The art of paper-making reflects our love of the creative process and our love of nature. Watch as we step you through our version of an ancient process started by early Chinese civilization.
We begin by cutting used paper into small pieces.
We put the cut-up paper into a blender with water. Add some small pieces of colored paper for pigmentation.
Add more water to the mixture to thin the pulp according to the needs of the project.
Dip the deckel into the pulp...
...and lift gently. Listen as the water drains from the deckel.
Slide the loose screen (with the pulp) onto the towel.
Place some fabric over the pulp. Different fabrics will give the paper unique textures.
Put another towel over the fabric and pat dry.
Its looking good but it is still too wet.
Iron away! There will be lots of steam.
If it is still wet, you may have to recover and keep ironing.
We like to cut a lot at once.
Pour the mixture into a large vat or bucket.
Our hand-made deckels have screen attached to the bottom frame and a loose screen on top.
...carefully...
Place the deckel on a towel and carefully lift the top frame.
Let the towel absorb some of the water.
We use satin and muslin from our wedding, but muslin alone works great.
Flip the screen and fabric over together so that the screen is on top. Slowly peel the screen off.
The pulp will be stuck to the fabric. Transfer it all to an ironing board and put another piece of fabric on.
Now start to peel the fabric away.
Voila! You have some paper! You may want to put it between two hard, flat surfaces to make sure it doesn't curl as it finishes drying.
There...that wasn't so hard, eh? Now, do that a hundred times or so and you, too, can be in the paper-making business!