Paper Lamination Workshop

 I've just spent four brilliant days on a Paper Lamination Workshop run by Sarah Welsby, at the newly re-furbished, Potters Barn at Bovey, home of Committed to Cloth. It will definitely remain in my mind as four of the most enjoyable days I've spent in a long time, and is to be thoroughly recommended.

The process consists of using papers, preferably laser prints/photocopies of your own photographs, or newsprint. These are arranged under polyester or silk voiles, and then a matt medium acrylic is screen printed over the top, which is dried, and then heat set before being soaked in cold water for five minutes. This allows the paper that has not been treated with the medium to be removed, and you can see from the photo above, a piece of treated voile hanging to dry. After this, the piece can be layered, or not, depending on what end result is desired. The layering can use small pieces of fabric, or just one large single piece, and wadding and backing can also be added, ready for stitch.

The bird images on the left, and the longer striped piece are two polyester voiles that I made during the workshop, and I have plans on how to take them forward. I also laminated two images taken from a photograph that I took of some pebbles and seaweed. I played around with them on photoshop, and then laminated them onto some calico. The results are in black and white, and the hand of the calico gives a stiffer, less floaty result. However, I am looking forward to experimenting with paint and stitch on this piece.

Finally, I did manage to complete a piece of work, and this is the result. I'm very pleased with what I achieved in the four days, and am really looking forward to further experiments with this fascinating technique.