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Preparation of Raw Fiber (Cooking)

1 lb. = 450 grams

• Scissors, shears or clippers.

Hand scissoring works well for iris, cornstalks, gladiolas

Weigh Soda Ash  
• Use 20% of the dry weight of the fiber- (20%of 450 grams  equals 90 grams.
• Dissolve the 90 grams of soda ash in 1 cup of water.
• Fill cooking pot  (Stainless steel, glass, or enameled pot (no chips) with about 7 liters of water.  When water is almost boiling, stir in soda ash mixture, and add soaked fiber. Cover and simmer 2-3 hours, stirring fiber every 30 minutes.
• Add soda ash to a cup of water. Fill pot halfway with fiber. Equal amount of water.  Soak plant fiber with soda ash or wood ash.
• No more than 3 - 4 tablespoons per boiling in 5 gallon pot 
  If lye is added to warm water it can set off an immediate chemical reaction casing noxious vapors.
• Cook plant fiber with ash until you can pull it apart against the grain. Apx. 2.5 hours.


For Japanese fibers such as kozo use apx 25 - 30% of dry weight of fiber. That is 4-5 oz soda ash per lb. of dry fiber.

Cook in alkaline bath - originally wood ash 
25% alkaline to dry weight 

Rinse 4 times 

Can pull apart against the grain 

Cooking removes starches, lignin and impurities that make paper non-archival

Soda Ash  

• Soda Ash = Sodium Carbonate- Na₂CO₃ or Washing Soda.
• A mild caustic. It used to be common in supermarkets.


useful for cooking relatively delicate raw fibers such as Kozo

 Soda Ash is considered mild but as a caustic, it is wise to adhere to the following precautions.  
PRECAUTIONS:  
Like all alkali chemicals soda ash should be added to water. Never add water to an alkali because splattering will occur.


Wear eye protection.  GOGGLES or MASK  

Skin irritations rare but it can cause dryness and cracking.   

WEAR RUBBER GLOVES.

• Rinse with water until the water runs clear.


In cooled rinsed state the fiber (Kozo) is called tapa. 

Fibrils 
  PRECAUTIONS: 
WEAR RUBBER GLOVES.

Apx 30 minutes

No more than 3 - 4 tablespoons per boiling in 5 gallon pot 
 
If lye is added to warm water it can set off an immediate chemical reaction casing noxious vapors.

• Fiber mixed with water.
• Using thin sides of bat, the cooked fiber is pounded to crush and abrade fibers and forces water deep into the fibers causing water molecules to attach to areas of the cellulose.
• After the paper is formed and the water evaporates the fibers bonds are even stronger (closer) than originally in the plant. The bonds are called "hydrogen bonds" and are what hold the paper together.
• The quality of the beating helps to determine the character of the finished paper. its hardness, translucency, tear and bursting strength.
• Well beaten fiber makes a strong, rattlely, translucent paper that has high shrinkage.

  Beat for approximately 30-45 minutes per pound.Beat 30 - 90 minutes 
  Cannot use hot water at all with formation aid.