paper tiger : january ‘22
Thomas Little writes: “Paper Tiger is a blend of synthesized yellow iron oxide derived from an early 20th century shotgun manufactured by the Crescent Firearms Company, and an iron rich sandstone outcropping in the Cohairie River basin. I named it Paper Tiger for its tawny hue and as a nod to the metaphor. In transmuting the weapon to golden dust and symbolically returning it to the earth, the threat of violence becomes nullified. The tiger loses his teeth and claws, and becomes just a shade, a suggestion of itself.”
***A note from Thomas Little and Tilke Elkins: Paper Tiger has a fairly high silica content, from the yellow ochre rock that was combined with the iron oxide from the gun. Some ochres are like this — they have an extremely fine iron oxide powder that’s brilliant hued and exists between the silica aggregates in the material. The pigment makes a nice deep ochre-brown paint with a large particle size texture just as it is, when used thick. Thinned, or mixed with a little white, it looks much yellower. If you’d like a finer, brighter pigment, we recommend you levigate Paper Tiger using the instructions on the Suggested Activity card. We’ve included a little more pigment that usual in this packet, to account for the extra silica. We hope you enjoy its many dynamic properties!
contributor: Thomas Little
Thomas is an amateur ink historian who explores mystic and scientific concepts through the lens of ink and our relationship to mark-making. He gathers threads from alchemical imagery, chemical phenomena, and mystic observations, and incorporates them into a holistic synthesis theory of art-science-magic. The natural world informs his work with ink in not only the materials used, but the relationships expressed between plant, animal, and elements. He has formulated inks for people using some herbal requests and symbolic iron objects. He is currently developing a primary palette with iron pigments derived from gun parts, and collaborating with a slime mold, Physarum polycephalum. He is available to make inks and devotional-art-objects on request. He has lived in many places, but always dwells near dark water. He can be reached through his Instagram account, @a.rural.pen, or by email, at thomas.little.films@gmail.com.
Image from Thomas Little’s Instagram feed @a.rural.pen
Photo from the Lead to Life website.
22% donation recipient : Lead to Life
Lead to Life transforms weapons into shovels for tree planting ceremonies at sites that have been impacted by violence or carry spiritual significance across Atlanta (occupied lands of the Cherokee and Creek people) and Oakland (occupied lands of the Ohlone people.) Inspired by Mexican artist Pedro Reyes and an ancient lineage of Swords to Plowshares creators, they choose to locate their alchemy and cultural healing work in the US (occupied Turtle Island). Their disarmament process collects both weapons donated from the public and weapons housed in police departments that have been rendered dormant and disposable post-investigation. In partnership with local artists and metal-smiths, the weapons are transformed into shovels and tools.The shovels are then used in ceremonial plantings of culturally significant sacred tree species. These ceremonies offer a physically regenerative space for communities to memorialize loved ones, and lands, lost to violence. Lead To Life is led by black and queer artists, including bronte velez, Jazmín Calderón Torres, Stormy Saint-Val, and Liz Kennedy. The collective uses participatory ceremony, prayer, dream work and other processes to ‘decompose’ white supremacy and the nightmares of colonization. To donate directly to Lead to Life, please go to www.leadtolife.org.