More Nepalese Mountain Paper

Nepalese Mountain paper is one of the most popular papers in my paper supplies store on etsy;  Probably down to the colour variety, and the fact that it's reasonably priced, which means it's 'safe' to buy as a gift for other people.

Delicious colours of Nepalese Mountain Paper

currently available~ Deep Saffron, Fuschia, Turquoise, Lime

Nepalese mountain paper is made from the bark fibre of lokta, a plant which grows above 3000 metres in the Himalayan foothills. This is a renewable resource and the fibre collection and paper manufacture create valuable employment in the hill areas. The dyeing is done in the Kathmandu valley using dyes which meet current EU standards on effluence and toxicology.

 The paper has a lovely soft feel & although it feels delicate, it really is quite a robust paper... 

it gives a crisp fold & the natural plant fibres show up gorgeously along the torn edges! 

Also available in Natural!

These papers are not absorbent and can be used with pen and ink for calligraphy, for collage or for wrapping.... if your ink should bleed, a fixative can be used but most are fine.

One of the questions that is quite regularly asked is, "Can I print on Nepalese Mountain Paper?".

Well, I have written in a variety of inks & paint but I've not printed on it. 

I was really pleased when one of my customers reported back to say that it prints beautifully and shared a photograph to prove it!

"Death Spell" by Natalie Ricciardi

part of a series called "Harmonic Decomposition"

More of Natalie's work can be seen at http://ladysilvermountain.tumblr.com

I make no apologies for showing more torn edges... it's not hard to guess why I chose the name Torn Edge Paper... I can't get enough of them! 

Lunamoth by Diane Etherton-Watt

I do like to see how people use the paper they buy from me. 

Diane made a lovely 'Luna' series of collages…

~ Luna Moth ~

~ Moon Flower ~

images copyright of Diane Etherton-Watt

Although she is having a bit of a break from blogging & selling, 

Diane blogs at Naturally Through My Eyes & her Etsy shop is Inspire to Inspire

The paper she used was Nepalese Mountain paper (available here). It's made from the bark fibre of lokta, which grows above 3000 metres in the Himalayan foothills. It's a renewable source & the collection & paper making provides valuable employment in the hill areas.

Narish Paper- 3 decorative effects with flower petals

'Narish' is the name of a paper made in the Himalyas… full of petals…. mainly yellow with a scattering of blue alongside a few fronds of leaf and fern… mmmm, delicious….

Himalyan Narish paper available here> at torn edge paper

You know what I'm like with paper! I use this for decoration rather than writing…. 

I'm not saying it can't be written upon tho!

Three different ways of using this paper to add a simple, 

but effective decoration to calligraphy...

…especially suitable as this Captain Corelli extract talks of 

pretty blossoms falling from trees...

A favourite paper for a proposal scroll

If I had to choose a single paper, this Bhutanese Rhesho could be "The One". Either this or the Tsasho which is very similar except that it has the 'laid' lines from being dried on bamboo screens. There's a definite 'tooth' to the surface, which makes it beautiful to write on, and though it is textured, there aren't any annoying little strands of fibres that catch on your nib (at least very rarely!) Rhesho combined with Thai Mulberry tissue makes such a delicious, natural combination… the off-white lettering that tones with the mulberry gives such a harmonious look that I really love. 

The lettering on the outside of this scroll is done with a drafting ruling pen. You're not going to see the inside, as it contains a very personal marriage proposal! 

Ice cube trays make excellent mixing pots but white ones are actually better to show up the true colour of the paint. I'm using gouache here, and I brush it in between the tines of the ruling pen. The little screw on top adjusts the gap & thus the line width.

If you've never tried writing with one of these instruments before, you should, 

& you don't have to be a calligrapher to have a go either! 

This little scroll was to be hidden inside another...

… to be opened on a romantic re-creation of a first date.

this did get petals added, but I also really like it without

It did the trick… Tina said " I couldn't be happier with what began as a "quick enquiry". My enquiry was anything but quick but Suzi remained patient with my ever changing mind and delivered a beautifully bespoke handmade scroll which I presented to my Fiance when proposing to her. Needless to say, she said yes and was over the moon with the scroll and how personal it was to us as a couple."

That's one of the best bits…. getting to hear the happy ending!

Writing on Nepalese Mountain Paper

In the last post, Mahsheed used Nepalese Mountain paper to create wonderful collages. It is lightweight, which makes it great for layering & moulding to a shape. For all it's lightness, mountain paper is also robust…. it's made from the bark fibres of the lokta plant, which grows above 3000 feet in the Himalayan foothills. The crop is totally renewable and the plants re-grow & are ready to harvest again in about 4 years.

 These two on the cerise are written in a liquid Chinese stick ink (bought from a Chinese supermarket) using a Chinese calligraphy brush. A metal nib works well enough on this paper; the surface is actually very crisp although the paper feels soft, if that makes sense!

I want to be an outrageous old woman who never gets called old lady.

I want to get leaner & meaner & sharp edged 

and earth coloured until I fade away from pure joy.

~ Julie Kookin ~

I copied the quote from someone else years ago & searched for it's origins a while back. The words had been used in a film, & I think the character was Julie Kookin…(I may be wrong on this as information was conflicting) and were taken from "Country Women- A handbook for the new farmer, by Jeanne Tetrault & Sherry Thomas". Annoyingly I never wrote down the source for any of this, and now I can't even find a reference to the quote anywhere, so if anyone knows anything, please share!

I have tracked down the 'Country Women' book though...

… and look, it even has calligraphy on the cover. It seems to be a practical book with stories & poetry too, & judging by this review, it looks like one worth purchasing.

"The line art work is graceful, poetry is inspiring, the diaries reassure me that I am not alone in my failures or frustrations, and the practical information is well worded, empowering women into thinking 'yes, I can do this'. I refered time and time again to the companion planting section, wood cookstove section, wood splitting section... in fact, I referred so often to so many parts of the book that they are now committed to memory, along with my favorite poems. The book is somewhat dated in some ways, yet absolutely timeless in others."

forget not that the Earth delights to feel your bare feet

& the winds long to play with your hair

~ Kahlil Gibran ~

These were written with gouache… and with a brush again. I do like the effect of black brush lettering on the coloured mountain paper, especially where the paint is running out… and it feels gorgeous as I write. I can see a series of these coming up when I order some more paper. 

Brush Lettering on Mulberry... free to a good home!

Following on from that brush stroke that felt so good in the last post, I tried some lettering with a Chinese brush onto Khadi Mulberry. I set off with the "I do not sleep", intending to create a neater sample page with various tools & mediums, but after writing the next small line I was enjoying myself & just carried on writing!

You can see the transparency of the paper from the ruler & sheet of absorbent paper underneath. The lettering is all done with the same brush... varying from laying it on it's side to using the very tip.

 On the whole, I can write pretty straight without guide lines, but right at the end I lifted up on the right of the page. I do it so often it's maddening.... especially as I'm aware that I do it & watch for it, yet it still happens unless I mark that last line in. I actually positioned the paper straight underneath to act as a guide line but still.... Thinking about it now, I'm wondering if it happens when I don't move the piece of work up as I work down the page, so rather than viewing straight on, I'm looking at my writing at a slight angle, so I "see" that I'm going straight even when I'm not. *sigh* I've been doing this on & off for years & it's only writing about it now that it seems so obvious... I'll check my writing position next time!

Even so, it is possible to rescue a piece that suffers from a drifting bottom line. Adding some form of decoration to fill the space & balance it out often saves a re-write. The heavy line would have been sufficient, but there were a couple of  mistakes I wanted to cover, so added the splash. It was a bit heavy & missed the mistake altogether, so I lifted some of the ink out with tissue... then added a few more watery splashes, lifting some out to echo the look of the first one....

I like the effect... even though some letters aren't legible, the sense of the words is there. It also conveys a sense of the words.... of spirit slipping from one world to another, here but not here...

In the previous 2 & the next pic, the tissue is hung at a window... lovely textures from front & back... floating....

Would anyone like this?

If I had somewhere to hang it, it's one I'd keep... but it does need to hang somewhere. Perhaps pinned to a board or pegged from a string line...  or maybe another strip of paper or fabric stitched across the top to give enough strength to attach to a branch or pole of some sort.... or collage it into another piece of work... add a layer of your own creativity.... could look good with a layer of something else floating behind... ??

If you want it just leave a comment....& share what you might do with it. If more than one person puts their hand up, we'll have a draw next week :-)

Writing on Khadi Mulberry Tissue

I sort of knew that a broad edged nib wouldn't be the best of tools to write with on this Mulberry tissue. Sure enough, even with a light touch the corner of the nib tore the tissue.... possibly the thin consistency of ink allowed the paper to get over wet, thus tearing.

But... a finer nib was ok (just ok, not great!), & slightly better with larger letters. This was using walnut ink. The brush stroke felt wonderful, but this was just a little sample of paper so 1 mark was all I gave myself. 

Fine liner pens surprised me... they were excellent. I expected pastels to take well, but they 'took' much more strongly than anticipated... the tissue seems to hold the particles of chalk pastel, resulting in strong colour from a small amount.

Gouache (purple) & watercolour (pink) both worked better with a 'dryer' consistency... anything too wet just soaked away... the watercolour faded  even more as it dried. These were applied with a brush... I haven't tried them yet with a nib of any description. I was working with absorbent kitchen paper underneath, but perhaps felt would be a better option to soak away excess moisture.

Ballpoint pen was wonderful! Hard pencils not visible at all, but 3B starts to show.... charcoal pencils worked great.

So.... that's my preliminary tests done, straight onto plain mulberry. Every surface is 'writable' to some extent... we just have to tweak things until something works. The variables are; the tools, the medium & surface treatments. Adjusting these & trying different combinations can lead to really sharp writing on quite hostile surfaces. I'm not finished with this stuff yet!

Printing on Khadi Mulberry Tissue

 I was asked,  "Can you print on Khadi Mulberry Tissue?"  & to be honest I didn't know.

Khadi's Mulberry tissue is very soft & lightweight, with a fairly open weave. It also feels absorbent & tears easily too, so getting it through an inkjet printer would be one thing, never mind whether it accepted the ink.

I used a low-tack tape to tape the tissue onto normal copier paper to act as a carrier. On the first attempt the mechanism that pulls the paper into the printer, tore the tissue away from the backing & couldn't feed it through. For the second go I left some space at the leading edge....

... and this worked fine. I had a couple more trials... an inch wasn't enough space.... 2 inches worked fine. Don't forget to allow a deeper space at the top of your word (or whatever) document for this tho'! 

Also, one side of the mulberry tissue feels ever so slightly smoother... I tried printing on both sides & there was no perceptible difference.

I couldn't get the tape off without tearing the tissue... not a problem as I would tear the edges anyway, but it is a factor to be aware of in terms of the size of the finished piece. You can tear much straighter edges than these, against a ruler, or even cut them, if that is the look you want.

The bottom sheet of carrier paper picked up some great textures too.... so worth considering a "better" paper for this task to use as a background for something else later...

...or just to layer underneath the mulberry. Mulberry tissue is neither fully transparent nor opaque... it really depends how close to the background it is. The background colour makes a difference to the overall look too, so there are certainly many avenues to explore with this!

So, is it possible to print on Khadi Mulberry Tissue? Definitely, yes... but it does take some care. It's not hard to do but you do need a bit of experimenting to get the set-up working for you. 

I went on to try various writing tools & mediums, but will follow that up in a separate post :-)

Indian Manuscript Paper

Oooh, the excitement of an early xmas gift to myself...

paper over a 100 years old.... 

19th century accounts records from Rajastan, NW India....

long, narrow sheets of Sunn hemp paper that was burnished by hand 

using a smooth stone...

See those holes at the top? 

Batches of paper were threaded with string & hung up, ready for use...

long columns of entries by various hands will provide a great textural background

for a flurry of ideas zinging around my in brain...

I bought rather a lot & have some some

available here

The perfect anniversary quotation?

"Grow old..." with banana & walnut... sounds like it could be a cake! Of course I'm talking about Khadi cotton rag paper with banana & walnut ink.... a delicious combination.

A couple of different layouts for the quotation I have been working with...

Grow old along with me 

the very best is yet to be

~Robert Browning

 This is such a great choice of quotation for an anniversary present.... and it doesn't matter how long the marriage either. 

Altered Spiral-Bound Wedding Journal

 Quite an ordinary looking spiral bound notebook... but it is being used to record special memories of how a couple met, the tale of their romance & the preparations for their wedding. I was asked to make a "special cover" for it.

The first step is to prise open the spiral spine & lose the plastic covers. If you haven't attempted this before, note how the covers fit for when you put them back.... i have been known to put the back one at the front & vice-versa!

The bride-to be wanted this lovely natural Khadi paper...  cotton rag with banana. The corners are a japanese paper with bits of leather in. It's so long since I bought it, I can't remember the name, which is frustrating... I'd love some more, but the company I bought from ceased trading years ago & several attempts to track it down have drawn a blank (so if any one knows, do get in touch & tell me!)

 I love the natural deckle edges of hand made paper. The next step was to punch holes to fit the spiral... using the original cover as a template, I decided it was easier to use a drill.

Walnut ink is the perfect compliment for the dedication page, and the book is gradually transforming into something more luxurious. On a side note, I've just spotted someone with an etsy shop who makes walnut ink... White Dragon Papers makes paper and walnut ink... just my type of shop, lol.

Remember the silks & fibres I posted about last week from Lisa at Mudhound Studio? This is what they were for.... mixed in with ribbon & leather cord to create a blend of textures.

The lettering on the front is not mine.... it's a photograph of a tattoo that the bride has on her hip... i printed it on to canvas & layered it onto the front... [I had better point out to anyone who knows me, that "my beloved steve" is not my steve, before anyone gets excited or wonders where their invitation is!]

The covers i made were thicker than the originals, & combined with photographs stuck inside the book was splaying open a bit... a couple of holes with copper eyelets through the back cover, and a length of silk with a bit of elastic joined on to form an enclosure soon sorted that out!

So... now i've got a bundle of silks that i'm itching to use on a book for myself now, so i'm on the look out for a spiral bound one with good paper in....