Youkobo residency 2010: moisture school

The moisture percentage must be 99% here because all of my works that were nice and neatly stapled on walls are warped and bloated. Its been raining a lot but at least its a bit warmer than before. Moisture is the main ingredient in making watercolour-works on paper...from start to finish.

Trial for gouache. Im not too happy and Im wondering why im even putting this up...

The ongoing new picture. This is a kind of test as well.

because I got my 'proper' papers in last week and Im starting to use them now. I bought all of them blind not knowing their names and I was surprised to see thet my favourite paper was the one I have mostly used in Finland as well. Viva la france! I guess it is also one of the few that exceed 1,1m in width and is not too expensive (around 100€/roll for 300g/m2)

and the japanese paper thats also really nice

so this is a course on how to stretch paper. Im not at all sure how its done professionally because Ive learned all this by trial and error. This is my style on how to...

You need paper (cut to size), water, a spondge and paper tape with water adhesive on one side (I have no idea what is it called in english or finnish)

Basically you have to get the paper evenly wet on the right side (many watercolour papers have one side thats more structured than the other). This is the outer side when using papers from rolls. The watermark or the stamp of the paper should be readable. Nowadays I use spondge for wetting the paper but other methods are ok as well as the moisture is spread evenly. Once the sheet is wet it is time for coffee or tea. The moisture will spread to the fibres and the paper expands quite a lot. It will look terrible and not flat at all- do not worry this is what it is.

after the coffee I apply the paper tape to the top side of the sheet. As the paper is already wet it will stick nicely without any morer water. Start from the center and move towards the edges and pat it properly using pressure.

then turn the tape so that the glue side is up and apply water with spondge.

then you just take the sheet to the wall/place you desire to stretch it. Please note that the wall must be very even- all irregularites will show on your paper, trust me! Again move from the center to the sides makin sure paper is as straight as possible.

then it is time for the bottom. again first apply the strip without using water (your sheet should be just wet enough) make sure it really has stuck to it. Then using spondge, add moisture and make it stick to the wall. Then do the same to the sides.

Then do the corners. Try to do as good stretch as possible and undo bits that you are not happy with (only small bit at a time). The overall thing is what counts and the end result will look really bad because the center of the paper dries slower and is more warped. Do not worry!

Because the magic happens when the paper dries up. Even with this moisture!

I was really lucky (Thank you jaime!!) to find these boards from a wood shop in Kichijoiji. They were cheap as chips as they were about to be thrown out! I have tried many materials as a platform for papers but these are most professional I have ever used. Its a bit of a shame I could not get as big size I wanted but these will well do for now!