Materials:
Large bowl
Waste paper (recycled paper)
Mixer
Storage size tub or photo developing tray
Mold and Deckle
Cooching cloth (any cotton or felt scrap fabric)
Sponge
Instructions:
- Shred and soak the recycled paper into one-inch squares or strips. Any kind of waste paper can be used for this. Newsprint works well. The color of your waste paper will help to determine the color of the home made paper.
- Place the paper into the large bowl and cover with warm water. Let the paper soak for a half hour.
- Remove the soaked paper into a blender or food processor (immersion blenders work well too). Fill half with water and blend on half speed until smooth. At this point you can add flowers, natural fibers, string, or food coloring to the pulp dramatically changing the look and texture of your paper. Give another quick blend.
- Place the pulp into a tub or tray. Fill with water. The thickness of the mixture determines the thickness of the paper. Waving your hand in the water, combine the mixture.
- Place the mold on the deckle. This is the only special device you will need to make paper. It is a two-part frame with screen, connected by Velcro. You can also fashion your own mold and deckle with two picture frames and some window screen.
- Submerge the mold and deckle into the pulp mixture and remove. You can additionally mix within the mold to make sure the pulp is evenly distributed.
- Remove the mold and take the deckle to the cooching area. For this you should place a scrap piece of cloth, larger than your deckle, on a towel. Turn the deckle over onto the cloth and run the sponge along the backside of the screen removing any excess water.
- Carefully use your thumb to peel up the corner of the screen while holding the paper in place.
- Now hang the piece of cloth with the wet paper on a line to dry. Or, use an additional cloth and iron to dry faster.
- When the paper is dry you may peel it from the cloth.
Paper has a rich history. The modern form of papermaking involving pulp dates back to 105 AD, invented by Cai Lun, an imperial of the Chinese court. The spread of paper started when Arabs captured papermakers at the Battle of Talas River.
The structure of the paper is widely determined by natural plant. The technique described above uses recycled paper, but it is possible to strip bark and other natural fibers of their cellulose to create a completely natural pulp.
Michelle Vargo
thinkingthroughmakingsourcebook 