I've waited to post about this project, but I do believe all the invitations have been mailed and have reached their destinations. My son and his fiancee had the notion to make their wedding invitations, paper and all!After the first attempts with various screens and not too attractive gray and misshapen bits of paper, many people, myself included, told them to go buy some handmade paper!
I give them credit, they persevered and came up with some very original invitations that can be planted--(there are seeds imbedded in the paper!)
Improvements were made along the way:
A blender purchased from a thrift shop and yellow office paper ready to be recycled,
a better screen and deckle set up, thanks to their friends who made them. The wider or deeper deckle catches more pulp, making a thicker paper,
a little strip of felt along the very edge, to help the paper release from the screen onto the larger piece of felt. It does make a ridge, but I had to do something to get that paper onto the felt and this worked most of the time.
I don't have a picture for the next step, but I found out it's an important one--to roll out the paper. After getting the paper onto the felt (which was the tricky part), We laid another piece of felt on top, placed the paper and felt sandwich on a folded towel and with a rolling pin, rolled it. This flattens the paper and also rolls the water out, to aid in drying.
Peel the dry paper off the felt. (notice the cat prints on the closest paper) I then pressed the dry papers under a pile of books.
All the invitations were decorated and written out by hand. We had a few marathon paper-making days here--I learned a lot, and now I'm making a few screens in the hopes that I can create paper with my granddaughter's class at her school. Yes, for those who've followed this blog, you know that I've stayed away from art teaching for quite some time, but it felt right to volunteer some art lessons to her class. So far, I'm enjoying being in the classroom again and most importantly, I'm embarrassing my granddaughter--(in a good way) If I get the chance to click a few pictures, I may post about the lessons.
8 comments:
i wish i got the one with the cat prints. Then i would feel like pippin did that just for me and was sending me her love :)But i think they turned out great. I made about 10 screens for my preschool kids and we did this project every year for earth day. Other things you can add are flower petals, sparkles, feathers, and even little bits of candy wrappers (especially the kind that have the silver on the inside)--also take an old doily and press it against the paper and iron it with the felt on top--it will make a cool embossing. Have fun doing it with the kiddos!
I'll have to experiment with all the little things to add--did you emboss with the iron when the paper was wet?
I'm only making three screens--I'll have to come up with something the kids can do while waiting their turn.
I was thinking of doing this with the kiddos when you're in town--how'd you like to help me with this one?? It'd be like the good ol days when you were my paid assistant.
It's a maybe, because I just might do this before March--we'll see.
If Pippin embosses one of my experimental papers--it's yours!
word V: dorler
if i had a dorler for every cool thing you do, then i'd be makin' a livin...' instead o sittin' here whistlin...'
yes we let it dry slighty so it wasn't dripping wet or anything put the doily on and then the felt andi think i even covered that with towel and ironed away (you could take a steam bath at the same time). Then just left the doily on there while it dried some and then pulled it off to finish drying. It was to hard to pull off while it was still really wet because the paper pulp got stuck in the doily's crochet etc. Love to be your helper when i'm home is miss p allows it :P I know she's your new helper now :)
Very beautiful wedding invitations!
Winter is a barren season without much natural color due to the fact that most of the plants are dormant and cold weather allows snow to blanket most things in a white covering. Yet
ust because a wedding is considered informal doesn't mean there is no class or style! There are several reasons why brides are opting for the less formal wedding. More color options are available for the informal wedding dress, weddings are conducted in more casual settings than the traditional church ceremony, and it can be considerably less expensive than purchasing the formal wedding gowns.
Post a Comment