mulberry tearing question

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Shayla

Shayla

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Hi.

In learning to hinge with rice starch and mulberry paper,
so far I've just torn the paper dry. Now I have a piece I
want to try tearing with the wet edges, so they're as
feathery as can be. I have a very simple question, most
likely a no-brainer of some kind, but am still being brave
enough to ask it.

I just tried wet-tearing a strip of it, and even though
I tried to keep only the tiny tear line wet, big parts of the strip
got wet. (The piece is small, so we're talking a strip 1/2 wide.).
My question is, if I let the paper dry totally out, can I then use
it to hinge with, or does somehow, the mulberry paper having
gotten that wet mean it will be damaged and not good to use.

Forgive me if this sounds like a silly question. I've had an
awful day and so am just going to post this and let that
be what it is.
 
Good question, Shayla. It would seem that tearing wet would make the strip feather more. I'm sure someone will chime in soon.
 
Sorry to hear you've had a bad day, Shayla. I can't really answer your question of whether or not the mulberry tissue is still viable after letting it dry out, though I can't see why it wouldn't be. I'm sure someone who has done a lot of paste/mulberry hinges will chime in soon.

When I wet tear my hinges, I use a very thin, 1/4" wide artist brush (perhaps a chiselled end although I'm not sure of the technical term), dip the brush in the water and then take any excess water off (usually by just tapping against the side of the container that I have my water in so I don't have a big water drop on the end of the brush). I use a ruler and run the brush along the straight edge to make the wet line. Sometimes I actually have to go over the line a couple times with the brush as it isn't quite wet enough. Then I just tear the strip off. My strips have been 3/4" to 1" wide. I get some nice feathered edges that way.

Hope that helps.
 
I use the same technique as Karen. Some types of Japanese paper are less absorbent than others, so they will require a little time for the water to penetrate right through. Sometimes I will burnish the line with a rounded piece of bamboo or a chrome plated leather working tool prior to brushing the water on. That seems to make the water penetrate faster.
 
Shayla,

Have you tried a ruling pen to draw the line of water? You can adjust it to be the tiniest bit of water. The water does seep into the paper and I never thought it to be an issue.

Susan
 
What you're doing and the results you're getting sound fine. The more softly feathered the edges the better. I do it pretty much the way Twin does it, and I get good results, although I'm not saying it's the only way to do it.

I'll also run a burnishing bone along it with gentle pressure and give it a minute or so to soak in.

Here's a decent article on it: http://tinyurl.com/nxl8qw
 
Great article Dave.........great author too! Do you know who he is? ;)
 
If you hold a sheet of mulberry paper up to the light, you can see lines running through it. I was told to wet this "chain" (ruler, watercolour brush and water) draw the line with water, then tear. I don't wait for it to soak in and manage good feathery edges.

If a hinge gets wet and unruly, I discard it and tear a new one. I find if the water line is too narrow, I don't get feathery edges.
 
  1. find chain line (these are actually the shadow or water marks from the wire mesh from making the paper)
  2. fold along the chain line
  3. crease with finger (NOT BONE)
  4. draw a wet line on some glass and dip the crease in the wet
  5. count slowly to 20
  6. unfold with the crease now laying along the edge of a table
  7. tear
  8. repeat as needed
  9. quit screwing around and go make money
  10. don't forget to have a happy lunch
 
Thanks for the helpful input, everyone. I can hinge with them, but feel that my way is sort of the red-headed stepchild of the right way. (No offense to red-heads, of whom I am quite fond, nor of stepchildren of whom I am one. Neither to the word 'of' have I meant any disparagement, either inferred or implied.)

I get those pre-torn mulberry hinges from LJ, and so far on pieces with thicker paper, I just dry tear them and paint the paste on the whole end of the hinge about 1/4 inch up. But I'm wanting to get better at it, so that I can do it for floats with lighter and lighter papers and still have it look good. So far, I'm doing pretty well, but feel like such a novice compared to you wizards of everything.

This time, I wet tore the paper into the smaller hinges, then painted just the outside edges of the hinge end. It worked very well, and I'm happy to be getting better at it. I have to say, I'm feeling safer and less scared of hinging with this method. I tried the Hayaku tape first, but really chafed at how unreliable it was. This way, I feel so good knowing it's the best method for floating these cotton paper pieces prints, and it's a lot more reliable on the hinges sticking than that pre-coated tape.
 
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