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 In this class I began to understand paste paper with all its colors, tools, and mark-making paraphernalia, and then the plethora of enhancing techniques.
One of the best parts of the weekend was the camaraderie, from paste cooking and color preparation (which I did with Xandra as she gradually took over my kitchen), to the fun of discovery in class. If you're working alone, you can't nudge your neighbor and say, “Hey, look what happened!” or ask, “Wow, how did you get that color?” You can't walk around your single-occupancy studio and get more ideas from other experimenting individuals. The variety of experi mentation was infinite. Xandra's enthusiasm was infectious, and the examples and tools she provided were profuse.
For Xandra, cooked wheat paste (she prefers using the finer powder of cake flour)which gives more definition than methyl cellulose. She prepared a dozen and a half acrylic colors to choose among for our “palette” of cardboard inside a gallon-size “Baggie.” A dollop goes a long way on Arches Text Wove or Tyvek. Small sponges cut in thirds were the applicators; Nancy Lee used a palette knife to great effect. We used one large water bucket for clean water, one for squeezing out dirty sponges, plus a squirt bottle for wetting down our Plexiglas surfaces so the paper would lie flat, and also for moistening paper before applying paste. Sticks, combs, cut up credit cards, even fingers made paths through the paste. Anything with cut-out shapes, grids, and circles could serve as a template. Stamps and sponge shapes can lift color. Rit powder dye dropped in made “Not Your Mama's Paste Paper.”
After the work dries, it can be enhanced or pushed back by using pastels, pan pastels, colored pencils, Inktense pencils, markers, watercolor, metallic watercolors, metallic wax rub-on, plus a variety of blenders depending on the solvent needed. Xandra brought an amazing variety and quantity for us to try.
Many people started out timid, but soon they got into the infectious rhythm of trying new and newer ideas. Some papers were quiet, others shouted. We showed everyone our creations at the end of the workshop on Sunday. All were sumptuous.
By Carole Johnson
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