Bob in SF
Member
A cultural anthropologist friend asked for a pen depicting early people. I got a bit carried away. She loves the pen.
First I made some paper - here's the basic technique:
Thailand Kozo fiber simmered x 2 hours at pH10-11 (alkalinized with soda ash - all of this is done outside with proper safety precautions); then the fiber is rinsed very well, then beaten to a pulp with meat hammers, blended gently with some internal sizing (alkyl ketene dimer) to fine tune the water absorbtion properties), turned into sheets with a mold and deckle (standard washi paper making technique - and Helen Hiebert has written some great books explaining the techniques), then pressed the newborn paper between sheets of blotter paper with a simply-constructed 2 ton bottle press; then air-dried them:
I was about to make a linocut depicting early people to block print onto the handmade paper - but then I found a very nice texture sheet on https://www.cooltools.us/ so i "inked" the texture sheet with Jacquard teal color iridescent airbrush acrylic paint, and transferred the image to the handmade paper with a 4" rubber brayer; blew the monoprint dry; then "ancientized" it (questionable verb) with Ranger Distress inks. I then airbush-sealed it with Createx clear top gloss acrylic, and blew that dry.
I then ran it through a Xyron Adjustable 9" Creative Station to apply a layer of permanent adhesive to the back of the handmade paper; cut the rectangles to size; then pulled off the backing and wrapped them around the acetone-cleaned brass tubes; airbrushed a final layer of Createx Gloss Acrylic onto the wrapped tubes (air-dried them x 2 days); then tube-in cast them with Douglas and Sturgess Clear Casting resin, adding some copper flakes in hopes of providing a (very) little bit of modesty to the early people; and finally turned and finished them as usual:
This cap close-up view confirms that the flakes provided minimal modesty (will try micro-fig leaves next time):
The techniques invite further exploration.
Happy Saturday to all - Bob
First I made some paper - here's the basic technique:
Thailand Kozo fiber simmered x 2 hours at pH10-11 (alkalinized with soda ash - all of this is done outside with proper safety precautions); then the fiber is rinsed very well, then beaten to a pulp with meat hammers, blended gently with some internal sizing (alkyl ketene dimer) to fine tune the water absorbtion properties), turned into sheets with a mold and deckle (standard washi paper making technique - and Helen Hiebert has written some great books explaining the techniques), then pressed the newborn paper between sheets of blotter paper with a simply-constructed 2 ton bottle press; then air-dried them:
I was about to make a linocut depicting early people to block print onto the handmade paper - but then I found a very nice texture sheet on https://www.cooltools.us/ so i "inked" the texture sheet with Jacquard teal color iridescent airbrush acrylic paint, and transferred the image to the handmade paper with a 4" rubber brayer; blew the monoprint dry; then "ancientized" it (questionable verb) with Ranger Distress inks. I then airbush-sealed it with Createx clear top gloss acrylic, and blew that dry.
I then ran it through a Xyron Adjustable 9" Creative Station to apply a layer of permanent adhesive to the back of the handmade paper; cut the rectangles to size; then pulled off the backing and wrapped them around the acetone-cleaned brass tubes; airbrushed a final layer of Createx Gloss Acrylic onto the wrapped tubes (air-dried them x 2 days); then tube-in cast them with Douglas and Sturgess Clear Casting resin, adding some copper flakes in hopes of providing a (very) little bit of modesty to the early people; and finally turned and finished them as usual:
This cap close-up view confirms that the flakes provided minimal modesty (will try micro-fig leaves next time):
The techniques invite further exploration.
Happy Saturday to all - Bob
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