Paper making day with Mandy Brennan

 I had a great day making paper with Mandy Brennan who demonstrated how to make  beautiful fine papers. A very different result from my previous expereince of paper making, which had involved using recyled papers. An example of this is shown below. These pieces were produced  collaboratively with Jane Woollatt a few years ago. The paper here was used to produce sculptural works which incorporated other materials. We had been working on a series of pieces entitled the Seven Daughters of Eve. They were large pieces and measured aproximately three foot, so it was interesting to learn something about the traditional technique of paper making.

Mandy's approach was more refined! She has a wide range of knowledge about history of making papers, including the very fine Japanese papers. While the process was simular to what I had previously done with Jane, the major differance was the fibres used to produce the pulp. In this workshop we used both sisal, and cotton fibres. It was useful to learn about adding colour and the need to use a retention aid if the colour is to be absorbed evenlly into the pulp.

I now have a number of beautfully delicate sheets to work with.I now need to think carefully about what to do with them next!

Mandys work can be seen at Mandybrennan.co.uk/