I'm either making art or I'm a homicidal maniac. You can't tell from the pictures on this one.

You know what? Forget what I said about not having time to blog this month. I'm doing interesting stuff, and you need to see it. Also, after today, I'm either writing a blog or going to sleep, and it's only 9:30, so I'm going for the first option. Paper making is fun, but boy is it tiring! So, I'll tell you what I did today and yesterday. Yesterday, my day was devoted to this monotype.



This took me about eight hours. Now I'll go through the process, for those of you that don't know what monotypes are or how their made. Or those of you that kind of do because you've heard me explain the process, but could use pictures.

You only get one print with a monotpe, and maybe a ghost print if you go through the press again with a new sheet of paper. Only one good print, though.


I do monotypes, (or monoprints, whichever term you prefer,) on Plexiglas. It's a good material for them, sturdy, nonporous, and cheap. This image was done on a piece of plexi that is 20 by 30 inches. because of what I'm using this monotype for, I had a grid in the back with squares each an inch and a half of space. I rolled up the top of the plexi with red, oil-based, relief ink. I could not see the grid until I pulled off some ink, but once I could I could really just go at it.


These were my tools for the marks I made. The pencil looking thing is just a piece of wood that's been sanded so that it's flat on the one side and like a pencil on the other. You can see how much ink I removed with it alone. If you're going for some big open spaces, a tool like that is nice to have, because imagine how many q-tips it would've taken up! And once q-tips are covered in ink, their unusable unless you want some pretty dark texture. The pencil thing can be used again and again, so long as you have something with which to wipe off the excess ink. Monotype marks can me made with anything, from setting something like leaves on them to pull away the high spots, to just using your fingers.It's up to youu to decide what works best.

Make sure you have a nice workspace, because monotypes are messy. I have access to my school's studios right now, so I can do monotypes any time, but they can't be done without an appropriate printing press and print studio. If you can do intaglio prints with the materials at hand, you can do monotypes. If you can't, rent or borrow a studio. They take lots of pressure to get right.


Because it was a red monotype, I looked like I had killed someone by the end of the night. This is the look of hard work getting done. It is the look of an artist. Embrace it, but shower before bed, because this oil based ink is a pain to get off at the best of times, and it's worse when it's had a few hours to dry. Plus, it'll stain your bedding if it rubs off on it. Trust me, I've learned the hard way.


Today I made paper.
I died my paper red using fabric dye. Once again, giving off the impression that I must have made a sacrifice to the paper making gods before I started pulling sheets.



This is pulp. It's the bits of paper after it's been through the blender. I recycled old paper by tearing it up, dying it, and blending it. Fancy people with access to true paper making equipment don't used blenders, but instead use machines called beaters. That's where the saying "beating to a pulp" comes from.


This is not actually a vat of blood. It is a vat of water, with about 5 handfuls of pulp in it.
More pulp gives you thicker sheets of paper, and less pulp makes them thinner, so keep that in mind.



You can kind of see the line of process here. From paper to blenders to pulp to screen to plexi. The next step is to agitate the water in your vat and pull out some pulp with that screen there. I should probably go on paint and point it out, but I'm lazy, and I seriously doubt anyone here is going to make paper. So really this is all a waste of time, except it helps me remember. If you do have questions, let me know via the comments.
Anyway, you hold the screen and deckle together, set them vertically in your vat, pull it forward horizontally, the side with the deckle facing up. Pull it out of the pulpy water, keeping it horizontal, and let the water drain out a bit. Pull off the deckle, and make sure you don't get any drops of water on the paper you just pulled. That gives you watermarks, and if you wanted those, they would be designed and set into the screen.


The last step is to slowly turn the screen onto the surface where your paper is going to dry. Once again, Plexiglas is my friend here. Some people who make paper have it dry on fabric, but I think that having a solid piece of plastic is really nice, because it helps make it easier to keep from tearing. It's the quick and easy way.
When the screen is set down on this surface, take a sponge and get rid of all the excess water you can. Have a bowl to squeeze out the sponge in, and keep pressing down with the sponge on the back of your screen until you don't have any water coming up through it. Then comes the tricky part. Kissing off. Press down on the sides of the screen, then lift quickly. If your sheet is relatively flat, you did fine. Avoid air bubble under the sheet and folding on the sides. If you mess up at this pint, just scoop everything into the vat and try again. Then, after squeezing out all excess water, take your sponge and lightly go over the top of the paper, once again removing any excess water. It will still be wet, but it will be flat, and the top will have a little texture.

Then comes the wait. Let them dry overnight.
When setting them up to dry, have the paper face the wall, so they have less of a chance of getting ruined if someone bumps them, because they won't hit the still wet paper. When the paper dries it will be a few shades lighter. I'm hoping mine doesn't turn too pink, but if it does, I'll fix it in my own little way.
When they are completely dry, peel the paper off the plexi, and flatten it by running it through the press under another, clean sheet of plexi.

Also, all this paper is waterleaf. That means if you get it wet, it will fall apart. If you want to do watercolor, or anything with water once it's finished, you have to put some sizing substance, like corn starch, in your vat with the pulp.
I recycled old cotton paper. Paper can be made out of anything porous. I've seen paper made from banana peels, mushrooms, and plain old cotton. Making it from the raw material means boiling your substance for a long time before doing anything else, though.

I'll see you later, internet. Have a nice night.