Thursday, July 16, 2009

Rusty stuff

Last week I spent a day in the studio with my niece Emily. We had a fun and busy time. We started by making paper from some pulp that had been lurking about for ages and it was good to experiment with different thicknesses and effects. We then rusted a heap of paper as well. This is always something like alchemy to me - wondering what will happen and what marks will be left behind; and how things will change as they dry. Emily made heaps that she can use in her art work and I took the opportunity to get some more stock done as well - here are a couple of shots of some fabulous rusted paper that might appear in later art works.



For me there is something wonderful with the remnant rust that is left behind and the texture that it creates. The different papers also rust so differently - great fun!
Posted by Fiona Dempster at 2:40 PM
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3 comments:

  1. Margaret-AnneAugust 7, 2009 at 4:43 AM

    Love your work, papers and books.
    Curious....
    How do you "rust" paper?

    margaret

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fiona DempsterAugust 31, 2009 at 9:45 AM

    Hi Margaret-Anne

    I sent an email to you but I think it went into the ether, so shall just jot some quick comments here.

    Rusting paper involves a four stage process, using different combinations of black tea, a ferrous sulphate mix and a caustic soda mix. The paper is dipped in the solutions in different sequences for differnen effects,and then once dry, is rinsed with clean water and left to dry again.

    There are a number of 'recipes' out there on the Internet and I also have my own which I use as a base.

    Go well

    Fiona

    ReplyDelete
  3. Margaret-AnneAugust 31, 2009 at 12:55 PM

    Thanks for the info. Fiona.

    ma

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your thoughts and comments; thanks for taking the time.

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