Erin and Noah and I did this years ago, but Sophie was too young to be involved, and Fiona wasn't even on the planet yet. So today the younger two girls and I got out the little paper-making kit and had some fun.We loaded paper scraps in the blender. We added a bit of this and that, and some warm water. Then we took turns whizzing the stuff to a pulp. We tossed in some vegetation and whizzed a bit more.
Then we put the screen in a sink of water, so it was partly submerged, and poured the pulp onto it. We swirled the pulp to distribute it evenly. Then we lifted it out of the water. Much of the water drained out immediately, leaving a thin layer of pulp on the screen. We placed another piece of screen over top and pressed down, sponging out most of the remaining water.
Then we came over to the table and began gradually 'couching' out the remaining water with rolling pins and blotter paper, eventually peeling the paper off the screens. Then we let it dry.
Leftmost paper is a combination of recycled copier paper, saffron, dryer lint and coffee bean chaff. The right-hand sample is recycled paper, coffee chaff and marigold buds.We won't be able to write on this stuff without treating it with sizing (gelatin & water works pretty well) but it'll be great as an accent or a matting for other papercraft stuff. I love the deckle edges.
We actually made some paper last weekend. The girls used it as a way to turn all the paper scraps int heir art supplies into something new. Mostly it was coloured paper which they pulped separately so as to be able to block the clours in the end product.
ReplyDeletevery nice, very pretty...we have a book called "Papermaking with Garden Plants and Common Weeds" and a big ole tin can on the kitchen counter which we're filling with onion and garlic skins and coconut shells (!), and we're planning a paper-making fest with that stuff and some dried agave and yucca leaves and grass, as yet uncollected. And whatever else we can find. Should be messy. And fun!
ReplyDeleteDeborah