Wow, I am so intrigued by this process! Kind of reminds me of the old Greek ladies that would read coffee cups - the designs left from the coffee sediment would create a design that told a story of the one that drank from the cup. But this graphite technique takes it to a new level of allowing the observer to write the ending.
I want to try this! Looking forward to your next project post.
Really beautiful, @alina.iftime
Oh, indeed, in my country (Romania) there were a lot of old ladies who did that! I even knew the meaning of a few symbols myself when I was a kid (I think a cat somewhere in the handle area was a bad sign... or was it good?) :) I had totally forgotten about this, those patterns look indeed so similar! If you want to know more about the technique, look up Allen Williams Studio on Youtube.
I didn't realize that this was a common practice in Romania, too. :) I always got the impression (as a child) that it was a secret type of practice because anytime I asked about it, I was shewed away (not old enough) so I didn't learn the symbols but I thought it was fascinating and wanted to know more about it. I wonder if it is still being practiced or a dying art. I'm curious now.
I did look up Allen Williams' work - he is an amazing artist - content is a little too disturbing to me though ;) But I can certainly respect his skill.
The old women I used to know who practiced this sort of things died a while ago. They could also read in the palm of your hand, in cards, even in beans, and knew some secret "incantations" and practices, for example to make you feel better when you were sick :) I am sure there are some people who still practice this things, but now it's more a business to take money from gullible people.
About Allan, I look less at content and more at technique. There are few of his works whose contents resonate with me, but every one of them seems almost perfect to me. I learned a lot looking at his works and his videos.
It's interesting that generation - the superstitions, too! Very serious offense to step over someone or to have a framed picture break.
That is so interesting about this other practices. Beans! Makes you wonder where all this came from - it's origins and why this was widespread across that generation.
I definitely find Allan's work and technique extraordinary.
I'm definitely going to try the wet graphite as soon as I can - that is very exciting to me. I love working with graphite.
Thank you for sharing so much and I enjoyed reminiscing about old ladies and their coffee cups :)
It was a pleasure for me too. Now you just gave me a new idea, I might want to experiment with my used coffee grounds on a piece of paper :)
Hey, that would be so cool! You could maybe even use masking fluid initially to create some symbols ;) Make it into a historical post as well. I love it!