Artists’ Tools
Paper Legacy artists made ingenious tools to aid them in the production of their papers, as the tools they needed were specific to their work and not made commercially. Here we see a sampling of their smaller creations, including a portable marbling kit, a color dispensing device, jigs and guides for repeating patterns, and a variety of mark-making tools. By the 1980s, more than a few Paper Legacy artists were making tools and equipment to supplement their incomes.
Peggy Skycraft (b. 1941) and
Jack Townes (b. 1953)
Portable marbling kit, undated.
This kit, which accommodates 8½” × 11” paper, was used by Peggy Skycraft to demonstrate teaching basics, including gel viscosity, paint behavior, and marbling patterns at workshops and trade shows. The small-scale combs and drawing tools were made to fit using dressmaker’s and hair curler pins, commercial plastics, chopsticks, and bio probes. The kit also contains tubes of gouache, powdered carrageenan, alum, diluted ox gall, and dropper bottles.
Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Peggy Skycraft and Jack Townes
Peggy Skycraft (b. 1941) and
Jack Townes (b. 1953)
Three rolls for decorating paper, undated.
These are only four of the many printing devices that Skycraft and Townes made to create patterns on paper. The three rollers are made with paint roll cores and, from left to right, puff paint, rubber bands, and plastic mesh.
Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Peggy Skycraft and Jack Townes
Peggy Skycraft (b. 1941) and
Jack Townes (b. 1953)
Tools for dispersing paint for marbling, undated.
The first step in making a marbled pattern is dispersing paint onto the marbling bath. These tools were used by Skycraft and Townes to disperse paint spray on various size tanks. The fan brush and shortened sword hilt with wooden dowel were sufficient for tapping colors onto a small tank, but their 10-foot tank required a swifter method. For this they devised variants of this hairbrush crank tool with plastic bottle reservoir.
Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Peggy Skycraft and Jack Townes
Sage Reynolds (b. 1948)
Glitter dispersion and mark-making tools, and Sage’s Papers sample book, undated.
The upper grouping of tools includes a pump sprayer used by Reynolds to distribute glitter over the surface of paste paper, three cut-eraser flower stamps, and three patterning tools made from a chip brush and modified plastic auto-body spreaders.
The lower grouping features a standard Sage’s Papers sample book and a green paper sample with two of the tools used in its design. The fan motif was made with the bonefolder/cork tool and the parallel lines with the yellow plastic spreader.
Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Sage Reynolds
Claire Maziarczyk (b. 1955)
Tools for making combed, waved, and striped paste paper, undated.
Production paste paper artist Claire Maziarczyk had a substantial line of patterns that she was able to duplicate. This was made possible by the jigs and tools she made.
Pictured here are a stripe-making comb made from five hair picks mounted to a shelf bracket with foam handles; two wave-making jigs used as guides for patterns like the one shown in the New York Central Art Supply Company sample; and a hose washer roller, used to make stripes.
Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Claire Maziarczyk
Photograph of Claire Maziarczyk creating a paste paper using a tool she made from plastic hair picks in Niskayuna, New York, ca. 2020.
Courtesy of Mindell Dubansky