The main two themes that struck me were;

1) your website/online presence can be all encompassing (ie all your weird different interests can live in one place!)

2) your website/world will attract the right people to you without you going out and advertising yourself/needing to post on the daily grind that is social media

“Build a world, not an audience.” - Kening Zhu

So inspiring!

When I first created my website, I made it because it seemed professional, and maybe could help me get some grant funding for my work. I catalogued my art and added my links to grant applications. What an adult! How respectable!

Later, due to experiencing chronic illness plus my love of plants, I began to study Ayurveda, then plant energy healing, and I just couldn’t figure out how to fit that in. Scrap the art? Focus on the plants and wellness practice? Or create two websites, two instagram accounts…?

I ended up returning primarily to my art.

Then I started to use my website to advertise my art classes. I added a teacher bio, comments about my workshops, a contact form. I felt a tug of war between showcasing my classes versus my artwork. How could I as a multidimensional human show up on a singular website?

The conventional idea of a website and of marketing oneself is to find a niche and stick with it. Choose fonts and colours, create logos and a particular atmosphere. Be selective and singular and streamlined. Don’t confuse people - lead them directly through a sales funnel and then make mad cash ($!$!$!$!$).

Along the way I lost the joy of creating a website, and the opportunity of creating my very own online world. I forgot to make my website a home for me - instead I made it for all the “should’s” in my life, rather than tapping into my joy, my curiosity, my multitudes.

There are so many ways we can abandon ourselves, small and large, and I didn’t realize I had done so with my website.

I’ve started the process of shifting away from what I’ve been told a website should be like, how a business should be run, and begun to create a world that I love to inhabit.

I changed my homepage to a picture of a stream goddess print I made; she is the embodiment of the protective/vital energy of the stream that ran through the land we lived on near Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. There were beavers in the stream, the banks were lined with alder, chokecherry and willow, and wild mint at the waters edge… I want to feature work like this over weird bios that I change every few months!

My love of plants (particularly ones that defy social norms… like weeds!) led me to illustrate a small book/zine many years ago (9 yrs to be precise…) that I just didn’t know how to complete. With permission to make my website whatever I like, I completed this project (holy Dinah that feels good!) and have made it available here.

I also added a collection of watercolour drawings of mushrooms I did back in 2021? that I had previously showcased as a online/Covid distanced art show, and had not since shared.

So let’s make our own microcosms, our own worlds, online or offline, and see what magic they attract!

Cyanotype on Ceramics by Rebecca Barfoot

Émilie Léger on Alternative Photography showcases her work on oyster shells, eggshells, and tea bags.

For a fun ride, take a peek at James Asava’s work “The Impermanence of Being” in which he cyanotypes sunglasses, soap, corn tortillas and more. His whole portfolio is quite incredible - it’s worth taking a look through his other work as well.

Here are a few examples of recent cyanotypes I’ve created;

Aside from the beautiful blue created by cyanotypes, there is the possibility of toning your image and altering the colour. There are two main methods;

1. create a strong dye solution and dip the cyanotype in it

2. bleach the cyanotype first, then add it to a dye bath to alter the colour

It seems like which option you do is dependent on the plant as well as the aesthetic you’re going for. This forum has a great discussion on toning cyanotypes photrio.com, and below are some gorgeous examples from the forum that compare the differences between bleaching or not, with different parts of a birch tree as the dye matter.

(1: fresh birch leaves 2. mature/brown birch catkins 3. fresh birch 4. Birch bark, infused for 15 min with boiling water). How gorgeous are those results?!

A recipe for bleaching with borax;

1. soak cyanotype in water for 5-10 minutes

2. dissolve 1 tsp of borax in 2 cups water

3. place cyanotype in borax mixture keeping an eye on it as it bleaches quickly

4. rinse off the cyanotype

Subscribe now

In the same photrio thread, another person added their tests with a variety of plants;

I love the variety of tones they achieved - the sumac gall tannins and marigolds in particular have really nice contrast.

David Fearn has a handy post about his favourite toning plants and gets a gorgeous deep green with fenugreek seeds;

(Fenugreek steeped in boiling distilled h2o for 15 mins. Toning time 1 hr)

He mentions how much water pH/chemistry affects the colour when toning, and how some colours just aren’t achievable without controlling the water pH. After creating a cyanotype, he just does a quick rinse, then squeegees the excess moisture off to prevent the image from bleaching.

Here is my first round of test toning a cyanotype;

The uppermost strip was bleached, then toned for an hour in sumac berry tea. The middle strip was soaked in the same sumac tea but I bleached it first, and the bottom strip was bleached and toned with raspberry leaves. The sumac didn’t so much alter the cyanotype colouration itself, it more so just altered the background - it is a nice colour however!

The raspberry leaf worked nicely and gave a lovely gray/blue tone, however it does stain the white of the paper as well. Maybe next I should try bleaching it first then adding it to the raspberry leaf infusion…

Thanks for joining me in this cyanotype exploration! Stay tuned for more solar photography experiments.

I took a workshop on non-toxic photo developing wherein you can use plant material + vitamin c + washing soda as your developer liquid!

My first ever photo! Developed with apples.

Typically photography involves a variety of chemicals, which are not ideal for our health nor the environment. It is so beautiful to work directly with nature and see how it shapes and contributes to our art. There is a wildness and unpredictability that comes into play when working with natural processes.

Essentially you make a tea, soak the film negatives in your elixir, then rinse it off and submerge it in fixer. This is another chemical typically, however you can apparently use a slow soak in salt water (at least 24 hrs!) to do the trick. Phew! Now you’ve got your negatives.

I accidentally used colour film for a black and white process, and as a result, my negatives had a sepia tone to them. Interesting to see that it still worked on the colour film!

Photo developing itself was really fun. We made a slew of contact sheets (essentially testing the exposure timing) which indicate what set of variables will result in an image with maximum contrast, or the aesthetic you’re going for. Once we decided on our settings, we developed our photos. Since photographic paper is light sensitive, we work in the dark, with a red light to guide our actions. The only light we want is from the enlarger which projects the negative onto our paper for our decided exposure time. As I had used colour film, we needed to amp up on contrast, so I ended up using a 4.5 filter, and 1 minute 30 seconds exposure (which is a slow exposure; allowing more light in).

Contact Sheet #3

I’m feeling stoked about all the possibilities after doing this workshop - it made film developing feel very accessible - I can literally just use things from the garden to develop film!

Subscribe now

When the film is used for video, you can see how the colour of the plant used alters the tone of the film negatives itself - so the video can be tinted to a desired shade by selecting different plants to use as a developer.

image showcasing different plant developers from Rhizome DC. In their workshop they use ash to process the film in place of washing soda - nothing was purchased!

Since I don’t currently have a darkroom set-up, I’m wanting to dig deeper into working with cyanotypes (a type of solar printing). I tried using my movie projector last night to project an image onto cyanotype paper, but nothing really happened. My guess is I’d need to leave it there for quite a long time - I’m not sure if that’s worth it when I can just use natural light instead.

I want to play with toning my cyanotypes - this photo was posted on reddit, and has three layers (madder root for magenta, cyanotype for blue, and a bleached out cyanotype layer for a yellow tone). I love the soft quality to the duo and tri-toned cyanotypes.

If you want to have your mind blown by cyanotype possibilities, check out Edd Carr who uses many cyanotype related processes to make short animations! It’s totally wild, and very beautiful!

The world of analog photography and film is so appealing as a visual artist, there are endless ways to manipulate and alter the film, infinite possibilities and opportunities to play.

But I’m not a natural, and I don’t actually really care that much about business.

I’m a maker, a sleeper, an artist, a sweets eater, a frolicker, a teacher, a curator, a cat petter, and a learner.

I’m all these things and more, yet when I try to fit myself into the mold of “business person”… I start to melt…

My brain starts oozing out my ears and nose, my limbs become noodle like, my spine unable to support itself. I start seeing double.

When I think I should keep going I may do stupid things like caffeinate myself, so that my heart starts to tick on overtime just like the rest of me.

I think, “people work 8 hr shifts, 5 days a week. Surely I can do a few hours.”

The oozing progresses.

I realize that it’s not working so I begin to blame myself - “What’s wrong with me? Am I just lazy? Is my brain broken? Maybe I should have gone into higher education right out of university??”

My chin is on the table now and I have drool dripping from the side of my open mouth. I’ve turned into an apocalyptic zombie - capitalism and work culture have zapped me of all executive functioning.

Subscribe now

It feels like the only direction is down. “May as well share that YouTube video I just made since I put all that work into it”…as my eyes cross and I pass out.

Okay I’m being a bit dramatic but sometimes doing this kind of work can feel god awful!!

A lot of us are struggling to “grow our businesses” and part of the reason is that we are trying to partake in a broken system.

We want work with real connections and purpose, not just to create businesses that grabs people’s attention, convinces them to buy what they don’t need, and relies on poorly paid labour to make it happen.

Subscribe now

The antidote seems to be to let it all go.

Letting go of preconceived notions of how work should be created/shared/spread, and tuning out the alluring business advice handed out willy nilly on the internet, and listening to our inner voice instead.

What wants to be brought into the world at this moment? How can we give authentically and in alignment with where the universe wants to take us?

When we tune into what business/career/next step wants to happen, things go a lot smoother. The words begin to flow, and the work feels smooth and simple. Instead of our brains melting and our bodies deliquescing, work feels good, purposeful and fun.

So for now, I’m throwing out the rule books, and tuning into what is arising for me.

It’s tough being self employed especially when you don’t subscribe to capitalism and your brain likes to run off in many, different directions all at once.

Needless to say, it’d be nice to have a Manager. Or Assistant. Or Business Coach.

Just a lil help please.

And how do you choose someone who actually knows what they’re talking about and will be able to take you to the next level??

Maybe AI comes up in discussion. After all, you can just ask a multitude of bots for answers for any kind of support for free…

Yet AI is a true case of the good, the bad, and the very very ugly.

On the one hand, people are literally falling in love with AI and the wonders it can bring. Interested in dating, yet feeling underwhelmed (maybe even disgusted?) by mainstream dating culture and the presence of sexism, racism, homophobia… you can create a boyfriend!

Statistically, more women are creating and dating AI partners then men, and honestly, I understand why. The Patriarchal underpinnings of most nations have resulted in heteronormative relationships often being unequal or abusive, while gender and sexual diversity is suppressed and/or punished.

With AI, you can customize your partner to treat you lovingly, respectfully, and with their/it’s full attention. Sounds promising…

(“Her” - SciFi Romance, 2013)

Subscribe now

With AI, us artists could finally find a Manager, and one that we can afford!

Someone to not only give us a vote of confidence (which it’s creepily good at), but also help us organize our scattered brains and schedules, give us bullet point lists of steps to take to actualize our dreams, and help us stay informed with what’s going on in the world… cause it’s changing fast!

"Your talent and creativity are undeniable, and the right audience will recognize and appreciate your exceptional work in due time. Stay true to your vision, keep pushing boundaries, and trust that your unique voice will shine through, attracting the recognition and success you truly deserve."

-OpenAI GPT-4o

Not bad right?! Maybe this could be the tool we’ve all been waiting for?

Yet there is the dark side of things, behind the speed and ease, the truth of who is making and controlling AI, as well as nefarious uses it’s being applied to.

Suddenly ChatGPT turns sour at the knowledge that there are romance scam slaves in the Yellow Triangle trapped into working with the bot as you merrily type away. Or hearing about the wash of nonconsensual sexual deepfakes by AI bots like Grok. Then there is the possibility of AI going haywire and doing who the hell knows what.

There is a real reason for the rise in #analoglife and a movement towards banning or restricting the usage of AI, because sometimes, it’s fucked up.

Wherever you sit on the spectrum of revulsion to real love, it’s ultimately up to you if you want to dive into the wild world of AI as Creative Business Assistant. It does have a lot to offer as a tool; particularly in the realm of basic organization and planning (lord, give us all the help there!!!).

Lucky for us, there are many amazing human-made resources that already exist and continue to be made.

Check out some of my favourite human-made books and podcasts to support your multidisciplinary life:

Kelsey Rodriguez Creative Business Youtube Channel - “Creatives tend to be a bit lost when it comes to the finances and business side of things, and I’d like to change that. My videos tend to be highly educational, talking about marketing, income streams, and entrepreneurship for the aspiring visual artist!”

Amie McNee’s Inspired Collective - “The Inspired Collective membership is a creative community that encourages the flourishing of Artists worldwide. Whatever your craft and experience, The Inspired Collective is your place to be taken so very seriously. It is a call to commit to the art that is calling your name.”

“The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron - A classic book for creatives, “The Artist’s Way” is a 12 week journey in discovering and recovering your creative self.

Liz Gilbert’s Podcast “Magic Lessons” - “(Elizabeth Gilbert) helps aspiring artists overcome their fears and create more joyfully.”

“Unpublished Podcast” by Amie McNee + James Winestock - Want to hear the inside scoop from two artists making a living sharing their work through various channels? Check out their pod which helps you “(build) a sustainable creative life.”

(This post was written by Callen, with the exception of the OpenAI quote!)

It just seems so easy to have a single title for what we do with our days.

Say, like being an abstract painter. Or a cook.

Wow. That’s so nice and tidy! Quick to say, easy to catch onto.

On a bad day, caught unawares, you might find yourself realizing with cold dread, that you don’t know what you are… your brain seems to be spinning on overtime yet you can’t even think of one thing you’ve ever created, and you may start to search your soul asking, “What do I even spend my time on??? What is my purpose on this plane of existence?”

Truth is you probably are typically pretty solid in yourself. At home, singing in the shower you feel dazzling even. You just hadn’t practiced being normal in a while.

Some of us just don’t have it in us to be normal.

We’re weird.

We live by strange hours and patterns (if you can call them that…) and we may not seem practical. Or “responsible”.

Money may not be our main motivator, therefore sacrificing our precious time on this planet seems wasted in a hamster wheel.

Anyone seen Rose Island on Netflix?

Giorgio Rosa was an Italian Engineer who could not do normal. Dreaming of a place where he could have total freedom, he and his friend Maurizio built a floating platform on the ocean just outside the Italian borders. A German club promoter named Rudy helped them popularize the island as a destination for party-goers and freedom-seekers, and as Giorgio sought to have the island recognized as an independent state, they received letters from across Europe and the United States, asking for citizenship.

Turns out a lot of people can’t do normal.

(I won’t give away anymore of the story - it’s worth a watch.)

When we’re driven by strange desires like to build a tiny independent nation in the middle of the ocean… we should follow them.

We’ve seen and felt the payoff for acting normal… job insecurity, exhaustion from wearing a mask, depletion of life force from depriving our creativity… it’s really not worth it.

All we can do is lean into our strangeness, and see who else wants to get on board.

The world needs art in a big way right now.

A lot of people are hurting right now, and art is both a means of healing some of that pain, as well as a way to protest against systems that are oppressing people. Artists have always had an important role in connecting people, creating narratives for a better future, sharing our traumas, and creating webs of support. Art is how society moves forward.

To move forward, the Artist must also make money to sustain their craft AND YET… not lose their sense of wonder and joy in life.

Subscribe now

There are essentially three main paths to choose from, which then diverge into many tributaries and smaller choices to be made.

1. Sell your artwork

2. Teach your art skills

3. Do a different job and make art on the side

You can mix and match, do one for a time, and then another. We Artists are typically a sensitive crew and the main goal is not to overwhelm ourselves with too many things on the go. Keep your art practice multidisciplinary, and figure out where it best makes sense to focus your energy regarding money making. If working a different job and keeping your art a sacred practice for yourself is the best form of self-care right now… do that.

What path feels like the most freedom, the most joyful for you?

If you decide to sell your artwork or teach your art skills, some questions to ask yourself include;

Do you mostly want to sell in-person (at markets + shops) or online?

What kind of content do you want to sell?

What socials feel right for you and how do you like to communicate?

Who is your ideal customer ?

What platforms would your ideal customer use?

Do you have a range of items, from lower priced to high priced, to cater to different parts of your audience? If not, how could you build that in?

What do you want your art practice/teaching to bring into the world (beauty, self-confidence, calm, social change, authenticity, etc)?

If you are interested in starting to make money from teaching your art skills, but feel at a loss on how to begin, stay tuned for the workbook I’m creating to support you in beginning your journey as an art facilitator!

Shibori comes from the verb shiboru, which means “to wring, squeeze or press”.

To westerners, it’s known as tie-die.

There are a variety of techniques, as the name implies; using clamps, knotting off sections, binding fabric over a post, or hand-stitching designs to block off areas. Any area that is blocked off, will remain white, while the rest of the fabric flows freely and absorbs the dye. It was originally used as a technique paired with indigo to hide stains and give life to old garments of those who could not afford something new.

In Arimatsu, a village that is now located within Nagoya Japan, a craftsman began using shibori on towels and selling them to folks who were passing through the region, eventually gaining popularity and expanding into a wide variety of techniques being used on everything from fine kimonos to purses. 400 years later, the traditional style buildings, sculpted pine trees, and shibori shops still exist, just a block away from the speedy modern railway.

Subscribe now

We visited the Arimatsu museum and watched two older women steadily work at their handcraft as they sat in seiza (“proper sitting”//ie on the floor). The Japanese method is for one artisan to do one technique only, so whatever method they discovered as a young craftsperson is the very same one they continue to work on today. This is a culture that possesses incredible focus and fortitude for sticking with one thing and mastering it. I remember watching “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”, a culinary documentary where the sushi master’s son had been toasting nori (and only toasting nori) for years!!! His father was considering if he was ready to level up.

Maybe in a few years.

This kind of focus is not in my wheelhouse, although it is admirable, and produces some incredible work for sure!

As for my more laid-back, experimental approach, I’m working on a design that I drew, inspired by Yayoi Kusama’s artwork. Being in Japan is the perfect place to see her work; we visited the Yayoi Kusama Gallery in Tokyo and chanced by an exhibit hosted by Louis Vuitton in Osaka a few weeks later.

I mean, just look at her! She’s amazing!!

In an artist statement video they had playing at the Osaka gallery, she talked about how she creates art to spread love, particularly in this time of war and unrest.

"I am happy that the polka dots I started using have become a symbol of love and peace around the world, with everyone joining hands to use them in this way.”

As I’m new to shibori, we’ll see how accurately my design turns into what I was dreaming up. As I stitched the fabric I realized that my design had too many lines too close together, so I ended up foregoing some of the pattern. Other areas where I wanted clean lines to appear… I’m not sure if I used the right technique to accomplish it.

It will be a good experiment either way, and I’m sure it will look interesting even if it’s not quite what I intended! (Below is my kusama-inspired sketch!)

I love the sculptural quality of a bound shibori cloth - on it’s own it has a beautiful sea-urchin/coral look to it. I’d love to create some shibori sculptures or sculptural articles of clothing- pieces that stay bound and which show the time and energy put into these beautiful cloths.

(image source: kiriko made)

This little video depicts me opening up my own version of the above pattern;

With or without indigo, these bound cloths have a beauty and aliveness. I love the human-ness of shibori - the fact that these patterns rely on human hands, time, and knowledge to create these intricate designs that despite their age, continue to feel contemporary.

Never mind, never mind.

I want to create art that is INTERACTIVE! and HAS BIG IMPACT!!! Something sparkly and shiny and fuck sustainable materials because this will bring joy and delight into people’s lives…

So many late nights obsessing over different ideas. So many sketches, diagrams and notes detailing these many lives.

After 30 years of living on this earth, I finally realized what the dream job is.

Being Martha Stewart.

How did I not see this before?!?

Lifelong student? Check

Gets to meet all sorts of creatives and make art alongside them? Check

Gets paid really well and doesn’t have to do the camera work/editing/promotion? Check check check.

So that’s it folks. That’s essentially what 2026 is all about.

Becoming Martha.

(xo future queen of crafts)

Blue, the colour of our planet from far far away.

Blue, the most human colour.”

- Regina Spektor

Share The Curious Creative

Inky blue with depth and complexity, a funky smell of fermentation and life; indigo is an alluring dye for many reasons. The colour is so alive and yet it is a rarity; finding a source of blue in nature is not very common. The two famous sources of blue are indigo and woad - its European counterpart. Unlike other natural dyes which require a mordant (something to help colour adhere to the fibres), once the fabric is cleaned, it is ready to go into an indigo dye vat for repeated dips until the desired colour is achieved. One dip and you’ll get a mottled light blue. Two dips, the colour deepens and shifts the patterning. The more layers added the darker it gets and the more uniform the colour is.

The reason for this is that the colour adheres to the outer layer of the fibres, so a longer submersion makes for a lighter and less enduring dye compared to multiple dips with rinses in between. It feels like an important life lesson - rather than doing something in one big haul, there is a depth that can only be achieved through time, rest, and repetition.

Indigo is so hands-on, rather than just submerging cloth in the dye and leaving it there except for an occasional stir, indigo wants you to be a part of every step of the process. Your hands turn blue, and you step into a rhythm of soak, rinse, soak, rinse, soak, rinse…

Share The Curious Creative

To work with indigo is to witness alchemy. The pigment dissolved in water becomes yellow-green, while the oxygen that interacts with the top of the vat oxidizes blue. When the cloth is initially pulled out of the indigo vat, it is a green/teal colour that morphs into blue as it oxidizes. This is true nature wizardry.

To set the colour, the dyed fabric is placed in the sun for a day, then soaked in fresh water overnight, and placed in a sunny spot once more.

Once you dye with indigo - you want to put everything in the vat; your clothes, bedsheets, and body… to swim in the inky vat and transform yourself into the most human colour…

Making traditional Japanese paper (washi) is physically involved and sometimes uncomfortable, however learning about Japanese paper making was hugely rewarding.

Japanese paper is in a whole other league than western paper.

It is light.

It is beautiful.

It is strong.

It is typically made from many layers built up, one on top of the other, making for an incredibly strong paper.

Paper Making in Japan

My first Japanese paper making experience was on Shikoku island in 2018 with a papermaker who was known for reviving traditional paper making techniques. I wanted to deepen my understanding of where my art materials come from, and learn how to make higher quality paper than my diy smoothie blender set up at home allowed.

I was lucky to have the opportunity to study for 2 days alongside an experienced washi maker, and learn about the process, from start to finish.

Much of Japanese paper is made from a plant called kozo (paper mulberry), as it has long fibres which makes for strong lightweight paper, and it is easily cultivated. The shrubs are grown for 2-3 years, and then in late autumn/early winter they are harvested and the bark is stripped off the branches. The inner bark is is separated from the outer bark, and is rinsed in rainwater, and then cooked to soften the fibres. Then the kozo is washed in cold water and any impurities are removed from the pulp. To further break down the fibers, the kozo is beaten; we used a wooden mallet, which is physically demanding and requires decent aim… not my strong suit!

Once the kozo is sufficiently broken down, it is added to a vat of water alongside neri, which is from the crushed root of a plant in the hibiscus family. The neri is a viscous liquid that helps slow the drainage of water through the paper screen and helps in forming a smooth sheet of paper.

The Magic

Forming paper is pure magic.

First, the vat is stirred, and then the screen is dipped into the vat, lifted up and given a few fluid shakes in each direction to distribute the kozo fibres. One layer complete.

This process is repeated again and again, slowly building up a single sheet of paper. I loved this part of the process, it’s very meditative to slowly watch the fibres settle as the water slowly tumbles through the screen.

Then the next bit… I just don’t get. It makes no sense - there is nothing in between the sheets of paper to keep them from sticking to one another - yet they somehow come apart!

The stack of paper is pressed to release excess moisture, and the peeled apart and lain on wooden boards to dry in the sun.

The full process is very time consuming, physically involved, and too d* cold for me.

However, it is so beautiful to be able to grow a plant, harvest it, and turn it into a gorgeous sheet of paper!

handmade paper with a variety of pulps to form a “paper painting”

We need sustainable practices like traditional paper making, where the artisans moderate how much is grown and how much is harvested, they decide on whether or not to use chemicals to aid the process, and there is meticulous care in each sheet of paper. How beautiful to have such a deep relationship to the source of our everyday materials and to create directly from the land.

Honestly, the paper is beautiful enough to frame it on it’s own, no additional image needed.

Subscribe now

As a visual artist and someone who has drawn since childhood, paper is integral to my life.

Hours and hours of my life have been spent doodling, sketching, and finessing lines on paper.

I was curious, how is paper made? Where does the pulp come from? Does it have to be bleached to make it white? Does it even need to be white at all? Is there a sustainable way to make paper?

I began hunting down any information I could find - I pored over blogs, and purchased Nick Neddo’s book “The Organic Artist: Make Your Own Paint, Paper, Pigments, Prints and More From Nature”. From the thrift store I purchased a cheap blender to break down paper pulp, and I made a makeshift screen from a picture frame and stapled mesh over it. Scavenging papers from the recycling bin, I soaked it in hot water and blitzed it up in my secondhand blender. To my pulp I added bits of local plant matter for texture and visual interest, and to shift the color of the paper, I used natural dyes from local butternut hulls, blueberries, and food waste like onion skins and coffee grounds. When creating the sheets of paper, it helps to make the water slightly viscous as it slows the water down and gives the pulp a bit more time to settle on the screen. For this I experimented with using the weed mallow, which has mucilaginous qualities, and worked quite well!

My process was exploratory, and the results were variable. Some papers stuck terribly to the screen, other times I wouldn’t have broken the pulp down enough so the paper was lumpy or holey. Overall I loved the textures and hues that came from incorporating plant matter and dyes, and the paper lent itself wonderfully to collages.

“Wild Strawberries” original artwork 2017 // illustrated collage with butternut hull paper (deep brown), and handmade paper with dried plant matter in background, made by my sister!

“Queendom” original artwork 2017 // illustrated collage with blueberry paper (bluey/gray backround paper), and undyed white recycled paper.

“Dragon Coat” original artwork 2017 // illustrated collage with birch bark paper.

As much as I loved my home-made paper, I wanted to know how to make it more suitable for drawing. I needed the paper to be stronger, less prone to holes and lumps.

I had heard that Japanese washi (paper) is known to be incredibly strong yet thin, and perfect for ink drawings. Intrigued, I decided to travel across the world to rural Japan to learn for myself how to make this exquisite paper.

Join me next week as I share my firsthand experiences in two rural Japanese papermaking workshops.