you choose.

One of the valuable aspects of many handmade papers is that no trees are harvested to make them. Any raw material can be used as long as its fibers will bind into a continuous sheet. Pulp can be made from vegetable matter (including leaves, tree moss, potatoes and flowers), paper and jute waste, fabric waste (old ropes, canvas, linen and cotton), as well as agricultural waste.

This is a recycled mulberry-bamboo mix.

Papers that take advantage of agricultural waste are especially smart. For example, banana trees and mango bushes produce fruit only once a year and are then cut down, leaving abundant waste. Recycling the waste fiber into paper protects the region’s ecosystem from becoming polluted while providing local paper artists with a large supply of raw materials. Many handmade papers tend to be environmentally conscious in this way.

This is a mango sheet. In this case, the inclusions are mixed in with the pulp.

Bdlow is a banana sheet from Thailand.

That’s the great thing about handmade papers. No trees are cut down, an artist can practice his or her craft, and you end up with a gorgeous sheet. Everybody wins!

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Paper Craft: Birds of a Feather

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bird symbology, birds, craft, crafting, decorative paper, handcrafting, handmade paper

When it comes to decorative and handmade papers, images derived from nature are used in abundance. Some papers are strewn with illustrations of lions and tigers, others with fish. Patterns based on foliage wind their way past sheets sprinkled with seashells. Dogs and cats keep company next to reproductions of 19th century botanicals. But there is one type of animal that finds its way onto papers from around the world: the bird.

In many cultures, birds symbolize freedom and eternal life. Some birds are linked to specific meanings, like the dove, who represents peace, or the stork, who is associated with birth. Carrion eaters, such as ravens and vultures, are often linked to battle, death and war (which could explain why I have yet to see a paper covered in crows).

Symbology can differ depending on the culture; in Alaskan Native American folklore, the raven is considered both a hero and a mischievous trickster who presents many gifts to humans, including light, names for plants and formations of the earth.

Songbirds symbolize spring and are commonly used in paper designs.

This beautiful paper is based on the painted Chinoiserie designs used in wall coverings.

This is another Chinoiserie paper, this time imitating fabric design.

Papers often imitate designs that are usually found on fabric.

In Japanese chiyogami papers, cranes symbolize long life. Flying birds can also suggest imagination and thought.

Owls are unusual in that their status has shifted over time. In early Native American folklore, owls represented wisdom and helpfulness along with powers of prophecy, a theme found in Aesop’s fables and in Greek myth as well. By the Middle Ages in Europe, the owl became associated with witches and dark, lonely places. It became feared. Its appearance at night was linked with the unknown, its call a predictor of death or that evil was at hand. During the 18th century, owls were studied by naturalists, reducing the mystery of these birds. With superstition dying out in the West in the 20th century, the owl regained its place as a symbol of wisdom.

More recently, owls were hijacked by the crafting community, becoming an adorable woodland creature stripped of all majesty. These owls seem to be saying, “How did we come to this?!”

Birds lend themselves well to abstract designs.

They also fit naturally with patterns that employ branches and foliage.

Some papers depict 19th century drawings, like this detail of a Cavellini paper.

Of course, with birds come feathers. And the colors and shapes of feathers lend themselves well to patterns. This is one of my all-time favorite papers, an Italian Rossi sheet.

This is a detail from another Cavallini paper.

Peacock feathers! So lovely.

Feathers work well in simples shapes as well.

In many cultures, birds are seen as linked to the transition between life and death. Ancient Egyptians believed that the soul could leave the body in the form of a bird, usually a hawk. Graves and tombs were built with narrow shafts leading to the open air so the soul could fly out. What a magical idea!

I love papers with birds and work with them often. Here are a few more to spark your imagination.

Paper Craft: On Safari

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animal patterns, bookmarks, craft, decorative paper, paper, paper craft

It’s interesting how animal imagery permeates our lives in ways that we probably don’t even notice. As children, we learn to read the alphabet and count helped along by drawings of animals while our clothing has all kinds of prints featuring baby animals. The decor of childhood bedrooms is often centered around animals, and toddlers drift off to sleep to the tales of Winnie the Pooh and the Cat in the Hat.

For adults, the animal imagery decreases, and to some extent is replaced by animal patterns. Animal patterns, which imitate the coats of wild animals, appear on our clothing and accessories such as gloves and handbags, as well as on household textiles such as carpets, decorative pillows and sheets.

Not surprisingly, these patterns have made their way onto papers as well, both realistically and in a highly stylized way. Translating an animal’s markings leaves so much room for creativity. They lend themselves well to stark, graphic shapes or can be simplified yet realistic. They can float on a textured or modulated background, and are highly readable in almost any form.

In any paper store, you’ll find a large selection of sheets based on animal patterns. The big cats are popular. We’ll start with the tiger.

Leopards and cheetahs are well represented also. These papers are fun to work with because although they are often crisp and graphic, they seem to impart the warmth of animals.

Look how abstract they can get. This print is metallic gold, yet still reads as an animal pattern.

The next paper shows how a simple color switch can change the interpretation of a pattern. This print is probably derived from a cat and if it were printed in black on tan, might read as such. In black and white, however, it seems to belong to a  Dalmation puppy.

One of my favorite ways to use animal pattern papers is for making bookmarks. The graphic shapes often create a crisp counterpoint to more complex elements, as you can see on the bookmarks below. On the left is a stylized zebra print, in the center is a sliver of lizard skin overlapping the seashell, and on the right, a big splash of giraffe print sits incongruously above the carefully dressed maiden. The bookmarks are laminated, with the theme continuing on the other side as well.

An interesting question is why the coats of animals have patterns at all. For predators, the answer is mainly related to camouflage, but in the case of zebras, it may be so that predators have a more difficult time singling out an individual animal from the herd. A few zebra prints follow.

Even in another color, a zebra is a zebra.

This zebra pattern seems to have been caught in a windstorm.

Giraffe papers are a favorite.

If I were an alligator or crocodile, I’d rather stay in my swamp while someone imitates my beautiful skin with paper. The two colorful papers below are embossed. This means that they have actual dimension; the pattern is raised and printed in a shiny color, further lending the paper a realistic leather look.

The detail in some of these sheets is amazing. I think this is an imitation of shagreen, which is the skin of sharks and stingrays.

I love this embossed sheet of white on white.

Some animal print sheets are a mystery. What animal might this be? I don’t know, but it sure is furry.

I’m not sure about this one either; it’s probably cheetah. This lovely flowing pattern is a batik sheet, its shapes created using a lost wax method.

And to finish, a few more bookmarks, each using imitations of reptile skin.

Paper Crafting with Italian Florentine Papers

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collage, craft, decorative paper, Florentine papers, Italian decorative papers, paper craft

Some of the prettiest papers that I use for my paper craft work are Florentine decorative gift wrap papers, rich in complex patterns and vivid color combinations. Several paper manufacturers specialize in these sheets, all located in Florence, Italy. Each paper house creates designs that are based on Italian Renaissance patterns and motifs, embellished and printed in specific ways, in addition to modern designs. Here are three favorite papermakers.

Rossi has been producing decorative papers since 1931. They purchased La Dordoni, a museum in Milan that houses over 6,000 decorative papers, many of which date to the Renaissance, and use this collection as a source for reproductions as well as inspiration for new designs.

Rossi describes their printing process as a mix between modern and traditional, with proprietary methods that give a “peculiar brilliancy” to their colors. They are brilliant, and offer some of the most striking examples of classic Renaissance patterns.

Bertini was founded in 1901 and is still operated by its descendants. Their papers can include powdered gold and are printed on a special offset press that prints ten colors plus gold. Until 1950, the papers were printed by hand lithography. Some Bertini papers have a lovely whimsical quality.

Kartos was established in the 1950s and is known for its gold foiled papers and rich stationery sets. They continue to use traditional production techniques such as copperplate engraving on some of their products, many of which are embellished with powdered gold.

Once we move away from classic Renaissance designs, the parameters are wide open. Here’s a mix of Rossi papers inspired by their museum collection, from the elegant to the odd. Robots, anyone?

There are hundred of designs; the variety is endless. And fun! I like to use the classic Renaissance papers as accents in my paper crafting. They’re great for a pop of color, a crisp pattern or that touch of gold. There’s a strip of Florentine paper wrapped around the bottom rim of this Audubon Elk pencil cup.

This cup features a funky paper, a Rossi sheet of sea life.

If you’re interested in buying papers, one of the best sources for Italian decorative papers is the FineArtStore.