Christine Lines

Guidance Notes for Handmade Paper with Portraits

Isle of Wight Contemporary Craft Group QuayCrafts were commissioned to create a piece of work inspired by stories of the Isle of Wight Rifles and their role in Gallipoli during the First World War.

Notes for Teachers

Relating to the works by Christine Lines contained in QuayCrafts Book

1. Simple Paper Making from recycled paper and card. The paper for the two pieces ‘Urry Bothers Triple Portrait’ and ‘Len Ledicott at Sutton Veny’ were made from one brown egg carton, torn into small pieces. The poppies were cut from coloured tissue paper and floated into the pulp mix, so that they became embedded in the paper. In the spirit of a sense of thrift that would have prevailed during wartime, and making do with simple materials and equipment, I chose to make this paper very simply with available materials. (see over for instructions)
2. The textile work that I have included is a piece of handmade felt that started as white but has been over-dyed with plants and metals to create a kind of stained earthy effect which related to the trenches, the uniforms and the sepia photographs of the period. The photographic images have been printed onto T-Shirt transfer paper and ironed on to the felt backing. If there is no access to felt, or it can’t be made, then a good substitute would be old woollen blankets, often to be found in charity shops or army surplus stores. They could be any colour and could be dyed with specialist ‘acid’ dyes available from Kemtex Educational Supplies. Or to be more authentic, the pieces could be dyed with onion skins in a large steel pan to which ‘iron water’ could be added. Iron water is made by soaking bits of rusty metal in a mix of water and vinegar. The rusty metals can also be added direct to the dye bath with a teaspoon of vinegar to ‘sadden’ the colours. During WW1 all the uniforms and clothing would have been made from natural materials such as wool, cotton, linen and silk as there were none of the synthetics or high-tech materials that we have today.

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