The
Botanical Book Project is a community based arts project
leading
to improved cultural networks across the region and an appreciation of
and involvement in paper and book arts.
One of the key aims of the Botanical Book Project has been to assist
members of the Redcliffe, Caboolture and Cooroy communities to begin
addressing and eliminating barriers to cultural participation. A series
of
community workshops at affordable prices has enabled newcomers to
build their creative skills and develop confidence in their abilities.
The
project has also sought to build on the skills of craftpersons in the
community by engaging them as tutors on a professional basis and by
providing professional development seminars. The project records the
efforts of the people involved, develops a record of viable local sources
of plant fibre and creates a long term reference resource of natural
plant fibre papers and hand made books.
The project is a
collaboration between Red Hot Fibre (Redcliffe),
Cooroy Butter Factory (Cooroy), Cascade Place - Redcliffe's Adult Day
Service (Cerebal Palsy League of Queensland), libraries in Caboolture,
Redcliffe and Noosa, Craft Queensland and individual artists
spanning a period of two years and undertaken in two stages.
The project has
sought to provide participants with the following
opportunities:
- new networks;
- participation
in and development of skills in a variety of art practices; and
- exploration and
utilisation of natural resources readily
available the in local areas.
The project has
attempted to begin addressing and eliminating
existing barriers to participation within communities.
Workshops on papermaking,
bookbinding and printmaking were held
in Cooroy,Redcliffe, Caboolture, Woodford and Deception Bay.
During
Stage 1 of the Botanical Book project over 500 sheets of
hand made natural fibre paper were produced using locally collect
plant materials from Redcliffe, Caboolture and Noosa Shires. The
project participants who made this paper and in some cases
collected the raw materials as well are:
Sandra
Lewis
Betty Melton
Jenny Reid
Robin Maxstead
Dean Folley
Pip Stosic
Elizabeth Brown
Robert Gallagher
Bevon Diver
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Diane
Tait
Carol Graham
Leonie Bradbury
Kathleen Hunt
Wendy Birrell
Pauline Chant
Kate Savage
Chatherine Howard
Lesa Hepburn
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Alan
Collin
Bernadette Will
Esma Charlfon
Armahnya Price
Kathy Lobo
Dillon Carlsson
Glenys Collin
Annette Almond
Christine Ballinger
Janice Hepburn |
See
below for Fibre Preparation
- Milkweed/Balloon
Cotton Bush (Asclepias physocarpus)
- Nutgrass
(Cyperus rotundus) & Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus)
- White
Spider Lily (Hymenocallis sp)
- Bull
Rush (Jocunus sp)
- Iris
(Iris sp )
- Canna
Lilies including Arrowroot (Canna edulis)
- Cardamom
- Day Lily
(Hemerocalli sp)
- Variegated
Draceana
- Banana
(Musa sp)
- Heliconia
sp
- Bird
of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae)
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- Pandanus
penduculatus
- Lemon
Grass (Cymbopogon citratus)
- Sun Hemp
- Rozelle
(Hibiscus Sabdariffa)
- Beach
Cotton Tree (Hibiscus tiliaceaous)
- Red Hot
Poker (Kniphofia uvaria)
- Yucca
sp
- Molasses
Grass
- Cordyline
sp
- Cabbage
Tree Palm (Livinstona australis)
- Native
Flax Lily (Dianelle sp)
- New Zealand
Flax (Phormium tenax)
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Click on thumbnail
to view full image.
    
 
Botanical
Book project team meeting at Cooroy
Butter Factory, June 2001, team members from left
to right - Maayken, Kevin Lang, Wendy Birrel, Gavin
McCullagh, Lesa Hepburn, Penny Smith, Ngaire
MacLeod and Madonna Skelly
Botanical Book project volunteer Annette Almond
at paper making display at the Redcliffe Botanic
Gardens, 2000
Under
the tarps at Woodford, left to right
Luke, Sharon, Lesa, Gavin, Ahmarnya and
Elizabeth
Cooking
more than plant fibre, Woodford 1999-2000
Kay Schiefelbein (left) & Wendy Birrell harvesting
ornamental ginger at Cooroy Butter Factory
permaculture garden, source of bast petiole
and leaf fibres
Native
hibiscus, private garden Noosa,
potential source of bast fibre
Kay
and Wendy harvesting papyrus from the
Cooroy Butter Factory permaculture garden, source
of grass fibre.
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Iris,
Cascade Place permaculture
garden, Redcliffe
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Bird
of Paradise (Streletzia)
plant source of bast petiole
fibres
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Young
pandanus plants, variegated form, photograph by Annette Almond
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Ficus,
source of short bast fibres, photo by Kevin Lang. |
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Balloon
Cotton Bush (Asclepius physocarpus), showing leaves and green
seed pods. Balloon Cotton Bush is a source of very fine white
bast fibre. However, the sap of this plant is toxic and can
cause severe irritation to the eyes.
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Bamboo
photographed by Kevin Lang, paper can be made either from the
bamboo stem or the sheaths, this is a grass fibre.
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Cordyline,
an Australian native species and a source of high quality leaf
fibres, cordylines were widely used by indigenous Australians
and early European settlers for basketry and string making.
Phtograph by Kevin Lang.
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Yucca
growing on the waterfront at Scarborough. Yuccas are a source
of strong leaf fibres, photograph by Lesa Hepburn.
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Giant
Sedge (Cyperus Sp), similar to Papyrus, source of grass fibres
photograph by Kevin Lang
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Red
Hot Poker plant (Kniphofia Sp), excellent source of leaf fibres
(inspiration for our name Red Hot Fibre), photograph by Kevin
Lang.
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Heliconia
an excellent source of both leaf and bast petiole fibres, photograph
by Kevin Lang.
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Bullrushes
a source of strong dark grass fibre, photo by Kevin Lang.
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