Aging paper wabi-sabi style

[Chris5454nz@yahoo.co.nz]

Hey guys, does any one know some methods of aging paper? More specifically, to give it qualities of the japanese aesthetic/philosophy of ‘wabi’ and possibly ‘sabi’. :confused:

[?eter]

leave it in a box for 50 years....



But seriously, get hold of a good quality paper and try exposing it to sun and a bit of moisture. The key here is time- a couple of months of strong sunlight should do it. The idea of wabi-sabi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi) is about patina, something difficult to fake. Using rough, handmade paper is good if you can get some I suppose. not sure what else you want- do you need it for tomorrow? Does it need a drawing printed on it?

[GinSoakedBoy]

try black tea.

[naught101]

hold it over a fire (not so that it burns, just so it browns).

[Hemma]

Bake it in an oven.

[naught101]

?eter: thanks for the link. wabi-sabi sounds like a wonderful ideal, and seems to make much more sense in a chaotic world than western ideals of perfection and rigidity. I might have to look into it more.

[Chris5454nz@yahoo.co.nz]

?eter: Yea time is of the essence. It’s a project involving the re-presentation of Tadao Andos’s church of light. I have to try re-present the building using standard orthographic drawing; plans, elevation, isometrics and perspectives etc. I hope to expose and explore the wabi qualities of this building through my treatment of these otherwise banal/common drawings. So, it will surely involve sketches, graphics and writing as a minimum. You seem to have a grasp on the subject, so if this information brings to mind any other techniques, please share. I’m at present working on hand made paper (Papyrus) –cheers for that insight. Tried the oven baking method which came with mixed results; it exposed vary fine blemishes and patterns in the paper, (which could work well if I were to press leafs etc, onto it), but it also exposed vividly all my fingerprints! – a little too messy.

[?eter]

My interest in Japanese aesthetic theory comes from growing Bonsai- a discipline where we talk about 'compressing time' and taking 10 years to do something instead of 100 years. It's nice to get this 'long view' perspective on things. The kind of techniques used here are the ones where you would for example, plant a tree in a large pot and feed it well so that it grows more quickly,thickening the stem up faster than would happen in nature.

But reality dictates that sometimes you are in a bit of a hurry. So there are 'tricks' you need to resort to. An example would be to braid small stems of seedlings together to produce a rough, thick stem in a few months rather than waiting years for it to grow.

The suggestions offered to you fit into those two categories: compressing time and trickery. Baking in an oven is, in a way, compressing time- the damage of sunlight etc. is compressed by applying a whole lot of heat at once. Soaking in tea is 'trickery'- I don't mean that as a negative term, by that I just mean that the tea is simulating the cumulative dirt and discolouration effect.

Ando's buildings reveal the process of construction- through their expressive use of off-shutter concrete, as in the church of light. How can your hand be revealed in the paper you choose, how you compress time and use trickery to age it, how you make the marks on the page to represent the project?