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Materials and Supplies

Set-up

Preparation of Raw Fiber  
Formation Aid (Neri)  
Vat Set-up  
Sheetforming Techniques  
Drying 
  

PLANT PAPERS- from plants easily broken down. 
do this project in blender 

Drying 
  

PLANT PAPERS- from plants easily broken down. 
do this project in blender 

Simple Plant Papers

Paper from plant fibers - fresh, non archival 

onion skins 
leaves 
celery           -      Boil first - these break down easily 
leeks 
rhubarb. 
 

Cut stalks into  1-2 pieces.  Boil until it breaks down into strands. 
 

Repeat these steps several times to make sure all of the excess plant material is removed: 

• Rinse non fibrous part of plant away until the water runs clear. 

• Gather edges of the fabric and squeeze/wring out excess water. 

The resultant pulp is a small quantity compared to the larger bulk of plant material that you started with. 
 
Variations: 

• Add above to paper pulps (1:1 plant to paper pulp is a good starting point) 

• Make a sheet from pulp above 

• Liquify then make paper 

• Sprinkle flower petals over thepulp before making the sheets 

Make paper from dried flowers 
 

stainless steel  pan 
scissors 
wood spoon 
sheer curtain fabric 
colander 
plastic/wood spoon 

Straw 
cornstalks 
ferns 
dead leaves 
wildflowers 

When using caustic uses rubber gloves and eye protection. 

In general, do not exceed 1 T caustic to 5 liters of water.  If you use too little, you can always rinse and reboil.  If you use too much, the fibers could become damaged. 

Plant must be washed after boiling to remove traces of the caustic.  Rinse for a minimum of 20 minutes, squeezing out water periodically. 

Try to liquify part and not liquify part. 

Try a meat grinder: 
If grind before cooking, sometimes you can get a coarse sheet without liquifying, usually with these you still need to add some liquified pulp. 

With very coarse paper having huge hunks of plant material, the paper is usually too fragile other than as a decorative paper for chine colle. 

Absence of pulp can make a paper with holes that has an interesting woven effect. p31

for tougher material: 
soda ash 
rubber gloves 
measuring spoon 
eye protection 
apron