#379...family recipe art

My client Sarah needed some accessories to fill this long buffet that is part of her kitchen.

Sarah had inherited a pile of handwritten family recipes from a great-uncle that I thought would be charming to frame and prop against the back wall of the buffet area.

I worried about framing the originals, as I feared they would fade and discolor over time. I decided to try copying them with a wax pencil to keep the integrity of the handwritten original. To make my recipe copies, I bought some torn, hand-made paper from the art supply store, along with a single charcoal colored Caran d'Ache Neocolor Crayon.

To make my recipe copy I taped up the original on my back glass door (using non-damaging artist's tape). I then taped the blank hand-made paper over the original and began the process of copying the handwritten lettering with the crayon. The crayon got dull very quickly, so I had to sharpen it every line or so.

Here is my finished copy on the left, with the original on the right.

Next, I found a vintage frame and covered some mat board with a ticking stripe linen. I positioned the copied recipes (I did two for one frame and and a third in a second frame) onto the linen, which left the torn edges of the hand-made paper exposed and gave it a worn, authentic feel.

Here they are displayed on the buffet. I forgot my camera the day I delivered them, so I only have these few phone pics of them in their new home.

I also suggested these quirky bookends to display cookbooks to help decorate the buffet.