Wednesday 22 January 2014

Exploring textures with papers

The different textures of the papers were  in themselves interesting before pleating, scrunching, ripping and folding.  Took notes on the 'feel' as much as the look and described the ease or difficulty in getting the paper to take the technique.  In some cases I  have taken a rubbing. 
Using the same 12 papers throughout each exercise I put them on a grid around a photo from the master board.  The idea of the grid is to allow different images to be interchanged over later chapters to see if improvements can be made or new techniques added. 
The papers 
top rowtop left; Lokta paper, next; tyvek(does this qualify as paper or fabric?) next; fine tissue paper, right; 3 ply face tissue
second row: left; fine vilene, right(does this qualify as paper or fabric?) ; tracing paper
third row:left; greaseproof paper, right; printed 80grm copier paper
bottom row: left; packing tissue paper,next; HP photo paper, next; kitchen roll, right;
wrapping paper.

First a bit of tearing and ripping- the photo the King's footprint at Dunadd near Kilmartin, Argyll.
Results:
Ref 5.2.1
The tearing of each type of paper offered a wider range of finishes than I had imagined.  The fibrous edges of the vilene, tyvek, lokta paper and facial tissues were more pronounced than all the other papers.   A rather pleasing effect that is shown more easily on the photo paper than on the Lokta paper  and copier paper is the how the edges peel of the surface giving a mini 3D effect to the edge, the tracing and greaseproof paper gives a similar effect when layering the pieces on top of each other. PS In writing up the results realise the greaseproof paper and tracing paper images have been transposed!

Then pleating and folding - the photo granite folds on west coast of Mull of Kintyre
Ref 5.2.2
Results: Folding, pleating and fanning out some of the results of the papers produced ridges and vents that would possible be better held by stitch than by glue. The vilene, tyvek and tissues were more malleable and gave softer effects but I was pleased to see how the photo and copier paper seemed to fold easily into different directions.  On reflection the fact they had an image on them encouraged you to follow the pictures direction!

and last a scrunch - the photo here is the lichen detail on stone at Broch of Gurness
Ref 5.2.3
Results:Taking the same size of each paper, except the photo paper,which was 4 x 6inches the papers where stuck onto a glued square and then eased the papers into the centre with my fingers the easiest was the three ply face tissue the most difficult the photo. But I liked each of the qualities they gave one layering the other a more angular structure that moved and expanded. The fine tissue compare to the greaseproof and tracing paper was easier to manipulate but the greaseproof gave greater volume and the tracing paper a more crunchy and creased effect.  The vilene, Lokta and packing tissue paper and tyvek had a soft handle and enjoyed the shapes they made with relative ease.  The A4 copy paper and wrapping paper had a stiffness  but creased and made interesting shapes that could be pulled out and manipulated without tearing.
Manipulating Tissue
Selecting the fine tissue paper for this exercise I was interested to see how the company logo that was stamped through it would effect the results.  The transparency of the paper had  led me to feel that it would be more suited to reflecting watery images rather than stony, earth strata so here goes!

Ref 5.2.5
Began by winding and  knotting the tissue on the top row and was quite please that the middle sample kept the 'wind' in with out knotting and allowed rounded curves- it took quite a lot of paper to achieve the effect. I noted that part of our materials list mentioned pipe cleaners - that may allow even more movement and use less paper.  But kept to just using papers for this chapter. The 'bow tie', on top right, could be a sample to rub to get the texture rather than the rather artificial effect of the knot.
The middle row of samples looks at layers and gradual lose of transparency with the central  sample looking at turned over rather than rough or cut edges and the next sample considers weaving and angular edges. 
Ref 5.2.6
The bottom row shows pleating with the one on the left showing an effort to pleat on horizontal and then vertical line - it was difficult to keep the first row of pleats in and work on pleats in a 90 degree angle-perhaps stitching on fabric would achieve a better result.  However did try this technique on the packing tissue, see bottom of 5.2.6 sample board and it seemed to work better and could be of use for another rubbing.  The rest of the samples show a fanning out of a pleated shape and leaving some edges unglued to layer up paper. 
For 5.2.6 I pleated the tissue, perhaps I should do narrower pleating but in the stitching put the cotton through at different depths.  I also did a smocking stitch which had a better effect on the reverse than the front.  The front looked to 'stiff' but back gave a more hollowed effect, it was even better when I squashed it (thanks Meg for your tips on Facebook).Ref 5.2.6
a) 'right' side                                                                     b) 'wrong' side                                                        c) changing depth of stitch





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