Papermaking Process 1

This is the photo of my papermaking tent out in my back yard. Nothing special but it works well for me. I would like to share with you my papermaking process and what I did on Mother's Day this year. My children all caught me early in the morning and wished me a happy mother's day before they headed off to work but they all knew I've been longing to make my papers. So the afternoon was mine to create paper. Any question let me know and I'll try to explain further.

First sheet of paper pulled on Mother Day, Russian Iris leaves given to me two years ago and I finally got a chance to cook them up and make some pulp for hand papermaking.

Here is the vat, holds the slurry which is the plant fibers blended and ready to make a sheet of paper.

Newly formed sheet of paper couched and a new felt is laid down and ready for the next sheet.

The felts are soaking in a bucket of water below my papermaking table. Each time I couch a new sheet to the Post-(felts and newly form sheets of paper stacked) I need to lay an new felt down. One of the things that is very important is to keep every thing wet, the felt too because the wet to wet process is what helps create a sheet of paper. It creates a suction for the paper to adhere to. I use a drafting brush to flatten the felt down and ensure the evenness.

I've blended the cooked plant fibers-(Russian iris leaves) and plus I've added some Methylcellulose to the vat to ensure bonding of the fibers and to add a little sizing to each sheet. I need to stir up the slurry from time to time as I'm making the paper like this because the slurry-(blended fibers sitting in the vat) is heavier then the water and will sink. You need the slurry to float around so you can catch as many fibers as possible to create a good sheet of paper.