Vignette Book Using Hahnemühle and Zebra Products #hahnemühle #hahnemühle_USA #cézannehotpress #zebrapen #zebrapenus #schmincke #wetcanvas

 Grab a cup of coffee or hot tea and 

pull up a chair!

I am going to take you on a tour of 

an awesome little project called a 

Vignette Book. 

(Yes, I did totally make that name up!)

 The awesome people (read that as Carol <3 ) at

Hahnemühle Fine Art Papers

sent me a whole bunch of fun papers to play with 

and review.

The vignette book is the first thing I did with their

Cézanne Hot Pressed Mould-Made Watercolor paper. 

 Hahnemühle has been in the paper business since 1584 and has a name for being some of the very best available. I wanted to do their paper proud!

For this project I had in mind to use two sheets of paper.

One of the really cool things about this block of paper

is that all four edges are both glued and gauzed.

This means the paper can stay flat as you work with wet media.

You do not remove the paper from the block until it is dry. 

In the photo above you see my supplies for the first sheet. 

Yes, that set of watercolors you see really is a cheap 

school supply set from Walmart.

A slap in the face to the fine art quality of the 

Hahnemühle Cézanne paper?

Possibly.

However, if you have followed my blog for any length of time, 

you will be familiar with my Art on a Shoe String posts. 

It is my belief that a person shouldn't have to spend their 

last dollar on supplies to make art. 

I wanted to show that even an inexpensive product

can still look magnificent on this paper.

I started with my Walmart set of paints,

my Cézanne block, a couple brushes and a cup of water.

I began by slopping water all over the paper surface,

then I began washing a couple blues and a pink into

the water. 

 And yes, I do mean a ton of water.

Mostly the paper worked well with the water

and it dried super flat at the end.

Once I got the colors down that I wanted to use,

I used a heat gun to blow and push 

runs of color . . .

 . . . and heat rings.

I rolled some kitchen towels across the

paper to remove the excess color and water. 

Then I carefully used my heat gun to dry the rest.

When I use my heat gun, if there are little puddles of

color - I can push them where I want them to go

simply by pushing them that direction with the hot

air from the gun. 

I can make drips and runs and heat rings.

It's awesome!

I realize in the earlier photos there were places

where the color was grainy looking. 

That all resolved itself as the drying process developed.

My cheap Walmart set?

(Sorry, Walmart, it isn't your fault.)

Turned out great! 

I love the colors and the overall effect.

 But.

This is Hahnemühle Cézanne!

So I pulled out my limited edition Schmincke tin

and used: 

brilliant opera rose, quinacridone magenta,

saturn red, orange yellow, may green and

cobalt green turquoise.

For this page I worked in smaller areas and 

added my water mostly with a spray bottle.

Then I stood the block on its side and sprayed

water across the top, letting the color run down

in drips and runs. 

 Here it is after I finished all the colors. 

Hard to see but I actually ran the drips and runs

both horizontally and vertically.

And I really, really love the colors!

My Schmincke worked like a dream on this

awesome hot pressed paper!

I also like that there are some areas that did not

pick up any color.

 Once the pages were completely dry, 

I placed them on my desktop in a tall fashion - 

like a sheet of typing paper -

with the color side down.

1) I folded the bottom edge up to meet the top edge,

and creased that folded edge with first my thumb,

then with a bone folder. 

2) I measured along the folded edge, divided that number in half, 

and used a paper trimmer to cut that section in half. 

I ended up with two folded

sections instead of the one I started with.

3) I did this with both sheets of paper, ending up with

four folded sections.

4) Then with each section, I folded back each side 

(color to color) to meet the folded edge

and made a little accordion type page.

Example in the above photo. 

Each little set makes up a single vignette.

I used scor tape and adhered each section to the next.

I ended up with four completely separate -

but attached - 

vignettes, 

which you see in the above photo. 

I used a smaller sheet of watercolor paper I had leftover from an earlier project and made two covers.

Attached the same way. 

At this point, my awesome little vignette book 

was completely put together - using a variety of products,

the base being the 

Hahnemühle Cézanne Hot Pressed

Watercolor block. 

What came next?

I tangle, that's what I do.

And I pretty much always use the 

Zensations Sarasa Fineliners 

from Zebra Pen 

when I tangle. 

So out they came. 

I am an Artist Ambassador for Zebra,

and they graciously gave me this set of pens

to try out on various surfaces and review.

What better time than with my little vignette book?

 The Sarasa Fineliners are water resistant,

acid free, archival, quick drying and they make

fine, precise lines. 

 I pulled out my entire set and began tangling various segments. 

I decided to make a wall background

with flowers superimposed over it.

I thought tangling printemps in the tiny sections where the color looked different could be shaded to look like holes in the wall texture.

Where plaster may have fallen off. 

 Hahaha!

That is what I was going for.

You will have to decide if it worked. 

 Once that was complete, I started adding various flower 

patterns here and there -

using the Zebra Sarasa pens. 

 Last, I used a Zensations Drafix Technical Pencil

also from Zebra

to add shading, which was then smoothed out and

smudged with a tortillon. 

 Two of my vignettes are finished.

I really love how they turned out!

 Here is an overview of my vignette book.

I still have more tangling to do.

Next I want to make an accordion book

that will be one continuous folded section

using two sheets of paper and 

tangle one long underwater scene over the whole piece.

I may actually use the 

Hahnemühle

Cézanne Cold Press Watercolor

paper for that one.

You will be the first to see it!

 So how did my product hold up?

This hot pressed watercolor Cézanne paper did not

disappoint. 

I tend to be a little heavy handed with the water, 

and I did get a little warping while the paper was wet.

Thankfully the glued and gauzed edges did exactly what they were supposed to do.

When my pages were dry - they were flat!

That glue and gauze held it all together superbly!

This paper is 100% cotton rag, natural white,

acid free, lightfast and extremely resistant to aging. 

No matter the amount of water I piled on,

there was no pilling, no damage of any kind

to the paper, I couldn't ask for any better results!

And I can't wait to make another book!

The Zebra Sarasa Fineliners

dry quickly and go down smooth.

No smears, no skips, no splotches of color -

just smooth beautiful color to tangle my walls.

I have been using this same set of pens for a

couple months now and they are just as 

beautiful as the first day.

The tips have held up well to my heavy drawing hand.

And they work so wonderfully with the Hahnemühle papers. 

Next up? An accordion book for sure!