Earlier this year, a family returned to Montana from their recent travels around the world. One of their trips took them to Egypt, where they purchased a handmade and hand painted papyrus piece.
Long ago, Heather Taylor had the opportunity to make her own papyrus paper and paint her own version of an Egyptian scene with hieroglyphics. Recalling her piece, Heather remembered that is had very similar colors and she decided to present a design that she would have done with her piece.
Working with papyrus is always a fun experience because they never turn out the same. The paper itself can be unique and present its own personality, especially when we go to frame it. For example, the edges are never even, or there is a piece of papyrus that is always longer than the rest, etc. Heather explained to the customer that instead of covering up the edges with matting, we would float it on the bottom mat. The customer readily agreed to this option of mounting. When floating a piece of art on an acid free mat, we cut an opening in the mat smaller than the artwork itself. We then place cut out onto the back of the artwork and used little strips of mulberry paper and rice starch to hinge the artwork to the mat cut out. Once the artwork is safely attached to the cut out, we then place the whole set up into the mat.