Fenêtre sur l'hiver/ Window on Winter

Mon pays l'hiver

This all started with this project to do a calligraphy with the Mon pays song by Gilles Vigneault in June.  The meandering book shown in a previous post came out of this challenge.  But to get there, i tried different things, and one of them was to write using felting wool.  As I  have a collection of wool sweaters bought in second hand shops, the idea of winter, sweaters, and 'tuques' grew, and I could see in my head which seater i wanted for the background.  This sweater reminded me of old winter sweaters that one sees in kids story books, like the ones by Robert Munch, and the colours and patterns were perfect for that vintage look.

 I did a first time similar project with the needle felted tree on a felted sweater a few months back ( another recent post) , and enjoyed it.
When time came to get a frame, I looked into my stash of white, black and natural wood frames, and nothing seemed to work.   Then S suggested I look into my stash of old window frames I pick up on the street on garbage day, and is piled up against the foundation wall of the house.  I jumped with enthusiasm about finally using one of those. ( I kept them for stained glass projects).  one of them was the perfect size. It had been exposed to a winter outside, and the zillions coats of green paint peeled off very easily.  I started to take care of it,  sand it, let it dry in the sun (the end grain  wood was so absorptive)- labour of love. I finish it with white chalk paint & clear wax , to keep with the wintery feel.

Une fenêtre sur l'hiver/ A window on Winter, collage of wool and wool felting

I believe the window frame is the bottom sash of a vertical slider window.  The sash measures 16 in by 24 in. A vertical slider window would be about 16 in. by 46 in.  In our neighbourhood, this size of window was used in bathrooms.

Note the recess in the wood on each side (jamb) and at the sill;  this was probably to line up with the trim that extended to the lath and plaster finish (walls were quite thick then- around the beginning of the 20th century).  This kind of woodwork detailing is not common in todays construction.
I love the fact that the brass handle was still in place. Yap, I love it!

I made my own walnut ink / J'ai fait ma propre brou de noix!

Calligraphy with home-made walnut ink

Walnut ink is  a liquid derived from the husk of walnuts, with staining properties.  It has been used by visual artists as a drawing and lettering medium. Walnut ink is made from natural pigment that develops when the husk- the external  fleshy envelope of the walnut starts rotting, turning from lime green when it is attached to the tree to dark brown after it has fallen off. Calligraphers like it as a lettering medium; its sepia tone creates softer effects than black ink  and can be used for washes. I was puzzled to hear that sometimes what can be referred to as walnut ink may actually be  peat-based. 

I have been curious to learn how ‘real walnut ink’  can be made,  true to its name. And maybe, I could make my own;  I noticed the availability of walnuts with their husk  at the Ottawa Farmer’s market during the month of August.   

Fresh walnuts with their husks at varying degree of decomposition

With the help of Youtube videos I found out that the process of pigment extraction can be fairly simple. In a nutshell (pun intended!), one can soak a given weight of black husks in  a given volume of water (initially very hot)  and let it sit for 2-4 days. After straining, you have walnut ink.  Another method consists of  boiling the entire walnuts with their husk for a while, and let the liquid reduce until the desired tint is obtained.  I tried both and  got very similar results.

Walnuts with black husks 

Black husks peeled from walnuts

I purchased a mix of green and blackened husked walnuts  and let them all become black on a window sill for several days (Do not leave it too long piled up as cute little green worms start wiggling in the husk flesh…).  Then I  peeled  the husk from enough walnuts to yield about 1 ounce of it. I placed it in a stocking  and tied it with an elastic band, dropped it in a glass jar and covered it with about ½ cup of steaming hot water (I used rainwater, but some suggest using distilled water).  I let it sit for 4 days.  

I then took out the pouch of husks and squeezed it in the jar to extract the concentrated pigment.  I strained the liquid again through a cheese cloth and voilà- my own walnut ink!  This is messy so wear protective wear (gloves, etc and protect your working surfaces against staining. 

Some suggest adding a drop of bleach to prevent mould growth.  I tried it on a small quantity of ink, thinking it might weaken the pigment, but it did not seem to.  Other suggested adding a bit of  gum arabic to improve smoothness of the fluid.

Pulling out the pouch of husks

Ahhh.. squeezing out the 'sepia gold'

Et voilà!

Another method: boiling the whole nuts
and reducing the liquid

I also used the other method of boiling the entire walnuts  until the reduction reaches the tint desired.  That is more work, as one needs to use dedicated coockery for that, and supervision while it is on the cooktop.   I did not see a difference in the resulting walnut inks.

It is a special feeling to do calligraphy with your own walnut ink!   If you do not have access to walnut husks, calligraphy equipment supplier like John Neal in the US sells a kit that includes the husks in a pouch, instructions, and a link to a Youtube video.

Merci!

Merci!

Aujourd'hui je me suis mise à faire quelques cartes de remerciements.
Ca fait quelque temps que je veux en faire et en avoir plusieurs de prêtes quand je partage de la correspondance avec des collègues de calligraphie. Habituellement je suis trop pressée pour m'installer et les faire au besoin.  Alors là j'en aurai au moins quelques-unes. J'ai utilisé un pinceau plat et de la gouache, et j'ai voulu que l'enveloppe soit aussi marquée par des taches.

je veux aussi en faire en anglais et avec le graphite soluble que j'ai découvert dans l'atelier de la talentueuse et chaleureuse calligraphe américaine Amity Parks la semaine dernière.

Today I started doing a bit of calligraphy for some Thank You cards.  i usually do not have time to set up and make such cards in the immediate moment when i need them, and when i try, it is a disaster-  I do not well in calligraphy the pressed by time.  So I made a half-dozen and this allowed me to practice a bit. i have other ideas for more cards, this time with an english Thank You message, using the water-soluble graphite pencils that i got introduced to last week during a great two-day workshop with the talented and friendly US calligrapher Amity Parks.

Échange de cartes de souhaits festifs

La société de calligraphie d'Ottawa organise un échange de cartes de souhaits pour la rencontre du mois de décembre.  Il s'agit de faire des cartes dont la calligraphie sera un élément de design important.  On fait x nombre de cartes et on en reçoit la même quantité des autres.  en faisant 6 cartes identiques, on reçoit 6 cartes différentes. Les photocopies d'un original sont acceptées. 

En 2013, ma première année , j'ai fait deux cartes.  J'avais voulu faire des lettres découpées dans le papier et chacune m'a pris une éternité.  En 2014, j'en ai fait 4 ou 5, et cette année je pense pouvoir me rendre à 10 cartes. J'ai combiné mon intérêt pour le livre d'artiste en 3D avec mes humbles débuts en calligraphie. Ayant pris un atelier de 2 jours avec Carl Rorhs au mois de novembre sur le 'Brush Lettering' (pointed brush and flat brush), j'ai choisi de m'essayer avec le pinceau à pointe fine et j'ai enfin ouvert ma boite de pigments dorés de Finetec et découvert que ça s'appliquait très bien! 

On peut voir la structure du livre

Beaucoup de carrés de carton à découper! Heureusement j'en ai une grosse collection de carton mince de couleur achetée chez Arbour sur la rue Bank dans le temps que les enfants étaient petits.  

BONNE ANNÉE 2016!

La carte se tient debout

Le concept a évolué en cours de route avec l'ajoût d'un rabat de fermeture