Process Work for Handmade papers

Gathering the leaves from the plants, I use the yucca's leave from the bottom of the plant that are dried. Cut them up into very small piece about an inch or so. 

I use a propane burner and cook the plant fibers down and the sugars out but I do put in Washing soda to help with this process.  Then there is lots of rinsing of the cooked plants so the water is very clear and not dark brown.  What is Washing soda some might ask... 

The chemical formula for washing soda is Na₂CO₃ ,or sodium carbonate. It's a salt of carbonic acid, a chemical that produces a wide range of salts collectively known as carbonates.

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How to Clean Pots and Pans With Baking Soda

The sodium carbonate "softens" water helping other cleaning ingredients lift soil from the fabrics and suspend the soil in the wash water. The washing soda binds to the minerals which make water hard, and allows the detergent to be absorbed into fibers properly to clean clothes.

Washing soda should not be confused with baking soda, although the two compounds are closely related.

Then I don't have a Hollander Beater or Critter to chop up the plant fibers but I use a Oster Blender...this one is been working for a long time.  As I blend up I add more water to help it chop up and then I add some methylcellulose to the vat too. This helps the fibers bind together.  I first start off with the pure plant first and then I add some Cotton Rag to it later in the process.  

It looks like some old guacamole right?  but it dries lighter. This is the mold and deckle. 

Couching sheets between each sheet of wet paper.  You couch or press the paper on to a post of other sheet and squeeze out the water later. 

Sheet of paper dry on the material sheets and this is Yucca. 

This was Fourth of July that I made the day lily paper in the morning...that's dried now too. 

Back yard and the tents and tipi...so grateful for this opportunity to be able to do this.