Vegetable Papyrus Paper-Part 2

Inspirations, Process, and Techniques

Making vegetable Papyrus paper and jewelry at home…

The Blog will be a two-part series, with the first one covering the first attempt using an actual press in the studio, while the second part will cover the second attempt done at home using a makeshift press.

Second attempt-Materials, Process, Result:

Second Batch and experimentation-

**The raw materials:**
Pear
Grapefruit
Oranges
Beetroot
Cucumber
Zucchini
Asparagus
Radish
Carrots

Fruits and Vegetables chopped, after boiling

Boiling times for each fruit/vegetable till tender:

**-The key was to not overcook the vegetables and to avoid them forming into a mush. Just tender enough to make them workable.

-So keeping that in mind, these were the boiling times I recorded for each of them:

-Pear- 25 mins

-Grapefruit- 20 mins

-Orange -20 mins

-Beetroot- 46 mins

-Cucumber- 19 mins

-Zucchini- 23 mins

-Asparagus- 22 mins

-Radish- 36 mins

-Carrots- 46 mins

Sheet Forming:

**Press setup:**
-Homemade press -Masonite board base -Towel -Vegetable sheets with fabric interfacing -Towel -Glass box -Paper sheets pack -Stool with flour bag, lentil jar, and rice packet for weight
**Notes and press-related observations:**
First impressions regarding the press:
-Cucumbers, Zucchini, and pears seem to have worked more successfully than the others
-Not so pleased with the asparagus, too flimsy
-Carrots and radish seem to not have worked as well, possibly due to the press and/or cook time
-Press doesn’t work well with the beetroot sheets

Mid drying Images

-Sheets left to air dry

Oven drying experimentation on the grapefruit and oranges:

-Darkens easily
-Does dry the fruit out
-Should try it with lower oven temperature and for longer to fully dry the fruit out and to avoid burning

Images after Overnight drying with fan on low:

Observations and notes during/after overnight drying:

-Beets are too thick as the press wasn’t that successful

-Separated the carrot sheets and radish sheets and let them air dry

-For earrings I preferred the sheets separated and the natural dried flower look was something I was drawn to

Fully dried sheets:

-The pear and Zucchini house pressed sheets seem to have more flexibility in comparison to the first round of pressed sheets which were much thinner and more fragile

Earring Design:

-The organic and floral shape the disks of radish, cucumbers, and carrots took while drying was a prominent source of inspiration in the way I wanted to form the earrings.

Sources of inspiration:

-Image 1: Margaret Dorfman Earrings: Zucchini, Gold Leaf with Granulated Gold Vermeil Satamen

-Image 2: Margaret Dorfman Earrings: Purple Potato and Zucchini with Garnet Stamen

-Image 3: Olive + Piper Maia Floral Collection

-Image 4: Anielle flower hoops Earrings by The SongBird Collection