Handmade Brushes

This was fun. A small group of friends meeting, having lunch, swapping postcards and making our own paintbrushes. We set about constructing our brushes using a selection of plant matter for the bristles, sticks for the handles and string to bind them together.

Once the brushes were made we compared how each performed using the same technique.

We experimented with homemade walnut ink and food dye.

I tended towards blobs and smears with scratchy marks

And really liked the combination of the blue/aqua food dye and the walnut ink.

Some of the papers have been used as the backgrounds for these postcards.

My friend Ange set up and led this workshop in her studio

Some of the plant matter we had to choose from.

Ange demonstrating how to make 

 and use the brushes.