Paper-Making

I used the equipment on campus to make paper out of some paper scraps. Here's the process for both techniques:

After 3 days of drying, here are the sheets I made:

The first one was my first try at using the mould and deckle, and as you can see it really didn't work very well. I didn't have enough mulch in the water, and I had too much water, so it came out thin and I couldn't get a full sheet. The second sheet was also using the mould and deckle, but I used a sponge to take out some of the moisture after getting it into the mould, which helped to compress the fibers, but using the mould and deckle technique just makes it a lot harder to get a full, even sheet. The edges are thin and not uniform, but I think this adds to the home made feeling.

The other 4 sheets were done with the press, and you can see that they came out a whole lot better. They're even thickness, and full sheets. I did two A5s and two A4s and I think a couple of them are thick enough to write on. I got my flatmate to draw on one of the sheets to see how well they take ink.

Although making paper was fun, I don't think I'll use handmade paper for my book as it's too thick and uneven, as well as being a lot of work. There are a lot of holes in some of the pages, which means it wouldn't be suitable for printing on. However, I still think it was good to experiment with and I can see myself using it for another project.