Moringa Paper

A few months ago, I was invited to experiment with some Moringa fiber for Signa-Haiti, an NGO that is developing a biodynamic and sustainable economy in Haiti. They are promoting the growing of Moringa, a plant native to subtropical Africa whose leaves may be a superfood. However, as they continue their development, they are considering developing a artisanal paper out of the leftover stems and petioles.

Above, you can see the stems that were shipped to me. (For some reason they are being wonky about uploading, sorry if they are awkward in whatever platform or device you are viewing this on). I started by "pond"-retting the fiber. After the fiber had soaked for a few days in the sunshine, the bast fiber easily peeled off the inner stalk.

Click on any picture for a larger image.

I divided the fiber into two batches for cooking, so the second batch kept soaking while I cooked the first. I discovered that with this additional soaking, the outer green bark dissolved away, and was easily just brushed off the bast fiber with my hands! No picking chiri! However, even after cooking, the outer bark was fairly easily washed away, but if there's a next time, I'll just soak the fiber a few more days.

I was asked to keep in mind water disposal and water issues while working with this fiber, so I decided it would be better to cook the fiber in wood ash over soda ash (see here for an explanation of cooking with caustics for fiber preparation). However, I found the fiber extremely tough. I kept using the Korean fiber test, and the fibers would not tear and seemed reluctant to split. In addition, to my eye, the fiber itself just seemed harder than I felt comfortable putting in my beater. Yet after ten hours of cooking and no softening of the fiber, I switched to soda ash and cooked it for several more hours, yet the fiber still seemed like it was not getting any softer.

The second batch I began cooking directly in soda ash. Again, I cooked the fiber for almost fifteen hours, and it seemed pretty tough. However, at this point, I decided to give it a go with beating.

The fibers as they go into the beater:

After two hours or so:

After three:

To my surprise, the fibers broke down easily. I'm wondering now, if for large-scale production in Haiti, if they might not need the amount of cooking I did. Some of that might also vary on when the fiber is harvested, and of course conditions like soil and water quality. However, to answer these questions, I'd need to do more tests.

Another concern would be the smoothness of the sheets. Perhaps if I'd cooked them less, the fiber (and thus pulp), might have had a rougher quality.

Sheets were pulled without formation aid (remember, water quality), and the pulp drained on the slower side, but not ridiculously slowly. I used two moulds (Western style), trading off between draining into a small vat and pulling.

The final sheets - I got about 30 or so from the amount of fiber they sent me - are a golden color with a soft texture and little rattle. Signa-Haiti had originally asked me about bleaching sheets and mentioned their concerns over using severe bleaches, disposal, and water supply, and I had countered this with the idea that maybe they didn't need to bleach them. I personally love the natural color, however, further experiments with pool-grade hydrogen peroxide (which, I believe, would break down into water and oxygen) might yield a whiter paper.

Tiny papermaking

What is it about small things? Even as an adult, I want to play with them.

New collages

Infrasound I

It is turning into a spring of collage. For these pieces, I've abandoned any and all "rules," that I usually enforce in my studio practice, and have given myself free rein to just explore any half-formed idea that comes into my head.



Infrasound II

Although I have to say, using handmade paper in collage is pure bliss. Of course, using handmade paper for anything is a joy, but handmade paper really does behave better than commercial paper. Overall, it seems to respond to wet glue better, with less curling and warping, while also contributing its natural luminosity.



Infrasound III

New Publications

This book was recently released from Lark Crafts, featuring yours truly on page 115! Juried by Gene McHugh, the Kress Fellow for Interpretive Technology at the Whitney Museum of Art, this book shows the extreme range of possibilities in paper art - including, but not limited to, handmade paper, commercial paper, cardboard and compressed paper, cutting, folding, casting, shaping, scoring....preview some images by other artists here.



My book, White Mountain, was selected.

This past month, I was also honored to be a part of The Art of the Book, at Seager-Gray Gallery in Mill Valley, CA. My pieces, Chacaltaya, and Kasha Katuwe were featured. The exhibition included a gorgeous catalog.





Finally, I was interviewed by Leticia Burgos for an upcoming edition of Estampa. The article will be in Spanish only, as it is a South American publication. Leticia sent me the first draft right away for proofing, which left me completely mind-blown. All I could think was, WOW! Can't wait to see it.

New Print: Listening

This new print combines etching and linoleum block printing! I haven't had much opportunity to really explore etching since, well, undergrad, and I missed it. Aquatint, grounds, stop out, spit bite, scraping...there is just nothing like working a plate. It's like working (developing) a drawing, but the history and palimpsest is in the metal, it has a palpable presence in three dimensions (albeit, a low-relief sort of presence).

But I can run my hand across the surface and feel the drawing. It has dimensionality. When printed, that dimensionality is transferred, so the ink manifests the corporeality of the drawing.



I love contrasting processes - the flat planes of relief printing on top of the more atmospheric aquatint. Layering these contrasts, to me, is the most exciting. It is where the image becomes the most exhilarating and tenebrous.



God, I've missed etching.

This print is actually on paper made from the first test batch of pulp I made in my beater! It was just some cotton linter I beat to test Dulcinea out, found it sitting in drawer over the winter and thought it was the perfect size for this plate. Which is another thing I love to do, use something that I've been saving because I didn't have a use for it yet.

In other news - I've been updating the website. Check out here for my new prints section. More to come!

Understanding

(source)

New Artist Book: Tamalpais

A new little book made out of waste prints from this. For anyone unfamiliar with the term "waste print" - when a printmaker pulls an edition of prints - often some are discarded from the final tally because of slight irregularities. Traditionally, these were discarded or destroyed.

However, as an artist, I find opportunity in these waste prints. I figure, I've already messed it up somehow, why not use it for a basis for experimentation? I can only make it better. So I draw on them, or use them for collage, or in this case, cut up them up and fold them into an artist book.

For larger views, click on the images.



I was a little unsure what to do with the repetition of imagery, and decided to make the book a sort of meditation, with the mountain being a visual focal point as well as a metaphor.



With this new work, I'm trying to be be less linear in narrative, to leave open up the stories I tell visually, and actually, leave some gaps for viewers to fill in with their own intuition or background. Some older imagery is returning in the prints I'm working on right now, I'm circling back while entering a new phase at the same time.