I gave up my studio time today, so I could enjoy some of this... Isn't she just precious? Alexxis at 2 months.. sleeping peacefully after her bath.
It was sort of funny, that Alexxis doesn't like a bath yet. The safety first bathtub with it's safety net just quite isn't the same as getting to the point where you really enjoy water. Alexxis wasn't too happy with grammie afterwards, but no worries! She got me back when she pead all over me while drying her off, LOL!
Our trip consisted of running out to the mall to visit Joann fabrics where I chose these fabrics for the quilt I desire to start making. In all honesty, I've never made a quilt before so I'm thinking I'll simply do a 4 1/2" square, sewing them on a 1/4" seam allowance on all four sides. These fabrics are from the keepsake calico collection and were on sale for $1 off per yard making them $2.99/yd. I chose these colors simply because the were the previous colors in our guest/laudry room before we turned into the nursery for Alexxis and I've no desire to paint in there for at least the next 5 years, LOL! These same fabrics will be 60% off in next week's ad; so I'm thinking I may purchase another two solids in a lilac and a soft blue to mix in to tone the bright green down just a bit more. I purchased a little over 2 yards of it as it was the end of the bolt. I may also try my hand at creating a matching sham and an accent pillow or two. I love their bright, sunshine-y, summer pick me up colors! Anyways, a box of dressmaker stainless steel pins and two spools of lavendar thread later we headed off to do our grocery shopping.
As we travelled to the State Park, we also stopped at this beach. I'd confused it with the beach in the actual State Park Campgrounds as the beach I'd swam at or in, LOL! while I was on crutches and recovering from my car accident while we visited when Shawn & Tara camped there a few years ago. It's so hard to believe it has been over 5 years since we'd last been there.
It was quite an overwhelming experience for me at the time, since I had been no weight-bearing on my right leg for over 9 weeks and had my cast removed just a week of so prior to coming here. I so wanted to go for a swim, so Don helped me walk into the water on my crutches until I got out far enough that I could actually swim! He waited where he was until I swam back to him and resumed my position upon those damn things once more. I felt like I had be released from a prison being without them, even if it was only for a breaf period of time. My poor Dr. was shocked when I told him although he agreed it was probably good therapy not only for the calf muscles in my right leg but for my spirit and soul as well. And was he ever right! I loved it although it was a major challenge for me at that time.
Anyways, yesterday, Don and I took a long, leisurely stroll here, enjoying the sunshine, the sound of the waves, and children's laughter as they played in the sand and the water.
I worked more with my Lyra Watercolor crayons in the studio yesterday to create this artwork for my artist's journal. I love the soft, transparent quality of this piece, perfect for the lighthearted feeling and mood that I felt while while my muse was with me.
Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love positive affirmations. This one was written by me, just re-affirming within myself that I can achieve whatever my heart desires.
An important note: Very few papers will have a diagonal grain and mostly only those that are created by a handmade paper artist who desire the paper to be so created with a certain purpose in mind such as for orgami.
Why it is important?Once I've established the direction of the paper grain in my larger sheets of paper and before I roll them for storage in my studio, I mark each sheet of paper using a pencil and lightly mark in an double ended arrow which will later indicate the paper grain. This saves me some time later when I pull those paper for use in either cardmaking or bookbinding. I just simply use the bending method for smaller sheets. You'll just have to trust me on this one and try it out for yourself but I can assure you that by determining the direction of the paper's grain, you will be much more happier in your paper art adventures. {*smile and I hope you discovered this information useful in your papercrafting.}
Several factors that effect papers, especially the machine-made ones are the ingredients used to create the papers themselves. Two common ingredients are cotton rag and wood-pulp so I'll discuss both of them.
Cotton rag is normally made using the longest fibers and some of the highest quality fibers. Some of these paper can last up to a hundred years and can generally handle intense use. Heavy erasing and re-working show minimal signs of wear and tear upon their surfaces and the cotton used in this process is normally torn or beaten into indivudual fibers within a vat and by beaters to create a thick consistency of the pulp used to create and mould this paper.
Another ingredient is cellulose, a wood pulp, that produces a lesser quality of paper than the cotton rag does. Containing wood pulp creates yet another factor to consider for the paper artist as it contains a high-acid content of paper on the ph scale that will eventually effect the paper breaking it down over time. The yellowing that you see in newspaper print or in construction paper is a great example. It is a result of the acidity of the wood pulp. Lignin contained within the wood pulp also plays a role in the acidity of the paper yet tends to add some strength to the process of papermaking. The good news is that buffers, such as calcium-bicarbonate, can be added to the process to produce an acid-free cellulose paper like many of the acid-free printed papers and cardstocks available today.
Other papers offer a mixture of the two, cotton rag and wood-pulp in pre-determined amounts. It simply depends upon the paper mill and the proces and type of paper they desire to produce at a given time.
Sizing of a paper is also another concern, but something the beginning paper artist may not fully understand. Sizing is a material, such as gelatine, casein, starch, or a rosin that is added to the papers to make the surface of the paper less absorbant so that paints and other artistic mediums do not absorb deeply into the fibers of the paper. There are two ways in which sizing can be added to the paper-manufacturing process, internal and external. Internal sizing is when any of the above mentioned materials are added while the paper is in a liquid state, commonly known as pulp. External sizing is when any of the materials are added to the surface of the paper after the paper has been manufactured from the pulp and is dried. Like the cotton rag and wood-pulp mentioned above, some mills will use a combination of internal and external sizing.
So what does that mean to you? Generally, the more a paper is sized and depending upon the material used to size the paper, the harder the paper will become and the more durable it will be against reworking, scrubbing or scumbling. Sizing also effects the grain of a paper, whick I'll discuss more in a bit, but for now let's look at the paper's surface texture.
There are three different methods that result in different textures in papermaking and each produce a different visual and workablity effect. Those processes are known as rough, coldpress, and hotpress processes.
After the above process is completed the paper is then dried. The drying process also varies by the paper being produced some are hung to air-dry and others are kiln-dried during the papermaking process. Then the weight of a paper is determined. Generally, the paper is cut into large sheets, normally a 22"x30" sheet, and measured by the weight of a ream {500 sheets}. For most artist's papers weights include 60, 80,90,140, 200, 260, and 300 pounds. Heavier weight papers are normally thicker and will withstand more water application without buckling , curling, or warping and can be handled much more often and withstand more abuse than a lower weight and thinner paper can.
Now that you know the processes, ingredients, and methods used to create the various papers, how each handles differnent artistic mediums, does that affect the paper you'll used in your paper art creations?
Well, it does me, especially if I desire to create an artist's journal that I love! I don't want to set any limits to the mediums that I have at my disposal such as acrylic paints, watercolors, colored pencils, pens, inks, and chalks. Nor do I desire the paper to be effectd the techniques or methods I'll use in creating an artist's journal. I desire to work with a variety of papers, everything form printed papers, smooth cardstocks, textured cardstock, drawing and sketch papers, vellums, and watercolored sheets.
The size of the journal that I'll create is also a consideration for me. Since this will be my first artist journal created in this fashion, I believe I'm going to start out using a standard half sheet size, measuring 5 1/2"x 8 1/2". You did know that a standard paper size is 8 1/2" x 11", didn't you? {smiles}
