Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Momigami experiments with hand cream

 

momigami experiment by Judith Hoffman using hand cream
Momigami experiment - left is the momigami, right is the original inkjet print on architect's tracing paper. I was surprised the momigami got much lighter than the original.

Momigami paper on left after rubbing on some acrylic paint or hi-flow inks.

(All images will enlarge - just click on them.) My friend Eileen of the Good Junk Sanctuary came over and showed me how to make momigami. It's something I have been curious about for years. We made a couple of pages while we talked about art and life. She mentioned that you could use hand cream, cooking oil or a gel made from konnyaku powder that is intended for momigami. After Eileen left I experimented with hand cream. (There are lots of videos online for making momigami.) I'm using Vaseline Intensive Care but I think hand creams are pretty much all the same. I first made a number of pieces of momigami from different papers. I let them dry overnight, the hand cream seems to go away. Maybe it's absorbed? The next day I rubbed acrylic paint diluted with glazing medium or hi-flow paint on them. All the paints were very thin, I wanted a transparent layer that wouldn't obscure the original patterns. My goal is to have interesting collage papers. All the papers became softer, and heavily wrinkled of course. The more fragile papers developed little holes and tears along the edges which I love. Rubbing the papers with paint did smooth out most of the physical wrinkles but emphasized the visual texture. At times the backs are almost more beautiful than the fronts.

Momigami experiment by Judith Hoffman on Amazon brown envelope.
The section of a brown envelope on the right with the arrow head is the momigami. The paper had already been printed with some acrylic paints on a gelli plate. The light spots are titan buff, a fairly opaque paint.
Momigami experiment by Judith Hoffman on Amazon brown envelope.
The next day the momigami paper was rubbed with acrylic paint. Not much change, but the more opaque titan buff spots stand out beautifully from the ground. Hard to see the effect in the photo. 
Momigami experiment by Judith Hoffman on architect's tracing paper printed with acrylic paints on a gelli plate
The momigami piece is on the right, the original paper was printed on the gelli plate. I was surprised at how much lighter it became. This is also architect's tracing paper. It's very tough. 

Momigami paper painted with acrylic paints to bring out texture.
I painted some thin blues and sepia toned paints over the momigami sample. 
Momigami on found poetry magazine pages by Judith Hoffman
These two pages came from a magazine. The small figure on the right looks particularly good for collage. 

momigami on magazine pages then painted with various acrylic paints by Judith Hoffman
The pages were then painted with blue and golden brown acrylic paints.

Momigami on found magazine pages by Judith Hoffman
I like the network of lines caused by paint sinking into the wrinkles. These will make inspiring collage materials.

Momigami on gardening magazine page by Judith Hoffman
On the left - momigami on a gardening magazine pages. The ink came off the page and smeared  around some, making my hands inky and the page look dirty. 

Momigami page that was so fragile I tried to adhere it to a piece of light tracing paper.
This was another gardening magazine page that was fragile. To strengthen it I tried to coat it with mat medium on a gelli plate. The paper stuck to the plate so I let it dry then coated it with more mat medium and laid a piece of architect's tracing paper on top. When that was dry I was able to peel the whole sheet off. What I have is some beautifully grungy text and plants. 

Bits of momigamied paper, coated with various acrylic paints to add some color in the cracks by Judith Hoffman
Bits of a page that fell apart. I love the cracks and the subtle colors. 

The back of previous bits of collage papers, the backs are often as nice as the fronts, by Judith Hoffman
The backs of the previous bits of paper. The visual textures and colors are lovely. 

No comments: