Blog

Tie dying paper is tricky as the paper is usually too fragile to be manipulated a lot, especially when damp.  Knowing that the tea bag paper is strong when wet I suddenly thought that I could try things I might with a fabric but could then use it as a collage paper! Coooool! 

One of the main projects I had in mind for the tea bag paper was cyanotype printing.  Those of you who have followed my work on Facebook or Instagram will have seen previous cyanotypes I have made over the last year or so.  I have created prints on a range of papers and fabric with varying success.  Some papers are brilliant for showing detail in the prints whilst others have a less defined edge to the images.  Unfortunately though, some of the papers that develop the best image quality disintegrate at the rinsing stage.  

Following on from the last post I wanted to incorporate some french knots into my next tea bag paper project to see how well it holds up.  Again I create a mini canvas using the gelli plate but work in to it a lot with acrylic paint before stitching.

A photo blog of my recent block print designs.

The Starfish Studio is a little gallery in Johnshaven, a village comprising of higgledy piggledy streets in rural Aberdeenshire, selling affordable British art and craft.   The gallery is run by Kate MacKenzie who is an artist herself and so she understands how difficult it is sometimes as artists and makers to sell handmade pieces in a market filled with mass produced products. " It was a long held dream (15 years or so) to own a shop selling affordable British crafts.  I was sick of seeing the same imported tat in so called 'craft' shops all over the country and...