Workshop Holiday Project

This is the project I finished (not framed yet) at the Christine Coleman /Alison Yeates Parchment Craft workshop. I had a great time! Thanks to everyone.

Why Perforate Twice?

This is information I have gathered from books and talking to others, please comment.

Beautiful lace borders are produced by perforating tools. The four needle tool, for example is used to create the delicate cut-out crosses. There are also many multi needle tools that can create unlimited patterns. However if they are used with too much pressure the parchment can be weakened and sometimes break. The answer is to perforate twice; first perforation is just to pierce the parchment and should be done on a thin cutting mat to stop the needles from going too far, the second perforation should be on a thicker mat to make deeper holes, which, in turn will be easier to cut neatly. Also embossing can be done after the first perforation when the parchment is not weakened by the cut-work.

Designing Cards

Flowers

Putting together a design that looks and feels right is probably more difficult than it seems. There are plenty of copyright free line drawings of flowers in, for example Search Press books and Dover Publications. Also photos can be transferred to drawings by using a grid of squares and transferring the outlines using the squares as guides. If you have and iPad you can get an app called 'copy it' which is a grid that can be sized up and set over your photo on the screen.

If you are creating your own flower pictures there is plenty of advice in art books on composition. It is however, important to group flowers in odd numbers as this is most pleasing to the eye. A triangle shape can be used as a basis for a collection of flowers making sure that larger blooms are at the base to balance the design.

Parchment

I mostly use 150gsm and 160gsm plain parchment paper for my projects. One of the problems I had when I started out was that the parchment buckled and curled and sometimes the natural oils on my hands marked the parchment.

Most of these problems disappear when you get used to parching. For example, it is often a good idea to rest your hand on a piece of folded kitchen roll, protecting the parchment from oils and heat from the skin.

A beginner may not yet have developed a lighter touch because the work demands a high level of concentration and so it is difficult to relax. This improves the more you practise.

Certainly it is not a good idea to put moisturising lotion on your hands and then work on your parchment! Unless of course you are going to wear gloves!

Paints, Pencils and Ink

Pergamano Tinta Inks

These are water based inks, the white ink is opaque but the colours are translucent - they can all be used for tracing but the inks can also be used for painting and give a matt finish. The metallics are also great for tracing.

Pergamano Dorso Pastels

Dorso pastels can create beautiful backgrounds on the reverse of the parchment. Together with a medium such as dorso oil or zest it or white spirit and a piece of kitchen roll, two colours can be merged together giving a smooth, colour changing background. Pastels can also be used on the front of the parchment.

Pintura Paint

Unlike inks, that have a matt effect, Pintura paints give a glossy finish they are also water based paints and they dry very quickly. It is probably a good idea to start off with a tear off palette and brush and a very small amount of paint (one drop).

Pinta Perla Paints

These pearlescent paints can be mixed with Pintura, so I find the white Pinta Perla very useful for mixing and making a pearlescent paint. Daler Rowney also make beautiful pearlescent paints.

Perga Colors

These are water based felt tip pens and can be mixed on a palette. Letraset also have a great range of water based pens.

Perga Liners

These are pencil crayons, the combi box provides both oil based pencils to seal the parchment and water based pencils for colouring over the top.

There are many makes of pencil crayons available, Faber Castel, Lyra etc.

Mapping Pens

Have you ever had trouble trying to get your mapping pen to work nicely? This is advice from my experience with pens and ink:

I started off with a Pergamano mapping pen. The nibs were a bit scratchy and I found I was putting rather too much ink on the nib, you should only load to the hole in the nib. I have had problems making the ink flow on the parchment, it seems that I couldn't trace without blobs appearing or no ink at all. The answer may be a new nib, the advice is to rinse the new nib carefully in soapy water before you start, also make sure that the white ink is shaken until you hear the ball rattling. With coloured inks just twist them gently to mix.

I have also tried the PCA mapping pen and nibs and have had similar problems, too much or too little ink on the parchment and a scratchy feel to the pen. I have been advised to hold the pen lightly and glide over the parchment keeping the pen as upright as possible and positioned so that you get a very thin line.

I have now tried a Conte mapping pen and so far have not had any problems, the nibs are probably more expensive as you buy them singly, but I suppose that it is worth while if the tracing is smoother and finer and more accurate. Anyone else got any advice?

Owl

This owl pattern is from the book 'Borders and Decorations' by Martha Ospina.