100 x 100 Paper Weavings + A Contest

Kids Workshop at Walking Mountains By the Light of the Moon

100 x 100 Paper Weavings + A Contest

To my regular readers, a quick note to let you know that I will be blogging on Tuesdays and Fridays through the end of the year. I hope you don’t mind me showing up in your in-box twice as often.

I launched my 100 x 100 Paper Weavings project yesterday, and I’ll be creating a small paper weaving each day for the next 99 days. You can read more about my thinking behind the project here and sign up to receive my blog updates by entering your e-mail in the subscribe box at the right. I’ll also be hosting a few contests throughout the duration of the project, and you can read below to find out about the first one! Today is Day 2.

This magazine was laying on our table, and I noticed that the publication date was September 23, 2013, the start date for the project. The significance of this date is that 100 days from it marks the end of 2013, so it’s a count down to the end of 2013 as well!

One of my goals with this project is to write about some of the amazing papers that are out there, and my plan is to feature a unique paper, papermaker, paper store or paper technique in each of the weavings.

I paired this New Yorker cover with a Hark! Handmade Paper. This company produces small editions of high quality flax/linen/abaca papers, often commissioned for specific projects. The papers are externally coated with saturated color, followed by a patina of walnut dye, and finally a heavy coat of gelatin size. They are sturdy, come in a variety of colors and look a bit like leather.

Do you notice something distinctive about the paper that tells you it is handmade? Leave your comment below to be entered in a drawing (see details at the bottom of this post).

I chose this magazine cover for several reasons: I lived in NYC for 11 years and had many adventures with young men, including the one who became my husband (and worked at the New Yorker)! I also rode my bike all around the city and over the Brooklyn Bridge hundreds of times (there it is in the picture!). Click here to flip through each of the illustrations by Ivan Brunetti and read a description about each scene.

I’m enjoying looking through all of the papers in my flat files. This is a weaving of two sheets of my own pigmented abaca paper. Abaca is an incredibly strong and translucent fiber found in the trunk and leaf stalks of a non-fruitbearing banana plant that grows primarily in the Philippines. It is used in the manufacture of tea bags. I’m not sure what possessed me to make this garish yellow paper, but I find that it works really well with the blue.

This piece contains an added dimension. Can you see what I’ve done? What do you think the other side of the paper looks like (hint, I did not do anything extra on the back). Leave your answer in the comment section below to be entered in a contest to win a copy of my book, Playing With Paper (one of the projects in the book is a woven table runner, which features this technique).

In order to win, you must leave a comment and be subscribed to this blog. Your answer does not have to be correct, but it does have to be sincere. Entries can be submitted until Day 10, October 2, 2013. The winner will be announced that day. Good luck!