MAKING BIG HANDMADE PAPER – A working guide
With little prior knowledge, I wanted to find a way to make large sheets of handmade paper for the project. There is very little online, and I had to very often ad-lib and find new approaches and techniques. Here you can find some of the approaches, materials and tools used.
HISTORY AND PROCESS
In 105, Cai Lunn – a eunuch in the court of the Easter Hann Dynasty, publicly declared that he had invented a new process for paper with a composition. Writing had a long history in China with writing surfaces being bamboo and wooden slips, but these were inconvenient as they were awkward to store, heavy, and difficult to write on. Cai Lun’s process still used bamboo, but also introduced hemp waste, old rags, fishnets, and most importantly, bark from trees (likely mulberry). The materials were boiled to a pulp that was beaten with a wood or stone mallet before being mixed with a large amount of water. The resulting mixture was then processed with wooden sieves and the excess water was removed, leaving the paper finished once dry.
The process with handmade paper remains the same today. One of the critical elements of paper is cellulose fibre, which is found in all natural materials and is particularly prevalent in wood. These long fibres weave together in the paper frame to make a strong, flexible sheet of paper.
Step One
Build your papermaking frame. You need to build two frames of equal size. To build an 80cmx80cm frame you need
For the bottom frame:
72 cm long 4cmx4cm wooden lengths * 2
80cm long 4cmx4cm wooden lengths * 2
8cm long screws of good quality * 4
73cm long 1cm diameter dowel or bamboo * 4
Assemble your frame, like the guide below.
When it comes to attaching the dowel, drill a once hole in the frame at each end and fix it into place with some glue. Leave to dry overnight.
Finally, cut and fold the mosquito net over each side, fix this with a staple gun. Top Frame: 72 cm long 4cmx 9cm wooden lengths * 2
80cm long 4cmx 9cm wooden lengths * 2
8cm long screws of good quality * 4
Assemble the same as the first stages of the bottom frame, with the wider width going upwards. The reason the top frame has a wider width is so it will sit on top of the other frame in the bath, above the water and catch more paper pulp as you can see in the image.
EQUIPMENT
- A Hollander Beater – there is no way around this, you can hand blend paper with an electric blender, however, you can not blend anything with longer fibres and the blender will cut the fibres shorter, making your paper weak.
- Paper Material – my favourite is cotton blankets, which create strong and soft sheets of paper. This should be pulped for 3 hours, so it if very fine.
- Papermaking Frame
- Large bucket or tub – this needs to be 1mx1m, and the best for these are gardening tubs used for planting.
- Felts and lots of them. I used synthetic felts as they were cheaper and available at the large size necessary, they are not the best but will do the job.
- Large wooden sheets – to stand or drive over, to expel excess water.
- A large metal sheet – I used roofing material of zinc plated steel, but aluminum works well as does the back of old litho plates. This is to roll the paper against at the end in order to have a smooth side when it dries.
- Various buckets and jugs for pouring pulp
- Wood Clamps
- Rolling pin
STEPS FOR PAPERMAKING
1. Fill your tub with water; so it is deep enough for both frames to be fully submerged.
2. Clamp both frames together at each side and place in the water. The frames should float and you want the top frame to pertrude slightly from water level.
3. Have your paper pulp prepared and introduce this inside the frame a couple of scoops at a time. You want there to be enough to cover the inside of the frame. You can use your hands to gently encourage the pulp to cover the surface evenly.
4. Lift out and remove clamps and top frame.
5. Flip onto your felts – allow a bit of drying time before carefully removing – it might take some work and care.
6. Add another layer of felt and stand ontop of paper – grab a friend for this, you want to remove as much water as possible.
7. Remove the top felt and flip the bottom one carefully onto your metal sheet. Use a rolling pin on top of the felt and smooth the paper onto the metal.
8. Carefully remove felt and stand the metal plate against a wall so the paper dries.
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