i love art: paper

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I'm a fire hazard.  I have hoards of paper.  I love to use paper in my work.  I love to visit specialty paper shops – nothing was quite as special as carefully selecting from the spoils offered in Venice!  I have this trick – if I do what I call "me first journaling", then I free myself to be able to use the paper in a project.  How often do you collect cool papers but never use them?  Do you wonder if you should save it in case a better use for it comes along?  Don't be silly, use it!  Then you can shop for more!  Take a little clipping and attach in your journal.  Let the piece flap up or pivot on a brad so you can write underneath it where you got it, when you got it, and maybe a note about why.  Then use it!!  Here are some of the treats I brought home in a waterproof tube so they wouldn't get damaged during the Aqua Alta of Venice last year.

 

MWILOVEARTpaper

 

MWILOVEARTpaper2

Comments

13 responses to “i love art: paper”

  1. Carrie Avatar

    I definitely need to learn to follow your example with the me-first journaling. I really hoard paper and won’t use it until I find the PERFECT project for it! Love love love the papers you found in Venice, especially those printed ones with the gothic architectural features!!! So beautiful. When I went to the American Library Association conference a couple years ago, the highlight of my experience was finding a paper marbler on the expo floor and sifting through their portfolio of marbled papers to pick which ones I wanted to buy. Swoon!

  2. judi delgado Avatar

    Love these. And oddly, I spent the weekend going through every paper I have, orgnizing by type and labeling the drawers. How do you store yours?

  3. kate bentley Avatar

    Oh please share with us good places to shop in Venice for this fab paper.

  4. Kim Mailhot Avatar

    How do you store your paper, Michelle ? Do you have a way that works and lets you keep track of what you have ? That is a big challenge for me.
    Here’s to toys, glorious toys !
    HUgs !

  5. Erin Perry Avatar

    What a great idea – “me first journaling”. A beautiful record of all the wonderful paper one has acquired over the years. As my daughter would say “I am so doing this!”
    Erin in Morro Bay

  6. Suzanne Avatar

    MY God what a beautiful stash of paers! i have never seen anything like this anywhere!

  7. Cath S Avatar

    Oh such beauty – sigh….

  8. Doll Avatar
    Doll

    Oh what a great solution for saving bits of paper I love. Yes, I hoard paper too – waiting for the perfect project. I don’t want to cut it or part with it, even if I plan to use it in a scrapbook or journal that I will keep for myself. Thank you for sharing a wonderful idea!

  9. Elizabeth Avatar

    You are so right. I used to be the world’s worst user of paper but hoarding it just wastes it.

  10. Melissa Avatar

    I just love your idea to save a clipping of your paper…I think it is the perfect solution to my hording issue. I do not want to use up a beautiful piece and not have any left to give me pleasure. As I never make a piece of art for myself. They are always given as gifts. This way I will have the swatch as a memory. I will use the same idea when it comes to my fabric. Can’t wait to start clipping.

  11. Michelle Brown Avatar

    Gorgeous papers! I can’t believe you’ve used them!!!

  12. Chris Avatar

    please forgive me, but, Shut UP! Look at those things?! I was not going to comment again, but NOW I must because there’s some sort of convergence going on. Not only did I just make my first altered matchbox in years, but I also have been making a journal for Mary Ann Moss’s workshop and I’ve found ROLLS of paper that I actually forgot I had! I even put one roll up on the wall because I couldn’t stand not seeing it.
    You always think of great ways of evidencing what you do/have. I must do this. Yesterday, I wanted to use a paper I was almost out of. I looked everywhere to find it so I could order more, and it was for naught. So I scanned it. Yes. I used a color copy of the scrap instead of using up the original.
    I’m sure that’s illegal.

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