Papermaking Project
To begin a holiday project for friends this year I decided to make paper by hand then print an intaglio image on it. Whether or not this will work is anyone's guess. I learned how to make paper in 1999 or 2000, but didn't really get serious about it until my art professor, Lisa Griffith, and I were working on our collaborative show together.
The first sheets I made were 7 x 11 inches and ended up becoming covers for one of the books I made in the first book arts course I took. The second sheets were made for the hanging book in the show Lisa and I collaborated on together. Unfortunately, the mold and deckle for that paper was destroyed at the end of the project accidentally.
For my current project, I bought heavy-duty canvas supports from the Blick art store. The mold and deckle I made using them turned out to be very thick and hard to submerge in the water, plus they floated, making it difficult sometimes to keep the setup underwater as it filled with cotton rag fibers to make the paper. Even in a plastic bin designed for mixing limited amounts of concrete or cement, I found the mold and deckle to be so thick it was difficult to submerge them.
The mold and deckle, however, are pretty sturdy. I lost only a small piece of wood when I was nailing the mold together. It cracked, and when I was slapping it against the side of the bin to remove cotton rag fibers, the little splinter of wood flew off. All in all, though, the form held up well. I've all of the images I've taken up on Facebook, but I thought I'd use a few of the most informative ones here, so the viewer could watch the progress of making the paper.
The thumbnail should show a section of the mold and deckle and the Hefty bag I keep the sheets of Pellon I use for felts between the sheets of paper, to help with the drying and pressing process.
