Paper. No matter what the “experts” once said, they were wrong. We haven’t become a paperless society and, especially around mail time, it seems more trees are being used for paper than for building homes.

 

For some of us, paper and a writing instrument (I favor fountain pens) are de rigueur to our lives and sense of well-being. Paper and bookmaking have always fascinated me and my longing to make books was recently realized during a one-day workshop at the local community college. For papermaking, I’m relying on Fiber Femme Focus Laura Murphy’s instructions.  She assures me papermaking is relatively simple and uses the most basic of equipment…at least for the beginner.

 

Paper, as we commonly know it, is made from cellulose (trees) but can also be made from cotton (blue jeans, sheets), the kitchen (banana peels, avocados), the garden (okra, cabbage leaves) old newspapers, mulberry, hemp, linen…virtually anything that can be torn or chopped can be used to make paper.

 

As most school children know, the word “paper” was derived from the Egyptian  word “papyrus”. Wikipedia says pulped tree fiber is attributed to the Chinese court official Cai Lun around 100 A.D and some excavated examples of Chinese paper have been dated to the second century B. C. The Mayas were making Amate paper (made using several species of fig trees) around the 5^th century A. D.

 

I’ve already surfed the I-net and found several other simple, easy to follow directions for making paper. This could be the beginning of a new fiber love affair!