☞ Nicholas MacDonald

Paper Sustainability, making paper - For the business cards at the exhibition I used a series of different hand made papers. This is a brief instruction on how they were made.
1. Tear the paper into smaller parts and leave to soak in water for roughly 30 minutes,2. Pour the water and paper into a blender and blend the paper, turning it into a pulp.3. Pour the pulp into a bigger container that already contains water. The water can be mixed with 2 table spoons of laundry starch to stiffen the paper once it has dried.4. Position the mold on top of the deckle and place them both into the container.
5. Shake the mold and deckle side to side whilst still emerged under water in the container and lift out at a even level and hold until the water stops dripping off the deckle.
6. Balance the mold and deckle ontop of the container and remove the mold. Place a clean cloth on top of the paper. Press the cloth onto the paper to push out any more water back into the container.
7. Place the and deckle down so that the cloth is touching the surface. Start to push onto the mesh with a towel to remove any left over water. Lift the dekle off the cloth carefully and the paper should be stuck to the cloth.
8. Place another cloth on top of the paper and then place between 2 boards and stand on them to remove any left over moisture. (this also bonds the fibers of the paper making them stronger) If not possible standing on the cloths without the boards still works.
9. Remove the last sheet of cloth from the paper and start to gently peel away the paper from the cloth. Leaving the paper in somewhere warm to dry. If the paper seems to thin or fragile to peel away leaving the paper on the cloth to dry will also work.

Paper Sustainability, making paper - For the business cards at the exhibition I used a series of different hand made papers. This is a brief instruction on how they were made.

1. Tear the paper into smaller parts and leave to soak in water for roughly 30 minutes,
2. Pour the water and paper into a blender and blend the paper, turning it into a pulp.
3. Pour the pulp into a bigger container that already contains water. The water can be mixed with 2 table spoons of laundry starch to stiffen the paper once it has dried.
4. Position the mold on top of the deckle and place them both into the container.

5. Shake the mold and deckle side to side whilst still emerged under water in the container and lift out at a even level and hold until the water stops dripping off the deckle.

6. Balance the mold and deckle ontop of the container and remove the mold. Place a clean cloth on top of the paper. Press the cloth onto the paper to push out any more water back into the container.

7. Place the and deckle down so that the cloth is touching the surface. Start to push onto the mesh with a towel to remove any left over water. Lift the dekle off the cloth carefully and the paper should be stuck to the cloth.

8. Place another cloth on top of the paper and then place between 2 boards and stand on them to remove any left over moisture. (this also bonds the fibers of the paper making them stronger) If not possible standing on the cloths without the boards still works.

9. Remove the last sheet of cloth from the paper and start to gently peel away the paper from the cloth. Leaving the paper in somewhere warm to dry. If the paper seems to thin or fragile to peel away leaving the paper on the cloth to dry will also work.

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Paper Sustainability - For my personal project I wanted to look at how paper is used and how we could use it in a more sustainable way. I started looking into how we waste paper, from leaflets that go straight into the bin to toilet roll tubes. The problem with these paper products is that they have such a short life cycle. Whether that is to hold the tissue paper or show an event/promotion. Their life cycle ends once it has fulfilled this set goal.
I wanted to make these everyday waste papers have a more closed cycle, environmentally. Preventing them from going cradle to grave and more to a cradle to cradle repeated-cycle. I collected 9 forms of everyday paper and started to break them down and turn them into A4 paper that could be used again. I wanted to show these papers off in a book to show how well the remade papers work as a standard sheet of A4 paper. I then letter-pressed a quote about paper that kept appearing in my research about how money and paper are the same, except the given value that we give to it. It was a nice way to tie in the paper that I had made from money that I had made. Keeping with the sustainability of the book I used home made glue made from organic flour and water. It was also coptic bound to display the paper stocks and their differences in colour, thickness and texture.

Paper Sustainability - For my personal project I wanted to look at how paper is used and how we could use it in a more sustainable way. I started looking into how we waste paper, from leaflets that go straight into the bin to toilet roll tubes. The problem with these paper products is that they have such a short life cycle. Whether that is to hold the tissue paper or show an event/promotion. Their life cycle ends once it has fulfilled this set goal.

I wanted to make these everyday waste papers have a more closed cycle, environmentally. Preventing them from going cradle to grave and more to a cradle to cradle repeated-cycle. I collected 9 forms of everyday paper and started to break them down and turn them into A4 paper that could be used again. I wanted to show these papers off in a book to show how well the remade papers work as a standard sheet of A4 paper. I then letter-pressed a quote about paper that kept appearing in my research about how money and paper are the same, except the given value that we give to it. It was a nice way to tie in the paper that I had made from money that I had made. Keeping with the sustainability of the book I used home made glue made from organic flour and water. It was also coptic bound to display the paper stocks and their differences in colour, thickness and texture.

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Paper sustainability - Turning money back into paper, removing this set value that society has agreed upon that each piece of paper is worth.

Paper sustainability - Turning money back into paper, removing this set value that society has agreed upon that each piece of paper is worth.

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practise-practice:

We’ve been busy preparing for our first group exhibition under our new collective name, Practise/Practice. The show will celebrate the end of our second year on the Graphic Design and Illustration courses at Brighton - we want to share what we’ve been up to so far and invite people to engage with what we do as visual communicators.

The exhibition, at Create Studios in New England House, will open for a Private View this Friday 7th June and then to the general public from the 8-13th. We’ll keep you posted throughout the week with more information and sneak-peeks at some of the work we’ll be exhibiting. There will be a couple of special events and activities happening during the course of the exhibition too - expect to hear more on those very soon…

In the meantime - please check out and join our Facebook event for more details. Hope to see you there!

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Research and Development - All research work Japanese bound for assessment. Based on a orange and black colour scheme, with black covers, lined on the inside with orange marbled paper. All projects included orange end papers with printed information, regarding the unit of work, my name and course. All covers were hand made and stitched.

Research and Development - All research work Japanese bound for assessment. Based on a orange and black colour scheme, with black covers, lined on the inside with orange marbled paper. All projects included orange end papers with printed information, regarding the unit of work, my name and course. All covers were hand made and stitched.

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Collection - Small book made about the star constellations and their greek myth counterparts. Printed on recycled scandinavian paper and complimented with galaxy end papers.

Collection - Small book made about the star constellations and their greek myth counterparts. Printed on recycled scandinavian paper and complimented with galaxy end papers.

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Tidemarks and Lunar Detachments: Brighton Undercliff Walk - Both finished pieces from this project. The original photos in their case and the photos printed into the book. Unified by the black and white print of the chalk from the undercliff.

Tidemarks and Lunar Detachments: Brighton Undercliff Walk - Both finished pieces from this project. The original photos in their case and the photos printed into the book. Unified by the black and white print of the chalk from the undercliff.

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Scanning and Movement: Moving Image - I moved onto scanning moving image and how a scanning of a video would look. It’s interesting capturing a period of time as a single image. I started with scanning videos from my phone to scanning videos on a larger scale from my laptop.
It’s also worth noting that these videos were all in colour but the scanner couldn’t pick up the colour from either the phone nor laptop.

Scanning and Movement: Moving Image - I moved onto scanning moving image and how a scanning of a video would look. It’s interesting capturing a period of time as a single image. I started with scanning videos from my phone to scanning videos on a larger scale from my laptop.

It’s also worth noting that these videos were all in colour but the scanner couldn’t pick up the colour from either the phone nor laptop.

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Scanning and Movement: Chalk - Using the same idea of scanning and movememt I wanted to see the depth of field the scanner could capture in terms of it being a huge macro lens. Is a scanned image a photograph, is scanning a form of photography? Photography is desfined as “The art of producing images of objects on photosensetive surfaces.”

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