Saturday's Papers

I made paste paper for the first time on Saturday. "Making paste paper" means creating a paste of flour or cornstarch and water, thickening it, adding paint, slathering it on paper, making impressions in the paste, then letting it dry.

I added 1/3 cup unbleached white flour to 2 cups water. After letting it sit for a few minutes, I slowly brought it to a boil while constantly whisking. When it was thick like syrup, I turned it off and let it cool. After cooling, during which time the paste thickens more, I took a Tbsp or two into a small cup, added a small amount of paint (I used acrylics), stirred the paste completely then smeared it on a sheet of paper. The paper can be prewetted or dry. Some have better results with wet paper, some with dry. Then I made impressions in the paste.

Most of these patterns were made with one of those notched spreaders you get at the hardware store. Although the piece just above was done with a stencil that I laid on the pasted paper and brayered over it, then repositioned it.