Friend, Karen Thomas from Yasutomo gave me these lovely Japanese papers.  For a long time, I just looked at them...until I came up with the Layered Dichro techniques. These papers work beautifully, encased in Kato Clear Medium.

What I did discover is that some of the inks bleed - red, especially.  I’ve added a step to prevent the bleeding ink.

Step One

Select three washi paper patterns. Brush water based gloss medium on the print side of the paper, let dry*

Step Two

Laminating the papers:  Stroke a light coat of medium on one side of the paper - cure this with a heat gun.  Turn it over and repeat, coating and curing both sides of the paper.  Note: you might want to test small pieces of the papers before laminating big sheets.

Step Three

Draw a pattern of your piece on deli paper.  Cut it out.

Step Four

Lay the pattern piece on a laminated sheet of washi paper,  Draw around the template and cut the paper shape.  Repeat, cutting the other half of the pattern from another laminated sheet of washi paper.

Step Five

Roll a thin sheet of white clay.  Certain papers may become translucent when laminated and will be influenced by the backing clay.

Step Six

With a rod or brass tube, roll the paper into the clay, embedding it.  Trim and remove excess clay with a scalpel or exacto knife.

Step Seven

Apply a thick coat of medium onto piece.  Bake to cure the medium.  If it is not totally clear, heat medium with heat gun until it is.  Note:  When heating the medium with a heat gun, please hold the gun and piece away from your face, you do not want to inhale any vapors that might be released.  It is best to work in a well ventilated area.

Step Eight

Cut a thin strip from the third sheet laminated sheet.  Press it to the piece.

Step Nine

If the paper is not sticking to the cured medium, glue the strip in place with CA glue.  I’ve used my new glue fitted with a fine tip.

Step Ten

Press the piece onto the glue and trim the excess paper with scissors.

Step Eleven

Apply a light coat of medium onto piece.  Cure with heat gun.  Apply another thick coat of medium onto piece and cure as previously instructed.

Step Twelve

Add another strip of washi paper to create the “X” you see on the piece.  Follow with a light coat, then heavy coat of medium.  Cure and clear the medium following above steps.  Here is the piece.

Step Thirteen

With scissors, cut to refine the shape.  It is now ready to be set.

other examples

Here you see two pieces made in the same way,  In these examples it is apparent that the red ink has bled.  It doesn’t bother me, but it’s something you should anticipate.  The fish scale patterned paper was red and bright gold.

You could also add pieces cut from foil on medium sheets (Layered Dichro Effects) or even stamp on the layers.

copyright 2007 Donna Kato

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*Bleeding Ink

To prevent the ink from bleeding (washi paper ink is solvent based and therefore reacts to the liquid clay which causes the ink to bleed), you must brush a coat of water-based gloss medium on the paper (let it dry) before coating with Clear Medium.  The picture at left is an extreme close up of a piece in which the gloss medium was applied.  There is no ink bleed and the gold outline is more apparent.