The first paper mills were developed in Europe in the 11Th century and paper has been produced since using cellulose fibres such as cotton, flax or tree bark.
For my paper making courses, I tend to use cotton fibres as they are very pure and white which means that the paper produced is very durable and can be stained easily.
I have now been running a paper course at Berkhamsted School since October and on a weekly basis, as well as doing a few lunch time sessions at the girls school. The students have managed to produce some lovely paper, with glitter, grass, flower petals etc...
The process is very easy and involves using paper pulp made up of water and cellulose (or for us, cotton fibres) which are mixed together.
The fibres float freely in the water and are scooped through a sieve which has a frame providing the size and shape of the paper (this is called a deckle and frame). As soon as the water is taken away from the fibres, they just want to stick together, and form the paper. The less fibre to water ratio, the thiner the paper.
The pulp is then strained and taken off the deckle.
The wet paper is then dried with a cloth. Complete drying is then necessary so that the paper can be used.
Here are a few examples of the paper produced so far:
We have also tried to experiment with the paper as a molding material, as per following examples:
I hope this gives some enthusiasm for the girls to carry on with paper making and maybe we can get a few boys interested too!!
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