on being led astray

I knew it would happen... 

sooner or later the writing of haiku poetry was bound to pull me further into Japanese art and design

I've always had a love of the aesthetics of their art, the simplicity of it so not much wonder, but I was also given a good nudge from Nigel Slater's new book "A Thousand Feasts"

in it he mentions a few Japanese potters and craftsmen and Google led me astray from there

one of the places I landed was an article with beautiful examples of the art of "kintsugi", mending broken pottery with gold

much as I would love to learn pottery, now is not the time... 

but...  I did think I could try reinterpreting kintsugi on paper 

and so I've had a go, using some of my ink-painted paper

first, a "crack"

on the blue paper it could be thought a lightning bolt...

it came out rather flat though, not enough silver leaf medium I think

short straight lines

thinking of "broken silver lines" from one of my poems though these aren't quite what I had in mind

a soft bush and too much pressure created more of a channel than a line, evidenced by the thin dark line in the centre of each mark

little dots, like rain

different sizes dry at different rates making applying the silver leaf at the right time a bit of a challenge

consistency is key, and perhaps a different brush for removing the excess silver leaf

my favourite

more of a "join" than a decorative mark

a different brush, thicker line and as I went over it, adding more medium, I did it in a rope-like mark

it's a bit lost in this close-up but in the next photo you get a bit more sense of that

some interesting trials but more I want to do

the materials are all on my worktable, waiting for tomorrow

more line practicing for sure, and perhaps I'll try a few different tools to see what kind of effects I can get

as with everything I do, the busier my hands get with something new the more my head starts to get involved; what I'm doing feeds what I'm thinking

I'm not done with my Japanese art and craft investigations though

the website that had the kintsugi instructions also has a video or two on sumi ink calligraphy

at least I already have the ink... and the paper... and a brush