by
Karen Mendelow
Illustrations by Stephanie Syjuco
apermaking
is a fun project to do outside with friends on a sunny day, but it's
easily done inside as well. It will take about two hours for the basic
papermaking process, and you'll end up with around fifteen lovely sheets
that you can use for cards, picture frames, or whatever your imagination
suggests.
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About
50 sheets of white photocopy paper from your recycling bin
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About
12 sheets of colored photocopy paper or uncoated gift-wrap paper
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2
wooden frames that are flat across their top surfaces (5"
x 7" picture frames work well)
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A
fiberglass or plastic screen (available at hardware stores)
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A
staple gun or tacks
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A
dishpan
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A
blender
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Disposable
kitchen cloths (Handiwipes, for example); 1 cloth for 2 sheets
of new paper
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A
sponge
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A
stack of old newspapers
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Paper
enhancements: food coloring, potpourri, dried flowers, dried
herbs and spices, seeds, thread, lint from the dryer, etc.
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A
packet of plain gelatin (needed if you're making stationery)
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he ingredients for creating
beautiful handmade paper are close at hand - just go mining in your
paper recycling bin. You begin by pulverizing the waste paper. Then,
after a few short steps, the fibers rejoin before your eyes to create
new paper.
You'll be making 100 percent
post-consumer content paper, which means that all your material has
been used before - and that's really quite an achievement. Public demand
for recycled paper has encouraged paper companies to retool their mills
so that they can process paper that we recycle from our homes and offices.
But a large percentage of recycled paper is made from pre-consumer material
- misprints and overruns from printers, for example. Although 100 percent
post-consumer content paper is available, most commercially made printing
or writing grade recycled paper contains only 10 percent to 30 percent
post-consumer waste.
While there are environmental
costs in making recycled paper, the process has less of an ecological
impact than that of making paper from raw materials. As you make your
own paper, you'll observe the water and energy required to reprocess
paper fiber. In commercial manufacturing, producing printing grade recycled
paper can save as much as half the energy that's needed in making paper
from wood pulp, and there's a savings of water as well. As you admire
each beautiful and unique piece of handmade paper you've created, you
will gain a first-hand understanding of the papermaking process and
an appreciation of the importance of paper recycling and paper conservation.
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1.
Take
your two picture frames and remove the glass and backing from both.
(Or make your own frames out of wood.) To make the mold, stretch the
screen tightly over the surface of one of the frames, and attach the
screen to the back of the frame with a staple gun or tacks. The second
frame will be used as the deckle, which makes the sheet of paper the
desired size.
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2.
The evening before you plan
to make paper, sort the paper in your recycling bin by type. Used white
photocopy paper is the best material to start with for the pulp base;
avoid newsprint and glossy paper. Rip the copy paper into small pieces,
roughly an inch square. Soak the pieces overnight in a bucket of water.
Rip assorted sheets of colored paper into small pieces, and soak them
separately. A good ratio to begin with is four times as much white paper
as colored paper. Colored photocopy paper and uncoated gift-wrap paper
are good choices, but glossy, brightly colored magazines can be used
in small amounts for accents.
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