So many ways to burn...

This is one of those slightly odd posts, where you get to see some of the strange things that go on in the studio.

I have been experimenting with burning. I can almost hear one or two bloggy friends sighing in ecstasy or squealing with delight!

I have been trying to work out how to burn some very fine paper. As you can imagine very fine paper (about 18gsm) has a habit of taking off very quickly once one lights it!  From previous experience, I have learned to do it near a sink of water so I can dunk the flaming paper straight away if it starts to get away from me.

Here are some shots of the different outcomes.

I started out with one of those wood-burning tools which people use to burn lines and marks into timber-ware. I got mighty bored with this - it took forever to have an impact on the paper, and still only gave this warm brown mark - no real burning. I made a hole in the paper and tried to scorch the edges and thought really, life is too short.

So back to flames. I lit a match and touched the edges. It ran and carved out quite nice curves before needing to be dunked.

This is the 18gsm tengucho/tengujo paper.

This is the 50 gsm goyu paper.

And then I went back to my old favourite - incense sticks.  I expected they would also burn quite quickly so set up near an open door and some water; but to my delight I discovered it was the most gentle of burns, and easily controlled.

I think I have found my preferred style, for now.

I had no intention of burning patterns of small holes; but just wanted to see if it was possible!

Here'a shot with the three approaches in one - left hand side wood tool, top edge incense, bottom edge flame.

 Oh and some random walnut ink blobs in between.

Having worked out how to burn, I then wanted to test another type of paper - the 9 gsm Tengucho paper, and then to see how my preferred papers took dye - tea and walnut ink.

The 9 gsm is on the left and the 18 gsm on the right. I was experimenting with holding the incense stick on for different lengths of times and moving it in different directions as well.

Here they are after I dyed them with tea - a bit pale and anaemic for me. The other thing about the 9 gsm is that it doesn't actually look burnt. It looks more moth-eaten instead - in my view anyway!

So then I dyed another piece of the 18gsm with different strengths of walnut ink. It looked so pale on the paper I kept strengthening it, but clearly the lightest one would have done all I needed.

A bit of a weird and random experimental couple of days, but well worth it I think. I often amazes me how many hours I spend in advance of actually doing anything for some pieces of work.  Sometimes I dive in and make it straightaway; other times it takes days for me to get to work on the real thing.
I'm sure I'm not alone...