Paper-making is my passion, and I have been making hand-made paper for many years. But I've always made my papers in the Western tradition. This month I had the opportunity to go to an all-day workshop on Japanese paper-making.
The instructor brought buckets of gampi, kozo and mitsumata fibers that we beat with sticks on wooden boards. The rest of the day we made paper with sukettas (the Japanese mould and deckle). At the end of the day we used cotton linter for cast paper and a nod to Western papermaking. I took home 34 pieces of various sized papers and 7 castings. Exhausted beyond words, but not too tired to smile. What a wonderful experience. Thanks, JoAnne!
2 comments:
Recently a friend offered me a bag of drier lint for "I don't know, art projects . . . can't you do something with drier lint?" I thought of paper making but turned the lint down because lint ends up in the drier filter specifically because the fibers are so short that they fall out of the fabric. I hadn't thought of casting though. What do you think? Would the finished cast be too brittle? Just curious.
-Ashley Newhard
I talked to another professional paper-maker about this too. First of all, the fibers have to be 100% natural, no man-made fibers at all, or it won't work. For paper they tend to clump rather than spread out. It may work if you use a cookie cutter shape and fill it thick to make a casting, I tried that with denim a few times, but not something I consider worth the time and effort.
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