Jennifer Kunin - Handmade Paper

Relief Sculptures
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I begin by sculpting in clay on a board or tabletop. I then make a plaster mold of the clay original. I reinforce the mold with foam pipe
insulator so I won't need as much plaster. This makes my mold lighter weight so I can lift it. The moldmaking process can take
anywhere from four to eight hours. My next step is making the paper pulp. I usually use a combination of cotton linter and abaca. The cotton linter is the shorter fiber left close to the seed after the longer fibers are taken for textiles. The abaca is the fiber from the long leaf stems
of the banana tree. I use colored pigment in the pulp and pack it into the mold. This is very time consuming because the pulp needs to be very compact. I use a sponge, and I press and wring for sometimes over six hours. It takes a couple days to dry, and then I can remove it from the mold. I use pastels to rub into the surface for color variation. I chose to use pastels because they allow the qualities of the paper to remain visible. I used to frame my sculptural pieces in acrylic boxes, but they seemed so smothered in there.
I have always had a love for twigs and branches and I decided the branches are more fitting as frames for these pieces.


Activation	Bird Spirit Mask	Breaking the Barrier	Dolphin Moon


Dream Flying	Fortitude	Gratitude I Kiss the World	Guardian


Blue Dwelling	Blue Shield	Circus	Cityscape


Doorway to the Pink Dwelling	Dwellings 2	Dwelling	Light in the Doorway


Moon Temple	Perpetual Motion	Pink Shield	Scroll


Sun Altar	Untitled 2	Untitled	White Sun