MAKING PAPER WITH PLANTS

Two groups each of around a dozen CBAS members enjoyed a one-day workshop on July 20 & 21, 2024 Making Paper with Plants organized by Margaret Rhein of Terrapin Paper Mill where she has been making paper in her studio for 49 years. She was assisted by Lou Kroner a fellow paper maker and CBAS member. Other friends who contributed were Maxine Apke who helped prepare Wisteria for the workshop and Anne Leader who prepared the Daylily from her garden in KY and Sarah Strong, long time papermaker and printer from Yellow Springs, OH who teaches art at the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, IN who helped guide the novice papermakers Sunday.

Milkweed before processing
wisteria cooking
cleaning fibers
wooden mallet pounding fibers

This was a communal event where attendees helped with some of the processes of preparing the fibers before making paper with them. The gathering of the plant material from Margaret’s garden, and Lou’s (Zebra Grass), cooking and stripping of the bark was done ahead of time. Plants that were cooked included: Milkweed, Bamboo, Siberian Iris, Giant reed, Passion Flower Vine, Purslane stems, Wisteria vine, Abaca, Mulberry inner bark, Zebra Grass, and Daylily.

The cooked plants were then subject to another look to remove any remaining bark, seeds or other undesirable bits. Then with a huge wooden mallet or two large wooden sticks, the fibers were beaten until a slurry test showed they would disperse evenly in water. Then the fibers were put into blenders with water to make the slurry which was poured into large buckets.

fibers after pounding
perfect slurry compared to fibers in the tub
blending pulp fibers
milkweed slurry

The next step was using either the traditional mould and deckle to scoop toward the bottom of the vat (as the fibers settle) and lifting out fibers and water or the 4” x 6” deckle box with removable screen. The water drained out and the fibers were left on the screen. When enough water was drained out, the deckle was carefully removed from the mould and the screen was removed and carefully couched onto wool felts. Slips of paper with the names of the types of fibers used were ready for participants to put their initials on and lay on the wet sheets. A stack of papers and sheets were then put into a press and the water was squeezed out. The layers were separated and the individual sheets put onto cardboard covered with plastic bags to take home with instructions on how to continue the drying process so the papers remained flat.

paper making mould
couching a wet paper onto a felt
papers couched and ready to be pressed
press to squeeze out water

All the hard work in this very fun workshop, in a wonderful setting, made all the participants realize the value of exploring the possibilities of making handmade papers from plants.

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