Merry Christmas to all

And I heard him exclaim as he rode out of sight
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night."

Gloria!

An Angel made of paper. Merry Christmas.

Red Girl

For Christmas, my very favorite card. There's something about the way she is standing and so gently dropping her bread crumbs that I love. And the paper-- sycamore tree and wooly coat as only handmade paper can make them.

Blue Girl

I love the way the colors talk to each other. I love the way the girl and the bird talk to each other.

Blue Jay

Our House

Add bricks, wavy glass, and limestone to the list of things your can conjure with handmade paper.

Two little blackbirds sitting in the rain . . .

One named Fancy, the other named Plain.

Merganser

I saw on of these beautiful birds today. Looks like he's giving Miss Merganser a backward glance.

Geese Family

Mother and Father Goose guiding the little ones on a beautiful blue pond

I nominate myself

Inspired by . . .

 

Like all my cards, this one was inspired by nature, sort of. In my botanical drawing class, I struggled with, well everything, but especially depicting light and shadow. With every exercise I thought how much easier it would be to make some paper, then use the paper to create a picture. And so I did.

Hyde Park Parrots

In my Chicago neighborhood there is a year round population of Monk Parakeets. Their beautiful blue/green and yellow plumage is almost as loud as their squawk. It is still amazes me to see these tropical looking birds perched in a bare tree in the middle of winter. The mottled green and yellow paper that comes in so handy for a dandelion studded lawn works well for these birds.

The Spots!

I knew handmade paper was good for feathers and flowers, but fur? That's a new one . . . for me.

Mosaic Treasure Box

Taking advantage of the incredible sticking power of newly made paper and the abundance of pint-sized plastic berry containers this time of year, I made this little stained-glass treasure box.

 

 

Start by making sheets of different colors.

 

 

 

 

 

While the sheets are still very wet, tear off tiny pieces and stick them on the outside of the plastic container --- in a random fashion.

 

Keep it up.

 

 

This technique is very forgiving. You can move the pieces, overlap them. etc/

This takes a little time, but you can leave it and come back to it.

I'll bet this technique would work nicely with more subdued shades.

 

Dandelions Galore

By mixing up green pulp, then adding some yellow paper and mixing again for just a few seconds, I was able to create this very summery field of grass and dandelions. I liked the effect so much I used it again to create the backyard scene in my picture book, "This Old Man." 

Nothing says "Summer" like a dandelion bouquet.



In this card, I used several kinds of handmade paper and some recycled paper.



In this picture book, I used handmade paper to create a summer backyard

Happy Mother's Day

For this card, I used two kinds of handmade paper, one for the mother duck and one for the ducklings. To get the mottled yellow paper for the ducklings I used recycled white and yellow paper and added dried rose petals. I love the blush of purple where the rose petals bleed out. For the mother duck I used recycled white paper, brown paper bag and dried plant stems. Since the two sides of the handmade paper dry differently, I used one side for the body and the other for the wing.


Baby duck staying close to Mom.

Happy Mother's Day to you!

Robins

Let's sing about Spring

 

Violets

Spring is here! Soon it will be time for the violets to appear.Violets are my favorite flower.  Naturally, they are also one of my favorite paper subjects. I love the heart-shaped leaves and the delicate flowers. In "violets" I used many shades of handmade paper for the stylized leaves. In "picking violets" the tiny violets the girl has in her pocket are made from real pressed violets.
So, until the real things pop up in a lawn, woodland or vacant lot near you, here are some paper violtes to enjoy.

Easter's on the Way

Here's a little cotton tail, hopping down the bunny trail.
This bunny was made with the Rycraft  mold from Arnold Grummer. I followed the instructions for making a paper cast with cotton linters, then let it dry. After gluing the dry paper cast to a jar, I surrounded the bunny with bright green pulp. The inside of the jar was coated with sky blue paint. I like the 3D effect I got from the paper cast and the thick paper pulp.

Here is a similar scene with a more colorful bunny. I used chalk to color the paper cast.

Magnolia Paper Cast

I love flowers!

There is something so intricate and delicate about the  Grummer magnolia cast mold, I can't stop making them.

Colored chalked produced some beautiful effects. They remined me of those lush draperies from the Forties.

Ink stamp pads also worked well.

I like the little squares just as they are, but I had to try them on glass jars.  Place the wet cast directly on the glass jar. Used the mortise techniqiue to cut a frame out of a sheet of new wet paper and lay that sheet on the jar as well, placing the opening over the cast.

The Classics

My favorite bookstore has several bookcases stocked with the Loeb Classics. I love these little green books. Here is my version. I made these volumes by placing tiny strands of with pulp on the still-wet green pulp, then pressing like crazy. The owls are made from two shades of white handmade paper. A perfect card for anybook lover.

One of many shelves of Loeb Classics at The Seminary Coop

Shore Birds

 Nothing is as beautiful as a bird.
Bird pictures made from handmade paper are beautiful. And they are pretty much fool proof. Try some combinations of handmade paper, to make the body and the wings, place them on a contrasting background. There you have it.

Sandpiper, perhaps

 

Pelican, definetly

Sweet Talk

A children's letter stamp kit makes perfect heart messages.

Before there were Tweets, there were conversation hearts.

Handmade paper makes great paper converstion hearts. They are just as cute as their candy counterparts, but much easier to mail. This Vanlentine's Day why not express your deepest feelings for the one you love -- seven characters at a time.

I ★ Chicago Envelope

I love Chicago, my home town. I also love the Chicago flag.

 For a special birthday gift -- a Chicago flag lapel pin --I needed the perfect envelope. With the help of the Arnold Grummer square envelope template, and a tiny star-shaped cookie cutter, the perfect envelope was born.

I started with a white envelope. While the envelope was still wet and on the papermaking screen, I used a squeeze bottle full of light blue pulp to form two blue stripes on the large-holed black  mesh screen, then placed the two blue stripes on to the envelope. Then I poured red pulp into  the star cookie cutter set on the  black mesh screen and placed those stars between the stripes.
This is the same pulp paiting method I used to make the birch trees in an older post