Inspiration to Card Design - The Paper Mill

One of my most favourite places to visit in the local area is the beautiful bar and restaurant, The Paper Mill in Lasswade. As well as the fabulous food, decor and atmosphere, I love the actual location of the place itself, overlooking the River Esk. I have yet to go on a sunny day to sit with a nice coffee on the terrace, watching the river flow by. This is something high up on my to do list however.

As well as all things card designing and making, one thing that has always fascinated me is Scottish History, particularly of a local area. It was whilst looking at a few old photographs on the SCRAN website, that I came across some photographs of Lasswade and the site of where The Paper Mill stands today. This used to be, as you might guess, a Paper Mill. St. Leonard's Paper Mill to be exact.

The Paper Mill Lasswade on the banks of the River Esk

St. Leonard's Paper Mill, Lasswade

I was fascinated that something that I love so much (paper) used to be made just a couple of miles from where I live. I began doing a bit of research in to the paper making processes and it inspired me so much, that I decided I just HAD to try making some. My very first attempt with a homemade deckle and mould was a disaster and so I decided that I needed to invest in the proper materials! I therefore purchased a proper set from a stockist on Ebay.

There is something so magical about the seeing fibres from paper pulp joining together to form a new sheet of paper…..I decided to make a new range of cards using this process and I knew exactly how I wanted to do it…..

It was time to take paper making back to the 18th century when the processes was aided by the water from the River Esk. Bottle in hand, I headed down to Lasswade in order to collect some of that very water (well actually, my husband did while I took the photographs!)

Using scraps of paper from previous card making projects, I created a paper pulp and mixed this together with the water from the Esk. The deckle and mould were then used to help form a new sheet of paper. I wanted interest added to the paper and for this, I was inspired by nature. Surrounding the River Esk were various wild flowers growing, one of my favourites being a Scotch Thistle. With the use of some strong gardening cloves and scissors, I was able to forage some of the plant so that leaves and petals from the flower head could also be added to the pulp.

The paper was pressed and dried in a home-made wooden press (thanks to my husband), and was then cut to size for the card in hand. It seemed only right that the card itself reflected the foliage used and so a thistle is embossed in gold on the inside card and then is stamped in traditional colours for the front sleeve. I had tried stamping directly on to the handmade paper, but this wouldn't show up well. I therefore had to stamp on to smooth card first and then carefully cut it out.

As this month on the blog is focusing on a 'Birthday' theme, this has been made as a birthday card. However, I wanted to add a slight twist to this also. I am currently trying to learn Gaelic and so I thought it would be nice to add a birthday sentiment in Gaelic on the sleeve of the card and then add the English version on the inside card.

When creating the video for this card, I spent hours searching for the 'right' piece of music. I was drawing a complete blank until I remembered something I had come across in my research. The area of Lasswade has two stories regarding how it got its name. I prefer the folklore which is based on a girl called Jenny who used to cross the river (before their was a bridge) with men on her back for money. There was a rhyme created that supposedly they all used to shout - 'Ready, steady Jenny Lass, wade'…..and so the name Lasswade came about. This folklore was written about in a song by Scottish Folk band The McCalmans. I managed to get in touch with the writer of the song, Ian McCalman and he very kindly agreed that the song could be used in the video. It is the perfect piece of music for the subject of the video and I am so very grateful for the permission. 

Now to reveal the video….I am SO excited about this one. I hope you enjoy watching it :-)

I hope you have enjoyed reading about how this card has allowed a little bit of history to come to life. I can't wait to try out a whole host of different papers using this process and with a variety of different foliage…..watch this space for more coming soon.

It is a very long time since I have entered one of my cards in to a card competition, but I am so passionate about this one that I want to share it as far and wide as I can. I am therefore entering it in to the CASology challenge where the theme is 'Aquatic'……I would say the River Esk aspect counts as 'Aquatic'…. I am also going to enter it into the Runway Inspired Challenge where the picture inspiration is as bellow - If you see the foliage in the background, they look similar to thistle leaves - also, the building in the background is similar in shape to The Papermills on the banks of the river.

Over at Inkspirational challenges, it is also a picture inspiration that has been given. The picture is of an idyllic beach setting…..now I'm afraid i'm not really a beach person and so a peaceful 'idyllic' setting to me would in fact be more of a sitting with a coffee, watching the world go by on the terrace of the Paper Mill on the banks of the river….there is still water involved!! I'm going to submit my 'alternative' card into this challenge too.

If you are interested in purchasing one of these cards, they can be be made bespoke with your choice of colours, tartan and sentiment. For more details and to order, visit my Etsy shop here or go direct to the listing for this card here.

Join me next week when we will be looking at exciting Birthday presents available from local companies in the area.

Laura x

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