For the first challenge in my Master’s course, we were asked to take blank paper and make something from/with it. We could fold it, cut it, tear it, burn it – almost anything, except for draw on it. It was set as a fun challenge to get us thinking creatively and to help us get to know our fellow students. We posted the outcomes on Pinterest and commented on each other’s work.
I ended up submitting three pieces. The first piece was a collage made from lots of little bits of torn lokta paper. This was actually something I’d already started when the challenge was set (for the UMN Christmas card). Lokta paper is handmade from the lokta bush which can be found on the southern slopes of Nepal’s Himalayan forests. It’s very strong and durable (meaning the tearing process I went through for this was quite tough!) The earliest surviving lokta paper document appears in Nepal’s National Archives in Kathmandu in the form of the sacred Buddhist text, the Karanya Buha Sutra. The Karanya Buha Sutra was written in Lichchhavi script and block printed on lokta paper and is estimated to be between 1,000 and 1,900 years old.
I made this by first drawing the image I wanted to re-create in collage form using Adobe Illustrator as outlines. I then had this printed onto a sheet of flex (a tough sheet like canvas) at a decent size (around A3). Then after a quick visit to my favourite Lokta Paper Craft shop, I purchased a number of different coloured sheets of lokta paper. These I then started to rip into small pieces, giving them nice rough edges. Using glue and a paint brush, I started to apply the pieces, starting with the sky, until the whole sheet was covered. The whole process took around 10 hours spread over 5 days. It was very therapeutic.
Feeling guilty about submitting a piece that I’d already started for something else, I decided to have another go. The Dashain holiday started this week in Nepal. It’s the main holiday for Nepali Hindus in the Kathmandu valley. The weather has also changed with monsoon season ending and there is some wind picking up which signals kite-flying season for the kids in the valley. I decided to take another sheet of lokta paper and cut a kite from it. I had intended to use the space left in the large sheet to photograph Kathmandu thru it, but this proved difficult for two reasons: The paper wasn’t rigid enough to hold flat (I could have fixed this by attaching a frame maybe), and second the paper was quite opaque when held up and didn’t give the effect I desired. In the end, I fixed the cut-out kite to a window and photographed this.
I was pleased with how it looked, but still didn’t feel like I’d done much (surely I should spend longer than 30 minutes on a project?). Finally, I decided to use the Himalayan mountain range as my inspiration. Once again using lokta paper, I made an image depicting the vast peaks. Sadly, these days the real mountain range is only visible on particularly clear days in the Kathmandu Valley. When they do make an appearance though, they take your breath away.
Finally satisfied! I love the look and feel of lokta paper and can envisage lots more use of it over the coming months…