Lapis Lazuli, one of the world's most prized semi-precious gemstones and a prized pigment in art and religious iconography, has been mined for over 7,000 years in the Sar-e-Sang deposits of the Kotcha Valley, Afghanistan. This region is renowned for producing the highest quality Lapis, a deep blue stone that was once more valuable than gold. Throughout antiquity, Lapis Lazuli was exported to distant lands, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece.

In the Minoan frescoes at the Knossos palace in Crete, blue is a dominant color. Vibrant scenes showcase the significance of this color in Minoan art. Blue dolphins leap above the waves; elegant 'Ladies in Blue' are adorned and adorning; a blue bird is perched on a rock; a blue boy gathers saffron. While most of these frescoes utilized Egyptian blue—a pigment made from silicon, copper oxide, and calcium oxide—Lapis Lazuli was also employed, particularly in the sarcophagus of Agia Triadha. This connection to ancient art informed my decision to use Lapis Lazuli for a bespoke ink.

To print the Linear B text of my artist book "a-ne-mo-i-je-re-ja," I knew that a deep blue ink would be essential. Rather than relying on commercial, chemical-based inks, I sought something more authentic and historically grounded. To achieve this, I collaborated with Alex Warren of Sinopia Pigments to source 80 grams of the finest Lapis Lazuli  from Afghanistan. The pigment was extracted using the Fra Angelico Method, a meticulous and labor-intensive process. This method involves grinding the Lapis Lazuli into a fine powder, mixing it with wax, pine resin, and linseed oil, and then kneading it in a lye solution to separate the purest ultramarine particles. The result was a pigment of unparalleled beauty, deeply connected to historical practices.

My printer, Thomas Wojak, then mixed the pigment with a transparent screen-printing medium. The result was a custom ink that not only honored the historical significance of Lapis Lazuli but also captured the deep, enduring blue  of the Minoan frescoes of Knossos.

watermarks

Watermarks are created by attaching a form (text, graphic, symbol or pattern) directly onto the screen of the paper-making mould. This results in an image that is visibly lighter or more transparent than the surrounding paper.

For the book of whispers, I designed 24 individual watermarks, using the GFS Ignacio font, a delicate almost calligraphic font. The digital files were used to make negative films for each of the 13 folios of text and graphics.

Berlin-based papermaker Gangolf Ulbricht used a 100-year-old English mahogany mould to create the watermarks. The screen of the mould was coated with light-sensitive material in the darkroom. For each folio he exposed the screen with an overlaid negative film to ultraviolet light. The result was a matrix of hardened text or graphic; the surrounding material was carefully washed off. This matrix was used for making the required number of individual watermarked folios for the edition. Once this number was reached, the matrix was destroyed and a new one was created for the next watermarked folio.  

The paper pulp was bleached flax, the same primary material used to make the linen garments of ancient Greeks.

I have a true passion for rare, handmade papers which I consider an integral part of the aesthetic and emotional interpretation of my images. My favorite paper is made from the fibers of the Gampi bush.  This plant produces paper that is translucent, with superlative beauty and a smooth surface that glows. It is fragile, yet incredibly strong. I feel as if this paper has its own live energy. When I am working with Gampi, it demands my total, uninterrupted concentration throughout all stages of the Platinotype process, in order to bring the vision of my images to life.

Unlike Kozo and Mitsumata, the plants used for most Japanese paper, Gampi cannot be cultivated. It grows in the wild, in the mild, mountainous regions of Japan. Harvesting stalks takes place between February and March, when they are fully hydrated; it is then easy to remove the bark without traumatizing it. The innermost white layer of the bark is used for making Gampi, after the external black layer and the middle green layer have been stripped away. The clean white strands of Gampi are bundled together and placed to dry in a cool, shady place.

For the next stage of papermaking, these strands are placed in a large tub where they are cooked for three to four hours until very soft. Chirotiri (removing of the dark spots) follows. It is a labor intensive and time-consuming process. A small amount of the cooked fiber is put into a bamboo basket floating in water and then any scar tissue, dark spots or unevenly cooked parts are removed by hand.

The Gampi fibers are then beaten on a stone using a wooden mallet. This is done so that the fibers are separated and hydrated to create smooth and homogeneous sheets of paper.

Sheet formation involves mixing water with Gampi pulp and Neri, a type of natural glue. Using a bamboo screen and a wood frame, the mixture is moved back and forth, and side to side across the mould to form the sheet. The fiber settles on the screen and the step is repeated again and again until the desired thickness is achieved. The screen with the completed sheet of paper is then removed from the mould and placed on top of other previously made sheets and left overnight to drain naturally.

Later, it is carefully pressed until approximately thirty percent of the moisture is removed. The paper is removed from the stack and placed on drying boards and taken out into the sun. The sun and wind dry and bleach the paper. In the final stage of inspection, dried sheets of Gampi are held up to the light and classified by thickness, color etc. It is now ready for use.

Two of my favorite paper mills include Echizen and Sekishu-banshi.