It’s not easy to come by and it has been a favorite around here for many years.
“Onion Bits” is a thin and almost translucent handmade paper in a soft, bone white. It has fiber inclusions and small bits of onion peel interspersed throughout the pulp and little lumps and bumps where you least expect them.
This is not mulberry paper although it has a similar look as far as the fiber inclusions go.
It performs much like a fine rice paper, and there probably isn’t anything we haven’t done with it at one time or another.
Well, the one thing we had not done with this paper yet, was use it as a transfer receiver. It’s very porous, and we thought it might take the transfer very well, since we have had such good luck with tissue paper.
Remember that leftover piece of the Rusted Rock image? It transferred beautifully to the Onion Bits paper.
It’s a pretty easy leap from a good card design to a very nice piece of wall art.
The Rusted Rock image transfer on the Onion Bits paper was so beautiful, I felt I had to showcase it. The best way to instantly showcase something, in my book, is to stick it in a museum mat (this one is 11"x14" outside with a 5"x7" window - card size). I first put a rusted horse inside the window, but he jumped out. I cut two strips of that scrap piece of rust we made, and put down a track for him to land on. It was only a matter of minutes before his two friends came bounding along, and we had a pretty exciting and dynamic composition.
It’s not in this picture, but I ended up adding my signature, in copper ink, as a third line of “track”, and the piece is ready for the gallery.
Mixed Media, 11"x14"
©2006, Jessica Wesolek, Santa Fe, NM
