Custom designed paper place-mats, stained to give it a vintage look and feel.
Use as table place-mats or serving tray mats
Use it and dispose it
or
Laminate and reuse
or
Frame it and hang it on a wall
what ever or where ever your creativity takes you too
What was used?
- New and salvaged paper sheets (a3)
- Vintage and other graphics and typography
- Printer (laser)
- Own recipe stain (combination of teas, coffee granules, water)
- Sponges
Was it fun? Oh boy, I had so much fun doing this project.
What took up a lot of time? The graphic design work and the staining took the longest.
Where did I get graphics from? I sourced vintage graphics from the web, and also created my own designs. (I will be posting a few of my own designs for download on this blog in the near future)
A combination of all the graphic elements resulted in the final selection of themed sets and filler sheets.
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The end product selection has various styles and designs.
After printing the sets I set about staining each individual sheet. I was very eager (in hindsight a bit too eager) and printed over 500 pages - hmm that in itself would not have been so bad if only I did not decide all the pages must be stained at the same time. |
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Vintage graphics, like the one used in this set, sourced from www.graphicsfairy.com
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Okay, so then do each sheet by hand painting with stain,
I have done lots of by hand staining before and it is not so bad. Only difference, I did not do 100's of sheets in one go before.
This process took a lot longer than what I anticipated, and it is delicate work. The wet sheets rip easy and must be laid flat to dry and preferably not handled at all or very gently until dry.
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| One of the themed sets: "Serve it up" featuring plates and cutlery |
I soon realised that my working space is to small.
Working with literally hundreds of wet stained paper sheets requires either :
1. patience - which I have a serious lack of when I am eager to work on a project, or
2. a huge a flat area in a space where the wind cannot blow away, crumble or fold the sheets.
Since I had neither of these 2, I started dying and drying in batches. Staining on my kitchen counter, tiled floor, workshop counter and any other flat surface that could get wet, and that I could remove the stain from again.
To get the drying process done quicker, I used my hairdryer to speed up the dry-time.
(Art has helped me to discover a lot of useful and multi purpose functions in many of my household or beauty appliances)
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| Another themed sets: "Vintage rooster" and cutlery |
Once dry, the sheets were sorted and packed.
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| I love the different shades and depths that comes from working with hand applied stain |
sites to visit :
www.graphicsfairy.com
4 comments:
These are lovely, I just love what you've done to enhance the ambiance of a meal, or just having friends over.
Great team, you and graphicsfairy.com !
Thank you Nancy :-)
Have you thought about doing this on fabric, such as printing right onto the fabric? The Graphics Fairy has that tutorial and then you designs could be reused. Really lovely work!
Hi Pfenix7
I have done printing work directly onto fabrics for other purposes, but not this specific design.
I might give it a try, first staining some linen to give it a "old" look and then transfer the graphics. I know which process you are referring to on the Graphics Fairy, I have done a similar process before and also use other methods.
Working with fabrics is certainly easier than wet paper that rips and tears very easily :-)
I will do a post on the project.
Always looking for input and feedback
It is appreciated!
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