Storing scrolls in ancient Rome from A History of Reading by Canadian author Alberto Manguel.
April 2001
This newsletter was designed by me, Suzanne Cannon, for my students and anyone else who might be interested!
Storing scrolls in ancient Rome from A History of Reading by Canadian author Alberto Manguel. |
April 2001 This newsletter was designed by me, Suzanne Cannon, for my students and anyone else who might be interested! |
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Gentle Thoughts Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. Picasso Artist's Journal in A Day In February, I was lucky enough to spend three wonderful days teaching in Red Deer, Alberta. After two days of disciplined studying of the Foundational Hand, we took a break and had some fun! Artist's Journal in a Day - No Fear is a class I designed for those who had fear of those white, white pages in a new journal. In this class we make the book and then fill it. We begin gently with cutting up magazine pages (gentle in that it is not too challenging for first thing in the morning!) and work our way through a series of drawing and journaling exercises. Learn the kind of journal keeping that interests you most and explore some ideas you may not have thought of! I will be teaching this class again, at Paper-Ya, in Vancouver on Saturday, May 26. Please feel free to contact me if you need more information: suzanne@quietfiredesign.com or contact Paper-Ya to register: info@paper-ya.com or call (604) 684-2531 Books to Inspire In doing the tons of research for preparing for Artist's Journal in A Day, one of the books I came across was by Dan Price, entitled How to Make a Journal of Your Life. What a wonderful little book! It is small and all handwritten and illustrated. After a read through it you will wonder why you aren't keeping a journal (if you don't already)! Dan Price has a website you might like to check out Moonlight Chronicles Notes Here is a link to my website where you can check out my calendar page for upcoming classes and events. Hope to see you! Quietfire Design Once you have gone to my website you will need to use your browser back button to return as there is no link from my website to here!
Classes I am teaching this spring are Note: after this session Paper-Ya will no longer be conducting classes. So sad! I am currently working on updating my website for online ordering - yikes! Strains my brain! I have put together some sewing cradles for sale. I have only taught one class in which we made these and I know some of you have been asking for them. They are not things of great beauty, but really, really functional. They are large enough to pierce an 8.5" spine length signature. They are $20Cdn and I'll include the shipping within Canada. Email me if you can't live without one! |
Welcome to my first issue of my online newsletter byhand! I hope to present these newsletters monthly and will email you to let you know when they are published. If you wish to read other issues of byhand you may click here
I was just reading that people read 25% slower when reading from a computer monitor, so I will try to get to the point and be easy on your eyes!
I hope that with these newsletters, I can give you a little information that you may not have known. If you already know it, maybe it will be a small refresher! I plan to add some calligraphic art to most issues with an explanation of how it's done, but I thought there was enough stuff in this issue!
Papermaking techniques have not changed in 1400 years in many of the villages. Often the paper will be touched by up to 20 people from the pickers to the final sheets of paper - and a lot of the work is hard. Paper is made in the winter, as summer is for farm work.
Japanese paper is known as washi, and can be made from kozo (the paper mulberry bush) or gampi or mitsumata. Mulberry is grown as a renewable crop in papermaking communities. New branches are cut yearly from the bushes, then branches are steamed for several hours to loosen the bark. There are three outer layers of bark and the third layer is the one required for papermaking. The fibers are soaked in running water then cooked in soda ash or lye which keeps the fibres strong. Only when the fibres have been beaten and cleaned are they ready to actually make the sheets of paper. I’m tired just writing about it!
The papers Nancy had for display were beautiful! You had to admire the evenness of the sheets even those that were tissue thin.
Many thanks to Nancy for her time and enthusiasm in sharing her wealth of knowledge and increasing our appreciation for these wonderful papers! I encourage you to experiment with marbling, copy transfers, painting and drawing on Japanese papers. I think you'll realize they are worth every penny they cost!
If you would like any information from Paper-Ya contact them at info@paper-ya.com Click here to go to The Japanese Paper Place for a little snoop! If there is any information you would like to see in this newsletter, let me know. If you do not wish to receive email notifying you of new issues of byhand just email me and I will take you off my list. If you know someone who would like to receive notice of byhand, just have them email me. Bye for now and thanks for visiting!  suzanne@quietfiredesign.com The original title lettering of byhand was done with a Mitchell's Roundhand Nib, size 0, and Higgins Eternal Ink. |
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