Crafty Tip
You can make these coasters one at a time, as instructed, or use a larger piece of mesh screen and make them side-by-side, two, four, or more at a time.
Coasters
Here’s a great introductory project for pulp layering and painting. These coasters have one solid color on the back side or bottom, another solid color on the top, and multicolor rays on top of that. For instance, the color on the bottom of the brown-and-yellow coasters is orange. Endless possibilities!
Materials
Pulp in assorted colors, separated into different containers
4”-diameter circle mold (large-sized tin can works well)
Papermaking screen
Sponge
Pulp gun (see page 27)
Couching sheets
Paper towels
Boards or books (for weights)
3”- or 4”-diameter circle template (optional)
Utility knife (optional)
Instructions
1. Pour the pulp color you want on the bottom into a circle shape. For a nice, thick coaster, pour the pulp generously; it should be approximately ¼″ deep in the mold before draining the water.
2. Move the circle and screen to the side to drain. Do not press or iron dry.
3. Pour the pulp color you want on top into a circle shape. Once the pulp has drained a bit, carefully turn the screen upside down and line it up on top of the previous circle. Press lightly on the screen with a sponge to release the top circle.
4. Use the pulp gun and fresh colors to make patterns on the top circle, as desired.
5. Couch the coaster(s) to remove some of the water (see page 55) and leave them to dry overnight pressed between paper towels and a couple of boards or books (see page 56). They will take considerably longer to dry than usual, due to their thickness.
6. Finish dried coasters by using the circle template and utility knife to trim into clean-edged circles or simply leave them with a natural edge.
Pulp Painting
It’s easy to make a pulp “gun.” With it, you can “shoot” pulp onto a screen in a variety of shapes or abstract patterns. You can shoot one color and then reload and shoot another color. With good aim, you can form single or multicolor images, such as numbers, letters, scenes, or abstract patterns. Combined with the pulp layering technique, you can place your numbers, letters, scenes, or patterns on the surface of a regular sheet, making beautiful decorated paper or works of art. Pulp guns can be made with any plastic squeeze bottle that has a lid with a nozzle, such as some containers for mustard and ketchup (see page 27).
What follows are two different ways to paint with pulp, either directly on the first wet sheet or indirectly, painting freehand layers on a second screen and transferring them to the first sheet. Experiment with thicker or thinner pulp in the pulp gun.
Direct Pulp Painting
Step 1. Set up a papermaking screen on top of a drain rack and place them in a drain pan. Make a background sheet, leaving it as wet as possible on the papermaking screen. If necessary, spray it to rewet.
Step 2. Recycle a different color of paper in the blender, running it until there are no chunks left. Pour the pulp into a plastic squeeze bottle or turkey baster. Fill the bottle half full and put the lid on. Be sure the nozzle is open.
Step 3. Paint directly on the wet background sheet.
Step 4. Press and dry the sheet.
Indirect Pulp Painting
Step 1. Make a sheet and leave it wet on the papermaking screen. Set up a second papermaking screen on a support screen, as with pulp layering (see page 79).
Step 2. Recycle a different color of paper in the blender, running it until there are no chunks left. Pour the pulp into a plastic mustard or ketchup squeeze bottle. Fill the bottle half full and put the lid on. Be sure the nozzle is open. Another option is to mix several different colors in paper cups and dip into them one at a time with a turkey baster.
Step 3. Aim the pulp gun nozzle down at the screen, within 2″ of the surface. Give the pulp gun a short, gentle squeeze and shoot little patches of pulp onto the screen as desired. Experiment with harder, longer squeezes as well, and feel free to try different colors and thicker or thinner pulp slurries in the pulp gun.
Step 4. Pick up the secondary screen and layer it onto the sheet you made earlier by turning it upside down onto the first sheet. The fibers will bond and transfer. Multiple layers can be painted and transferred as desired. Press and dry the sheet.
More Pulp Painting Experiments
For different batches, try some of the following options:
Use thick and thinner pulps in the bottle.
Use different types of plastic bottles with larger or smaller nozzle openings.
Hold the bottle at different angles to the screen. At the same time, try squeezing harder and softer.
Try writing with the gun. Squirt pulp out into the form of your initials. Make sure to write the letters backward when doing pulp painting, so they will transfer and read the right way around when placed on another paper sheet.
Try simple drawings, such as a tree, using two or more colors.
Avoid piling up pulp in high ridges or mounds. Put down thin little patches, patterns, and lines. Adding water to the pulp in the bottle will help keep pulp from getting too thick on the screen. Once you’ve gotten a feel for the process, you can experiment with thicker and thinner pulp in the bottle.
Adding Color in the Deckle
After a sheet’s worth of pulp has been poured into the deckle of a pour hand mold, you can throw in many other interesting components. These can include other colored pulps, botanicals, glitter, strips of fabric, and so on. It’s a whole world unto itself. Adding color at this point is easy and leads to all kinds of unique results. The following instructions work best for a pour mold that is strapped together, so you have your hands free to apply other colors while the mold rests in the vat.
Step 1. Prepare a sheet’s worth of pulp. White is probably the best to show off the colors you want to add. Pour the pulp into a container and put it aside.
Step 2. Prepare several colors of pulp by recycling colored papers in a blender. Put each in a separate cup and set aside.
Step 3. Use the pulp from step 1 to begin making a sheet of paper, but pause with the mold still in the vat.
Step 4. Draw colored pulp into a turkey baster. Using just a bit of gentle pressure on the baster’s bulb, shoot some of the colored pulp into the white pulp at a corner of the deckle.
Step 5. Repeat the action with each of the other colored pulps in separate corners of the deckle.
Step 6. Complete by making your paper as usual.
Variations
This technique offers great room for exploration, experimentation, and a wide range of unique and wonderful papers:
In step 4, try holding the baster at different levels; use different amounts of pressure on the baster bulb; use different thicknesses of colored pulp slurries in the baster; or put the baster end down into the pulp and shoot.
Try different pulp guns (syrup dispenser, mustard container, and so on). Try anything your imagination can uncover as a way to enter colored pulps into the pulp already in the deckle.
These sheets will likely be two-sided. Dispersion on one side of the sheet will be different than on the other because the colored pulp tends to sink. Close observation can lead to further manipulation of this phenomenon and how it works.
Color(s) can be added to the pulp in the deckle, gently or with force.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I put recycled paper through my home printer?
A: I am not an expert on printers, but I do print often on my handmade paper. My inkjet printer has suffered no discernable ill effects. I do not know about laser or any other type of home printer. Common sense and some experimentation indicate that sheets that are too thick or thin will present problems. The more pressure you apply during drying, the better the final paper will be for prin
ting. Check your owner’s manual for more tips.
Bordering
Here is another way to add color in the deckle, after the water has drained from the first sheet. Use this technique to put a border on one edge or entirely around a sheet. You can even achieve a self-framing effect by forming a mat that becomes part of the paper sheet.
Direct Bordering
Step 1. Prepare enough pulp for one sheet. Prepare several colors of pulp for adding as the border or frame.
Step 2. Follow the basic papermaking procedure through step 4 (see page 53). Once the paper is drained, set the mold down in a drain pan.
Step 3. Draw colored pulp into a pulp gun. Drop and dribble the colored pulp along the edge of the sheet next to the deckle, on one or more edges. Repeat with as many colored pulps as you wish.
Step 4. Loosen the mold straps and continue with papermaking as usual.
Keep the point of the baster near the deckle wall and release pulp very gently.
Indirect Bordering
Step 1. Prepare enough pulp for one sheet. Prepare several colors of pulp for adding as the border or frame.
Step 2. Make a full-sized sheet of paper, following the basic papermaking procedure through step 5 (see page 54). Once you’ve removed the deckle, set the wet sheet in a drain pan.
Step 3. Set up a separate papermaking screen over a drain pan or bucket and set the deckle on top. Draw colored pulp into a pulp gun and dribble the colored pulp onto the window screen, inside the deckle and along the edges. Leave the center of the screen open.
Step 4. Remove the deckle and lift the window screen. Carefully turn it over so the pulp is on the bottom.
Step 5. Match the outside edges of the pulp carefully to the outside edges of the new sheet and lower the edged screen onto the new sheet. Apply a sponge to the window screen to remove water. After removing as much water as possible, carefully lift the window screen. The colored pulps will remain on the edge(s) of the new sheet.
Step 6. Finish making the paper as usual.
Crafty Tip
The amount of pulp you apply as a border or self-frame depends on your taste. Applying pulp sparingly will keep sheet edges more uniformly thick with the sheet’s center. If you want more of a distinct frame, more pulp might be in order.
Chapter 6 More Fun Things to Try
It would be impossible to include every technique for creative papermaking in this book. Truly, there are as many ideas as there are people to think them up!
If you’re hooked on papermaking and want to try some new effects, this chapter provides a sampling to whet your appetite even further.
Pin Drawing
When you dip a pin in pulp slurry, it will pick up fibers. You can then use the pin to “draw” with those fibers on the surface of a newly formed wet sheet. By lowering the pin horizontally to the wet sheet and dropping the point onto the surface, the pin fibers and surface fibers will create a bond. When you pull the pin away, the fibers will slide off and be deposited onto the surface in a line. With practice, you can make curved lines, lay down several lines adjacent to each other, and make thicker lines. Pin drawing can be a very sensitive medium for artistic expression.
Crafty Tips
Bend the pin just below its head to create something to grip. You don’t want your fingertips to touch the sheet’s surface.
Thick and thin slurries lay down different kinds of lines. See the difference by experimenting with thick, thin, and medium-thick slurries. You also can make lines thicker by laying down several thin lines side-by-side.
Although I work with pins, there is room for discovery in trying thin wires. Bending a thin wire would be easier than bending a pin, and pins tend to break, rather than bend.
The line of fibers can be manipulated on the sheet. You can use the point of the pin to move them a bit to one side or to straighten the line’s edges. This is delicate and requires a careful touch. The point of the pin must engage with the added fibers only, or you might tear your sheet.
Use short containers for the pulp you’ll be drawing with. Tall containers make it difficult to get the pin down into the pulp. It also helps to tip the container to one side when dipping the pin.
“Pin drawing” and “patience” both start with a P.
Step 1. Make a full-sized sheet of paper, following the basic papermaking procedure through step 6 (see page 54), but don’t put on the cover screen.
Step 2. Prepare a thick slurry of colored pulp. Divide it by pouring into two small containers. Add water to one container to thin out the pulp.
Step 3. Draw a shape on the new sheet’s surface by dipping a pin into the thick slurry and lifting out some fibers. Lower the pin horizontally, but with a bit of a slant, so the fibers near the pin point will touch the sheet’s surface first. Lower the remaining fibers onto the sheet.
Step 4. Slide the pin slowly out of the pulp. Because the fibers touching the surface will have bonded slightly, the wet fibers on the pin will generally slide off as the pin is withdrawn. By repeated dipping, make the line as long as you wish.
Step 5. Dip the pin into the thinner pulp slurry and experiment with drawing more lines. Note the differences between the lines.
Step 6. Complete your drawing. Put the cover screen over the new sheet and finish making the paper.
Edge Dipping
If you dip one edge of a pour hand mold into water, you have a pool over that side of the papermaking screen, into which you can pour colored pulps. The width and length of the pool is something you can play with by raising or lowering the hand mold’s edge in the water. When you lift the mold from the water, there will be a strip of pulp on one side of the papermaking screen that is straight on one edge and ragged on the other. You can use this as a secondary layer and add it on top of a newly formed wet sheet, using the pulp layering technique (see page 78).
Step 1. Prepare three different colors of pulp.
Step 2. Make a full-sized sheet of paper, following the basic papermaking procedure through step 6 (see page 54), but don’t put on the cover screen. Set this sheet aside to drain a bit.
Step 3. Use a second papermaking screen (the cover screen can be used) in the mold and dip the mold at a slanted angle into the vat. Water will come up over the edge of the papermaking screen. Keep the mold at a steep angle, so deep water covers about one-quarter of the screen.
Step 4. Hold the mold steady. Into the pool of water above the screen, pour different-colored pulps in different places. Don’t pour in too much pulp. Add glitter if desired.
Step 5. Lift the mold out of the water. For the first effort, lift it straight up, not changing the angle. In later efforts, try lifting the mold out with a bit of a scooping action. This will cause water and some pulp to wash a little higher on the screen as the mold is lifted. This can result in a ragged, possibly dramatic, edge as the pulp drains on the screen.
Step 6. Use the pulp layering technique (see page 78) to transfer the shape to your full-sized sheet. Dry and press the paper as desired.
Moonscape
The success of this sheet depends on finding the right paper for recycling. You want paper that is heavily clay-coated and shiny, with huge expanses of deep-colored ink. Heavy clay coating is identified by a high gloss; it’s a very shiny paper. Not all shiny paper uses clay, though, so look for the glossiest and shiniest piece you can find. Magazine covers and interior pages are good hunting grounds, as are slick advertising pieces.
You’ll know you’ve succeeded if you get a lot of foam while blending the paper. Foam indicates a clay formula coating, and it is the key to the bubble effect you want as the finished result. When you pour the foamy pulp into the deckle, the foam bubbles start bursting. Each burst sprays out minute clay particles, colored by the ink. The bigger the bubbles, the more obvious the effect. For the best result, aim to keep the bubbles intact until they are down near the screen. When the conditions are right, a quite spectacular visual surface can be made.
Step 1. Prepare
your mold and lower it into the vat (see step 3, page 53) before blending the pulp. Leave it there while you run the blender.
Step 2. Add the shiny paper and water to the blender. Run it for about 12 to 15 seconds on a low speed, then turn the blender up to high speed. There should be some foam generated.
Step 3. Turn the blender off, pour the recycled pulp into the hand mold, and lift the mold out of the water as rapidly as possible. You want the least amount of foam bubbles to dissipate before the pulp has drained down onto the screen. In the best case, many small bubbles and a number of large ones will burst as the pulp reaches the screen.
Step 4. Complete the steps for making paper, as usual.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I recycle shiny paper?
A: Yes, you most certainly can. What makes shiny paper shine is a coating of clay. When you recycle the paper, there will be a lot of foam in the blender, but that is no problem. In fact, the clay used at the paper mill is very expensive and is not a bad thing for your handmade sheet. The moonscape technique shows what shiny paper can do that non-shiny papers can’t.
Texturing
The wet surface of a newly formed sheet is easily textured — the wetter, the better. Any textured surface put down on a wet sheet will impact the position of the fibers. This opens more worlds than one mind can conquer. Think about all the cloth surfaces in a large fabric store, from canvas to netting. Each can be used to texture a newly formed sheet of paper. There are plenty of nonfabric surfaces out there, too, so keep your eyes open as you move through your day.
Arnold E. Grummer Page 7