May 4th, 2021





 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 duration of the cooking. 

With the kenaf fiber, I did exactly the same as the flax such as the water and the soda ash. This was cooked from 4:30 until 6:30. Both the flax and kenaf were left in the solution overnight to further breakdown the fibers. 

Now while I had two hours as the fibers were cooking, I started the soaking process of the Chinese Mitsumata. Before putting it into the water, I cut the long strands of fibers into about one inch pieces. This fiber was left to soak overnight in the plain water. 


Till the next adventure of paper-making!!!



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