Sustainable Handmade Paper

To start this day, I started the beating process of the Chinese Mitsumata at around 5pm, I know a late day. With the fibers, I added in about two tablespoons worth of sizing in the beater. I think I explained in a previous post about sizing but I will explain it again, it’s an agent you put in with the fibers so that when you are actually ready to make the paper, they hold up better and when you put things on the paper like ink it doesn’t bleed or cause the paper to fall apart. This is something I really knew I needed when I wanted to start making paper, my main focus as an art major is printmaking and if I want to add color to my prints I tend to use watercolor; sizing will really allow me to actually use the paper I make in my craft. Anyways, back to the mitsumata, I had it in the beater for only twenty minutes before checking it and it was already beat into a really nice fine pulp but just to make sure, I kept it in the beater for about an hour. While the mitsumata was in the beat...

So on this lovely Thursday, I had taken the cook flax and the kenaf fibers and rinsed them on the solution they had been cooked in until the water had run clear.  I had then started the beating process of the kenaf fibers at  around 11:30am. With the amount of fiber I had, roughly one pound, I decided to add sizing, two tablespoons worth, into the beater along with enough water to completely cover the fiber. Now, sizing is something you add to the fibers to help the actual paper hold up better once it is in sheet form. In order for the beating process to really work, you need to gradually add the fibers into the beater so it does not overwork the large blades. The kenaf had beat until 3pm and I then loaded all the contents into a container to put into the fridge until I  was ready to actually make sheets of paper.  Now since the beating process takes a good bit of time, I decided it was time to cook the Chinese Mitsumata. In the pot, I had the one pound of soaked wat...

 So clearly, I am posting this at a much later date due to the fact that at the time of working, I would rather hand write my notes than have my laptop sitting out surrounded by supplies.  On this day, I had started come of my cooking process of Flax, Kenaf fibers and Chinese Mitsumata. Before cooking the fibers, you have to let them soak in water for a good bit of time; therefore, I started the soaking process of the flax and kenaf around 11:40am and let them absorb water for about three hours. I only did two at a time due to the lack of stovetop burners in the studio.  After soaking, you can start the cooking. In each pot, I had about one pound of the fiber, roughly two gallons of water and three and a half ounces of soda ash which breaks down the fibers as their cooking.  With the flax, it started cooking at 3:15 until 5:30. The water was brought to a boil and then the fibers were added, once the fibers were added, the water was brought to a simmer for the duratio...

 To start my journey, I started with a couple paper-making workshops at Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh. The first workshop was on April 13th and it was all about the basics; we learned the Holland beater, what molds and deckles were, basic sheet making, and things of that nature. The best part of this workshop was that we each assembled a mold and kept it for our future endeavors in paper-making.  The second workshop focused on color and textures. We dabbled a little in embossing with different textures on black sheets of paper and really got our hands dirty with different pigments. This was particularly useful to me because I had purchased many different pigments and a retention agent to experiment on my own with but this way, I was able to see the instructor do it before I did.  The third workshop I attended was based on collage; this is where we were able to really be creative and experiment on our own. We worked with the paper pulp and any other materials we wanted ...

  Good afternoon to everyone reading!! First and foremost, I would like to introduce and share a little about myself. My name is Mikaela and I am currently studying Fine Arts at Slippery Rock University, in Pennsylvania, hoping to one day move onto graduate school and further my education to become an Art Therapist.  Enough about about me, onto why we are all here, Sustainable Handmade Paper!! Back in March of 2021, I had applied for a grant through my university in hopes of expanding my knowledge on papermaking, something not specifically offered in our program. At the time, I had little to no knowledge on papermaking and wanted to utilize the grant for workshops in the area and experimenting with fibers I would not have been able to find in my surrounding areas. From here on out, I will take you through the journey this grant has led me on and share as much of my knowledge with you guys!  *ps the picture shown above is from a workshop I had attended at Contemporary Craf...