Pergamano: The Art of Parchment Craft

     Pergamano, also called parchment craft, is paper art in one of its most beautiful forms. It is a fabulously versatile art that combines a number of techniques (such as tracing, embossing, perforating, stippling, cutting and coloring) on parchment paper or vellum to produce some pretty spectacular results.

 

(South American Parchment Craft by Janet Wilson)

     Thought to have originated in Europe in the 15^th or 16^th century, it was primarily used by Catholic craftspeople to create intricate, lace-like cards and pictures for religious purposes. Not surprisingly, it soon became popular with craftspeople outside of the Catholic community as well.

     When Catholic missionaries and settlers moved to South America, they took Pergamano with them. As in Europe, it didn’t stay contained within the Catholic communities for long, but quickly spread to the general populous where it grew into a universally practiced art form.

     With the invention of the printing press, desire for handmade cards waned in Europe and parchment crafting slipped into obscurity until a renewed interest in elaborately detailed handmade crafts in the 18^th century ushered in a sort of Pergamano Renaissance.

     Since then, there have been many new techniques and tools introduced and Pergamano is still popular in many countries around the world today.  

Pergamano Tools:

     Following are examples of some of the tools used to create the pictures and lace-like affects Pergamano is famous for:  

Mapping pen or white pencil - Designs are commonly traced onto the parchment paper using a mapping pen and acrylic ink or a white pencil. 

 

 

 

Embossing tools – Embossing, which creates the effect of shading and dimensional designs in Pergamano, is accomplished by using specialized tools of various size; ranging from ‘large’ to ‘extra fine’ and ‘stylus’ (for intricate details and very fine lines), and can be made of different materials that produce different effects (i.e. plastic for lighter embossing or steel for ‘brighter’ whites). The larger the tool used, the ‘grayer’ the color of the embossed area. Smaller, or ‘finer’ tips create a whiter, more ‘satiny’ look.  

 

Needle tools – Needle tools are used for perforating to create Pergamano’s lace-like effects.  They have either single or multiple points and are used for different purposes. A single needle tool is typically used for embossing or stippling, a #2 tool is for even perforations that will be cut by scissors, a #4 tool is square-shaped and used for lace patterns, #’s 3,5 & 7, as well as half-circle tools are used for creating decorative effects within the pattern. 

Multi-Grids – Multi-grids are pre-designed metal plates with evenly spaced holes and pre-determined shapes that are very helpful in embossing and perforating. 

 

 

Pergamano Techniques:

      The first step in creating your Pergamano masterpiece is to trace your chosen design onto parchment paper. Tracing lays down the design to be embossed and is accomplished using a mapping pen and ink (usually white but other colors can be used) or a white pencil if you prefer. Parchment paper has two sides, one rough and one smooth. The tracing is done on the rough side since the ink adheres more readily to this type of surface. When tracing, one must be careful to use little pressure as this could use too much ink or create unintentional embossing.

 

 

     After the design is traced onto the parchment, it’s time to emboss it. Embossing creates areas of raised relief, both concave and convex, within a design. Using embossing tools and pad, the parchment is rubbed in an up-and-down or side-to-side ‘coloring’ motion with increasing pressure to evenly stretch the parchment. Fully embossed designs appear ‘satiny white’ in comparison with the translucent paper around them. How white the design is can be varied by how intensively the shape is embossed. ‘Light’ embossing will produce light indention with very little white color where ‘heavy’ embossing will create a deep indention and brighter white color. A stylus tool can be used to create fine lines or hatching.

 

(M55 by Pergamano International)

 

     Once the design is embossed, some of the following decorative techniques can be employed: 

Stippling is a decorative technique that creates a matte white surface and is accomplished by using a single needle tool within a lightly embossed area to perforate small holes close together. This type of perforation is accomplished by using a cardboard pad rather than the typical foam or felt pad to keep the needle from completely piercing the parchment. 

 

(M54 by Pergamano International)

 

Perforating is used to create the lace-like patterns. Using needle tools the parchment is punctured so as to create evenly spaced holes that can be decorative designs in and of themselves or cut for different designs within the work. (Perforating has been extensively employed in the above picture.)

Cutting is used in combination with perforating. It can be used with 2 needle groups to remove shapes from the design or with 4 needle groups to create crosses or strips. 

 

(Pergamano Parchment Craft by Martha Ospina)

 

Coloring, or ‘dorsing’, is a technique in which a soft background color is applied to embossed areas. Color can be applied using oil pastels or special Dorso crayons, as well as, felt-tip pens, markers, watercolor pencils, acrylic paint or inks.

 

(M1 by Pergamano International)

 

Good News and Bad News

     If there's a downside, it’s that Pergamano is rather time consuming and labor intensive. But that is just about the only downside. On the upside, it is relatively inexpensive and doesn’t require a high degree of artistic training. Practically any design can become a work of parchment art. With the right tools and a little patience, you can easily create stunning cards, bookmarks and decorations like the ones shown here. (If you want to learn more, YouTube has a number of excellent demo videos and classes to help you learn and master this astonishing craft.)

 

(M19 by Pergamano International)