Paper Making

Lately one of the most difficult things about paper making has been waiting for a sunny day. When the cool weather came to the mountains, a few little mice decided they might enjoy staying in a warm house rather than a cold damp earth. They made their way into the downstairs pantry enjoy opening a package of Scott toliet paper. With plastic gloves on, I separated mouse chewed paper from the rolls, but did not want to use the remainder of the roll. I turned it into paper pulp. The fibers broke down immediately. I added some colored tissue paper to the pulp and a paper towel or two. These do not break down very easily at all. Into the bucket they all went and the pulp waited. Yesterday as I blended the pulp it needed a little something. I added a lilac pink fine glitter to the batch. Then thought why not, I dribbled acrylic paints like marbling across the water where I put the blended pulps. You can see some of the bright blue acrylic paint coming through the felt. The pulp is brought up through the water bath on a screen. I take the paper off the screen by placing it face down on a piece of felt. Removing some of the water, I take all the felts outside to dry. Here they are drying on my paper line. I enjoy the process of making paper. The pulp flows through the water bath. And the finished paper is always a surprise from texture to depth.