Making Paper!

In our business’ values statement, we promised to “reduce the amount of waste by getting the most out of our supplies, reusing materials for other projects, and recycling as often as possible,” so one way we do this is by making paper from scratch with our left over card making paper. It’s a fun and different thing to try, plus we are recycling by reusing all of our scraps, so everybody wins, the environment and us.

During our first attempt at papermaking we weren’t quite sure how it was going to turn out or what exactly we were doing. During our second, and most recent, attempt at papermaking we were handling it like pros…well, almost like pros!

It is a long and a bit messy process but at the same time it’s lots of fun blending up the paper and “playing” in the tub of water when you make the paper pulp into a sheet.

We thought that we’d let you in on how we make paper with some fun pictures we took during our first two tries and some step by step instructions.

Step 1

Separate your paper. At the end of each week we separate our paper by colour, rip it up into tiny bits, and put them into bags to store. We have five different bags, one each for blues and greens, pinks and purples, oranges and yellows and reds, creams and whites, and lastly, brown and black. It’s not necessary to separate each individual colour because the mixing up of similar colors can make some very nice shades of paper. Also, you are going to want to separate non-cardstock paper from the cardstock because they have different weights and will absorb water differently during the soaking process.

Step 2

Make sure you have all the supplies you need. Look through your house for different equipment that you need to make paper; it will save you some money if you reuse old things you have laying around your house.

You will need:

-          Plastic pails

-          Rust proof sieve

-          Deckle and mold – They are basically two 8 ½ x 11 wooden frames that we made; one is a frame without glass (deckle) and one has mesh stretched over it (mold) which is attached by tacks or staples on the reverse side.

-          Vat – we use a big Rubbermaid storage tub, but you can also use a dishpan or laundry tub, as long as it’s at least 10 inches deep and about 8 inches longer and wider than your deckle and mold.

-          An old blender – You are not going to want to use one that you plan to make your morning smoothies in because that would be quite gross. You can look for used blenders at thrift stores or at yard sales. Just make sure the blender is super clean before you begin to blend paper in it.

-          Sponges

-          Old towels

-          Felts – These are fabric pieces that you place between your paper during the drying process. You can use wool felt or tightly woven linen that are slightly larger in width and length than your deckle and mold. We just went to the fabric store and bought some inexpensive fabric and cut it down into sheets that are the right size for our paper.

-          Clamps

-          Pressing Boards – These are two heavy sheets of wood that you put your freshly made paper between to squeeze the excess water out of them. We found two big pieces of particle board and covered them with plastic to prevent warping.

Step 3

Now that you have all of the equipment that you will need, it is time to begin the paper making process. It does take a couple of days to make homemade paper and it also takes a bit of time, so make sure that you have some free time so that you are not rushed. On day one you are going to put the separated paper into your plastic buckets and then fill them up with room temperature water so that all of the paper looks covered. They will have to soak like this overnight or for about 24 hours.


Step 4

After letting the paper soak overnight you can blend it into pulp in your blender.  Just put in handfuls (one colour at a time) of the soggy paper along with some water and blend until it looks mushy. Strain the pulp and then dump it into another bucket. Repeat this process until all of the soaked paper is turned into pulp.

 
Step 5

 

Now that the pulp has been made…it’s time to make paper! First we filled our tub up with room temperature water, just over half full. We added about a cup and half of our various pulps and stirred it up. Then we put the deckle and mold on top of each other with the mold on the bottom and then we slowly dunked it into the water and scooped it upwards shaking it from side to side and front to back. We held it diagonally and let the water drain off and then we removed the deckle piece. Next we flipped the paper onto a piece of felt that is on the pressing board and dabbed it with sponges until most of the water was squeezed out of it. We gently pulled the mold away from the paper and then we had a piece of not-quite-ready, wet, soggy paper. We covered this piece of paper with another piece of felt, and then repeated the process. Once we had made all of the paper that we desired, we put the other pressing board on top and attached two clamps and let it sit for 24 hours in the bathtub just in case of dripping issues.

Step 6

The next day we took the pressing boards off and laid the paper out to dry on a newspaper covered table. Make sure you still keep the paper on their felts. Let them dry for 24 hours.

Step 7

Paper! Your paper should be ready to use now. If it is still a bit damp you can let it dry longer and if it curls up funny you can use an iron to iron it out.

Well there you have it folks, Papermaking 101 with Samantha and Nicole.

Enjoy!