Select a vat large enough to accommodate the dip hand mold and your hands on each side. Pour prepared pulp into the vat until it is deep enough for the hand mold to be dipped totally beneath the pulp’s surface. Actually, deeper is better.
Grasp both sides of the hand mold and dip it into the pulp vertically. Turn the hand mold slowly to a horizontal position against the vat’s bottom, then lift it up and out of the pulp.
Remove the deckle from the screen. Couch the sheet off the screen, press it, and let it dry. Repeat. Note the thickness of each sheet. When the sheets get too thin, add more pulp to the vat. With very small vats, this can be after every two or three sheets.
Using modern materials, I designed a simplified dip hand mold that uses the same papermaking and support screens as the pour hand mold.
Tin Can Paper-making
This technique, a variation on the pour method, is the simplest and cheapest way to start making your own paper at home. The basic supplies for tin can papermaking are pretty much the same as for regular handmade paper, with just a couple of modifications. The paper you make will be round, unless you experiment with other shaped containers to put on top of your screen. What can you do with round paper? You might be surprised by the variety of projects you’ll find in chapter 8.
Gathering Your Supplies
As listed on page 25, you’ll need a blender, drain pan, sponge, paper towels, a pressing board, and a clothes iron. The rest of what you will need:
Mold and deckle options. Select two containers: one large one for the bottom to catch the water runoff, and one of equal size or smaller for the top. These can be tin cans, juice containers, milk jugs, or handmade molds (see page 80). The top container will serve as the deckle and should have both ends cut out. Whatever its size and shape, that’s what your paper will be.
Papermaking screen. A nonmetal piece of fine-mesh window screen, available inexpensively at hardware stores, makes a good papermaking screen. You’ll need at least two 6” squares, or larger if your top container is larger. Window screen is right on the edge of being too coarse for papermaking, but most of the time it will work. Later, you might want to experiment with other “sieves,” such as stiff pellon or coarse cloth.
Support screen. The support screen can have larger holes and needs to be quite rigid, since your papermaking screen will rest on top of it. Plastic needlework canvas works well and is available in craft and fabric stores. Hardware cloth, made from metal, is available at hardware stores. It comes in a variety of mesh sizes, and any of them will work fine. After cutting it to size, wrap duct tape around any sharp edges before using, so no one gets cut. A 6” square support screen is a good size for most food and beverage cans. Larger sizes are necessary for larger diameter cans.
Containers. A measuring cup will help you control the amount of water you use, and you’ll need a couple of containers (such as tall plastic cups) for dividing up and pouring the pulp into the mold.
Tip
Any time you use a tin can for your mold, make sure to tape any sharp edges to prevent injury. For techniques that may involve reaching into the mold to manipulate the pulp, it’s best to find a shorter can.
Step 1. Set a tin can, with one end cut out and facing up, into a drain pan. Over the open end, place a support screen, followed by a papermaking screen.
Step 2. Place a canister with both ends cut out over the window screen. If the cans are of the same size, match their rims. (The can on top can be smaller, but not larger, than the bottom can.) Presto! You have set up a “pour” hand mold with which you can make handmade paper.
Step 3. For a 4″ to 5″ diameter top can, pick a 7″ square of waste or used paper, or smaller pieces of several papers that add up to a 7″ square. Tear the paper into small pieces and put them in a blender. Add about 1½ cups water. Put on the lid and run the blender for 20 to 30 seconds.
Step 4. Pour half the blender’s contents into each of two containers and add ½ cup water to each container.
Step 5. With a container in each hand, dump the contents of both containers at the same time into the top can. Pour from opposite sides so that streams from both containers hit each other. Let all water drain into the bottom can.
Why Pour from Two Cups?
The two-handed pour will likely distribute the fibers more evenly on the screen, giving you a nicer sheet. One-handed pouring can sometimes cause fibers to swirl around the outside edge of the can and make a donut sheet with a thin spot or hole in the middle. But you can give it a try: Simply pour the pulp into one container instead of two and add a cup of water. Hold the top can down with one hand and pour with the other.
Making Good Slurry
How much paper do you put in the blender? A general guideline is to put in a little more waste paper than it takes to cover the top can’s opening. This will give you a handmade sheet about as thick as the waste paper you put in. The more waste paper you put in, the thicker the new sheet. The less waste paper you put in, the thinner the new sheet. (For more precise information, see Recycling Formulas for Pulp on page 48.)
Step 6. Raise the top can straight up and off the screen. Lift both screens (with your new sheet of paper on it) and remove the tin can base. Place the screens back into the drain pan or onto a flat surface that is not harmed by water (such as a tabletop with several layers of cloth or a piece of plastic). Place another 6″ square piece of window screen over the new sheet.
Step 7. Take a dry sponge and press it down on top of the window screen and new sheet. Squeeze water from the sponge. Continue pressing and squeezing until the entire sheet has been covered and the sponge removes little, or no more, water.
Step 8. Carefully, starting at any corner, peel off the top window screen. Lay down three folded paper towels on top of each other. When folded, the towels must be wider than the new sheet. If not, get bigger towels, or don’t fold them. Pick up the screen with the new sheet on it, and turn it over onto the towels so the new sheet is on the top towel.
Step 9. Apply the sponge as in step 7, this time pushing down with as much force as possible. Apply pressure over the entire new sheet. This is so the new sheet will stay with the towels when the screen is peeled off. Starting slowly at a corner, peel off the window screen, leaving the new sheet on the towels. If the sheet rises with the screen, apply the sponge again with all the force you can. If the sheet still rises with the screen, carefully peel a corner of the new sheet from the screen and separate them with care. At the end of this step, the new sheet should be on top of the paper towels.
Step 10. Fold 3 more paper towels. Place them on top of the new sheet. Take a flat piece of wood, or other flat item, and press down hard on top of the dry towels.
Step 11. Remove the top wet towels and replace them with dry ones. Repeat pressing, replacing wet towels with dry ones until little water is removed with the dry towels. When the new sheet has become strong enough, lift if off the wet towels beneath it. Replace the wet towels with dry ones. The idea is to get as much water out of the new sheet as possible. Note: Do not throw wet towels away. Lay them out to dry and reuse them in future papermaking.
Step 12. Put the new sheet on an ironing board or other dry, clean surface that will not be harmed by heat. Turn a clothes iron to its top heat setting and iron the new sheet dry. Move the iron slowly but steadily, so all parts of the sheet dry at about the same rate. Note: Placing a thin cloth over the sheet for ironing is wise. It protects the iron’s surface from possible heat-sticky additives that might have been in the recycled paper.
When the sheet is dry, you can shout, wave your arms, sing the national anthem, call neighbors over, and e-mail reporters and photographers from local newspaper, radio, and TV stations. You are an artist and an environmentalist!
Drying and the Teflon Iron
This book advocates placing a thin cloth between the wet paper sheet and the iron. You can try drying sheets by placing a hot iron directly onto the wet sheet, but it’s risky. Fiber(s) might stick to
the iron, and in two more strokes, the sheet surface can be seriously disrupted. If you don’t use a cloth, add to the sheet’s safety by using a Teflon-coated iron. Of course, even Teflon can’t protect against materials melting in the sheet, especially if you’ve added bits of plastic or other sensitive elements.
Preparing Pulp
Before I get into more advanced methods, let’s talk about pulp. In chapter 2, I talked about where to find pulp and generally how to use it. Now it’s time for a few more specifics. For instance, how do you know how much recycled paper and water to put in the blender?
The answer comes from a basic rationale. Fibers are hydrophilic. In water, they swell like a sponge, requiring more room than when dry. There must be enough water to provide room for fiber swelling and fiber movement away from each other. Enough water must be put in the blender to provide that kind of room (see Recycling Formulas for Pulp, at right). The more new pulp or wastepaper put in, the more water is required. One advantage to the pour method is that you can be more precise about the amount of pulp to use, knowing that all of what you prepare will go into the sheet you are making. With the dip method, it’s more difficult to know just how much pulp you are capturing in the mold.
Recycling Formulas for Pulp
Pour Molds
For a 5½″ × 8½″ mold, recycle ¾ of an 8½″ × 11″ paper sheet with 2 to 2½ cups water.
For an 8½″ × 11″ mold, recycle 1¼ to 1½ sheets of 8½″ × 11″ paper in 3 to 3½ cups water.
For other sizes, follow the general rule of tearing up a piece of paper that is a bit larger than the measurements of the pour mold’s deckle. Smaller pieces of paper that together equal sizes listed above can be torn up instead of single pieces.
Dip Molds
Pulp preparation aims at a pulp thickness in the vat, not at a size of sheet to be made. For a pulp consistency that will make sheets about as thick as stationery, business letters, or book pages, use the following formula.
Tear up an 8½″ × 11″ sheet and add 4 cups water. Run the blender. Pour the recycled pulp into a vat. Repeat until there are 4″ or more of pulp in the vat.
Dip 2 or 3 sheets and then add pulp to the vat according to the following ratio: Add 3 cups water for every 8½″ × 11″ sheet. Run the blender. Add the pulp to the vat.
Using New Pulp
For new pulp, follow the directions provided with the pulp. If no directions are provided, experiment. Estimate the amount of pulp needed. Add plenty of water, run the blender, and form a sheet. Here are some pointers:
For a pour mold: If the sheet is too thick, take part of the pulp off the screen. Lower the mold in the water again. Disperse the remaining pulp in the deckle and form a new sheet. Repeat the removal or addition of pulp process until you have the right thickness. The amount of pulp removed or added will indicate how much dry pulp is the right starting amount.
For a dip mold: If the formed sheet is too thick, either add water to the vat or remove pulp with a strainer. Dip a new sheet. Continue this process until the vat’s pulp consistency is right.
Thick and Thin Sheets
The sheet thickness can be controlled by varying the ratio of fiber to water in the pulp slurry. With pour molds, thickness can be controlled easily and precisely. With dip molds, it’s a bit tricky.
For a pour mold: When recycling, the following provides precise control. Tear and blend a piece of paper that is the same length and width as the deckle. The new sheet made from that pulp will be of the same thickness as the paper recycled. This provides a reference point. To make a new sheet twice as thick, recycle twice the paper, adjusting the amount of water added in the blender. For a sheet half as thick, recycle half as much paper.
When starting with new pulp, preciseness is not as easy. As stated previously, you can guess at how much dry pulp to blend, see what thickness results, and work from that as a reference point. Or, with an appropriate scale, you can weigh out an estimated amount of dry pulp, disperse it in a blender, see what thickness results from that amount, and work mathematically from that as a reference point.
For a dip mold: With dip molds, you must alter the thickness of the slurry in the vat to change the thickness of paper. Adding pulp will make the next sheets thicker. Adding water or removing pulp with a strainer will make the next sheets thinner.
The thickness fact to remember with the dip mold is that each time you make a sheet of paper, you remove pulp from the vat. The fiber stays out, but the water runs back in. Therefore, the slurry in the vat is thinner, and the following sheet will be thinner, unless you replace the amount of fiber taken out.
Turbulence for Sheet Uniformity
Turbulence in the deckle of a pour hand mold is important to the uniformity of the final sheet. Wiggle your fingers in the slurry or stir with a spoon to disperse the pulp evenly. Don’t be shy. It also helps to keep a pour mold low in the vat’s water. For dip molds, agitate the pulp before each dip.
Building a Pour Hand Mold
A pour hand mold can be built to any size desired. The dimensions suggested here will produce a hand mold for handmade sheets approximately 5½″ × 8½″.
The pour mold that I designed (shown at right) uses a plastic grid (egg crate) for the support screen instead of a wooden frame topped with hardware cloth. A papermaking screen is placed between the deckle (top frame) and the support screen.
Materials
Two pieces of finished wood, 1″ × 3″ × 10″
Two pieces of finished wood, 1″ × 3″ × 5½″
1¼″ finishing nails and a hammer (or a pneumatic stapler, if available)
Heavy-duty staples and a staple gun
Two pieces of finished wood, 1″ × 1″ × 10″
Two pieces of finished wood, 1″ × 1″ × 5½″
Hardware cloth 5½″ × 10″
One screen, 5½″ × 10″ (commercial papermaking screen or nonmetal window screen)
Approximately 1 yard of nonadhesive Velcro, 1″ wide
The finished, assembled mold includes the deckle (top frame with straps), the support screen (frame with screen at the bottom), and a papermaking screen (sandwiched between the two).
Instructions
1. Form the deckle by nailing the 1″ × 3″ × 10″ wood pieces to the 1″ × 3″ × 5½″ pieces as shown, to create a rectangular frame.
2. Form the screen support (or mold) by nailing the 1″ × 1″ × 10″ wood pieces to the 1″ × 1″ × 5½″ pieces as shown, to create a rectangular frame. Cover the frame with hardware cloth, and secure it with staples (using either a hammer or staple gun).
3. Place the papermaking screen on top of the screen support and then place the deckle on top of the screen.
4. You’ll need to secure the screen support tightly against the deckle for sheet formation, but be able to loosen it to remove the screen support and new sheet after sheet formation. The most efficient way to do this is to add Velcro straps:
With the support screen in place, measure down the side of the deckle, around the bottom, and up the other side. Cut two strips of the loop side of the Velcro to this length.
Staple one end of each strap to one side of the deckle as shown, about 2″ from either edge.
On the opposite side of the deckle, place two 2¼″ strips of the hook side of the Velcro in the same locations.
Wrap the looped strip around the deckle, papermaking screen, and support screen, and press the ends onto the 2¼″ hook strips.
Making Paper with a Pour Mold
The basic steps for making paper are essentially the same no matter what technique you use. Since I am recommending the pour method as the easiest to use, the directions are shown using the style of pour hand mold I developed (see page 50).
Materials
In addition to the hand mold, you will need a cover screen: a piece of nonmetallic window screen a bit bigger than the sheet you’re making. You will also need the supplies listed below (explained in more detail on page 25). If you ar
e using a dip mold, see page 41 for more information.
Blender
Vat
Drain pan
Sponge
Couch sheets
Press bar
Iron
Step 1. Gather your supplies and prepare the pulp (see page 48).
Step 2. To assemble the hand mold, place the deckle upside down on a flat surface. Lay the papermaking screen on the deckle, then the screen support. Pull the Velcro straps tightly around the grid and press them against the Velcro strips on the opposite side.
Step 3. Turn the hand mold right side up and lower it at a slanted angle into the water in a vat (tub or dishpan). The water must be deep enough to fill the deckle about halfway. Pour pulp into the deckle. By wiggling your fingers or stirring with a plastic spoon, spread the pulp evenly in the water within the deckle.
Step 4. Lift the hand mold out of the water. Hold it level and let all the water drain.
Insider’s Tip
The “papermaker’s shake” was once part of a journeyman hand–papermaker’s skill. It was vital for certain qualities and characteristics of professional sheets. In general, it entailed shaking the hand mold forward and backward and from side-to-side after it had been lifted from the vat and while the pulp drained. The shake can be done with either pour or dip molds.
Arnold E. Grummer Page 4