red or violet

Ingredients

alum, tinted leather, paper

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The paper was impregnated with alum. Silhouettes were cut from fine tinted leather (often red or violet) and placed between two sheets of paper to create imprinted designs of arabesques, animals, or angelic forms (p. 90).

Evidence

"In Iran silhouetted paper was made using a stencil with designs such as arabesque, animal or angelic forms, most often in red or violet. The silhouettes were cut out from very fine tinted leather placed between two sheets of paper impregnated with alum (Doizy 1996: 78–79)."

Remarks

This Iranian technique differs from the Turkish method, where the whole thickness of the paper was impregnated using felt pads to create designs like trees or flowers in green or pink (p. 90).