Finding Flow

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art, craft, handmade paper, making art, Mihaly Csikszentmaihalyi, paper craft, psychology

Artists often talk about a term called “flow,” which is when you become so engrossed in the task at hand, you lose all sense of time, the outside world falls away and you’re floating along on your own little planet.

For me, the feeling of flow is one of the biggest thrills of making art, where all of the decisions are right ones and things come together effortlessly.

Over the past few weeks as I’ve unpacked from my recent move, I’ve seen the effects of being hooked on the feeling of flow. Here’s a symptom: these are bookmarks I’ve made by combining handmade paper with all kinds of ephemera, everything from old stamps and postcards to my own drawings and photos to yesterday’s junk mail.

Oh, isn’t that nice, you say. A bunch of bookmarks. No, I REALLY like the feeling of flow. There’s something about the combination of color, image, texture and text that clicks in my brain.

And that’s just the tip of the bookmark iceberg. I love the zone that I find when I work with paper.

The term “flow” was invented by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmaihalyi in the 1980s. He describes the mental state of flow as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved and you’re using your skills to the utmost.” Like I said, flow feels great!

After I made enough bookmarks to sink a ship, I graduated to pencil cups. These are tin cans that have been covered with papers. Once again, couldn’t stop.

A few tips from Mr. C. on some of the components you might find when you’re in a state of flow:

• Clear goals that are challenging yet attainable

• Strong concentration and focus

• The activity is intrinsically rewarding

• Feelings of serenity and a lack of self-consciousness

• Timelessness: an altered state of time; feeling so focused on the present that you lose track of time

• Immediate feedback

• A balance between skill level and the task at hand

• Feelings of control over the challenge and the result

• Lack of awareness of physical needs

• Complete focus on the activity alone

If you’d like to explore Csikszentmaihalyi’s fascinating books on flow and creativity, here’s his Amazon page.

On the days I’m looking for something other than paper, well, there’s always rocks.

The best thing about flow? You can find it everywhere, from cooking to making music to reading to running: whatever engages your senses so deeply that you are utterly in the moment. The tricky part? Finding focus in our distraction-filled world. Get away from your electronics, let go of anxiety and sink into it. Flow feels so good that you’ll want to find it over and over again.

What about you? Where do you find it?

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.

How do they do that? Chiyogami paper

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chiyogami paper, handmade paper, japanese chiyogami, japanese paper, paper craft, silkscreen

When I first started paper crafting, one of the papers that mystified me was Japanese Chiyogami paper. How could something with such precise, tiny, multi-colored, delicate patterns possibly be handmade?

The answer is, practice, practice, practice. The Japanese have been making these papers for over 400 years. In the most simple terms, layers of patterns are silkscreened on top of one another. Here’s a schematic showing how a 6-color pattern is built up. (From japanesepaperplace dot com). Talk about precise registration! There is zero room for error in this art. As the colors build up, you can even feel the color layers with your fingers.

Chiyogami papers are made in thousands of different patterns, with new ones always in development. The patterns are a mix of both ancient and modern designs, with symbology that originally related to the patterns on fancy kimonos worn for special occasions. For example, cranes symbolize long life.

Bamboo symbolizes fertility.

Plum blossoms symbolize beauty and longevity. I guess we all want to be beautiful and live forever, because this is one of the most popular motifs.

I like the papers that have insects or other animals on them, like these butterflies.

And the abstract designs are fun, like feathers and umbrellas.

Chiyogami papers are great to use in crafting pencil cups because they can pick up the colors and patterns already in use and provide a crisp counterpoint to softer textures.

One of my favorite sources for buying these papers is Pebble Stone Papery on Etsy. She cuts the sheets down to 8-1/2 by 11 inches and prices them well.

If you’d like to see hundreds of patterns, check out The Japanese Paper Place, the biggest wholesaler in North America. One of the largest distributors of Chiyogami papers is The Paper Place in Toronto. They ship to Canada, USA and the UK and have a huge inventory.

In NYC, I tend to go to New York Central. They have an extremely well stocked paper supply store. The online catalog is a bit tough to navigate; besides, it’s a lot more fun to look at everything in person!

On the hunt for marbled papers in Florence

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florence, florence italy, handmade marbled paper, handmade paper, history of hand marbling, marbled papers, marbling, paper shops, paper shops in florence, travel

When I travelled to Florence, one of the things I was on the hunt for, other than the perfect gelato, was handmade Florentine marbled paper. Marbled papers are amazing, a perfect balance between control and chance. Italian marbled papers have been made in Florence since the 17th century. Lots of secret techniques involved, no surprise.

Alberto Cozzi, on Via del Parione, was my favorite shop, selling marbled papers, paper products and stationery. The sheets are made right there, in the back. Buying full-sized sheets would have been too expensive; luckily they sold 5 x 7 packets of different designs and I got a couple of those.

Next up was a beautiful little art store called Zecchi on Via Dello Studio. It took three visits to arrive when it was actually open, but it was worth the tease. Inside, a small stash of full-sized sheets at good prices, not to mention all kinds of cool art supplies. Here’s one of the beauties I found:

One of the best-known Florentine paper shops is Giulio Giannini e Figlio, across from the Pitti Palace. They had all sorts of beautifully wrapped journals, boxes, pencils and other items. Here’s their website. Gorgeous stuff.

The big question for me when i look at marbled papers is, how did they make that pattern? Here’s a handy post that shows marbling being done in Florence. This post has photos of all sorts of patterns while talking about the history and techniques of marbling around the world.

If you’ve been to Florence and found some beautiful shops selling papers or other handmade goodies, I’d love to hear about it.

If you’d like to buy marbled papers here in the States, there are many sources.

One favorite is Paper Mojo.

Just today, I found this shop on Etsy selling handmade marbled papers.

And to finish off, a few of the things I’ve made using marbled sheets (some from Florence), papers I always come back to because they’re just so gorgeous.