Chapter 4: Paper making

I had never made paper before and didn't own a liquidiser so this was my first purchase. I did find a relatively cheap model but as I assume it can't thereafter be used in the kitchen I may have a lot of paper making ahead of me to justify the outlay!

However, armed with my new gadget, my piece of rigid metal mesh, a pile of j-cloths, another pile of newspapers and yet a further pile of papers from the recycling bin, I set to work. This is no quick job and it took me a few tries to find the optimum amount of paper relative to quantity of water to make a pulp which would coat the mesh sufficiently to make a useful sheet of paper. Nevertheless, once I had sorted all this out I thoroughly enjoyed the process and the pile of handmade paper soon mounted up.

 Fig.1

Figure 1 shows my first batch of paper - made from recycled bank statements and I was thrilled to see some tiny words and figures visible in these samples. 

Sample 2 has picked up some of the pink dye from the newspapers used to couch the sheets. 

Sample 3 has some silk threads embedded in the pulp, which, if it were better distributed across the full sheet, has definite possibilities for future use.

 Fig.2

Figure 2 shows my second batch of paper, this time incorporating some brown packaging paper in the pulp, which has given it a creamier colour and a pleasingly mottled surface.
In Sample 4 I left some of the pieces of brown paper quite large.
Sample 5 has some paper shapes embedded into the pulp.
Sample 6 has a piece of red nylon net, which has given the paper an interesting surface texture.
Sample 7 has small fern fronds embedded in the pulp .
Sample 8 has tea leaves from loose black tea mixed with the pulp. They have stained the paper brown as well as adding texture.
Sample 9 has dried lavender flowers added to the pulp. This was less successful as the lavender flowers are sitting on the surface and are easily knocked off. It would be worth trying again and sandwiching them between two thin sheets of paper to hold them in place.

 Fig.3

Sample 10 is still from my second batch of papers and has a green tea with dried petals added to the pulp. This has given the paper an interesting mix of colours and textures.
Batch 3 has a sheet of green tissue paper added to the pulp which turned the whole batch a very spring-like shade of green.
Sample 11 was embossed with a wooden print block
Sample 12 was embossed with string in a grid pattern.

Fig.4

Sample 13 has a soft cotton yarn embedded in the pulp, this was pulled back once the paper was almost dry. Sample 14 has the same yarn threads embedded and pulled back in both vertical and horizontal directions.

Fig.5

Sample 15 is a series of letter shapes which were formed on pieces of plastic canvas cut to shape. 

I've not really finished with this chapter yet but will come back to it later. I still want to try embossing letter shapes into the pulp - something I tried but it got flattened in the pile of papers; and also colouring the pulp with cold water dyes so I can spoon the pulp onto my grid to make layers of colours.