MAKE YOUR
OWN PAPER
All you need are the following household appliances and supplies:
- fine mesh wire screen (size: slightly bigger than a piece of A4 paper)
- 2 pieces of blotting paper
- basin or tray
- bowl
- laundry starch
- newspaper
- electric mixer
- rolling pin
- electric iron
Instructions:
Step 1: Tear eight pages of the newspaper into small pieces and
place in tray or basin with water. Soak for two hours, crunching the paper with
your fingers. In a separate bowl, mix one tablespoon of instant starch
with two cups of water. Add the starch and water mixture to the tray or basin
containing the dissolved paper. Mix thoroughly with the electric mixer and add
10-15 litres of water, to create a pulp mixture. You can also add petals, leaves
or pieces of coloured paper to decorate your paper.
Step 2:
Dip the wire screen
into the tray with the pulp mixture. Remove slowly and allow the water to drain
through the bottom of the screen. If you like, you could even build your own paper
mould with a wooden
frame to hold the wire screen.
Step 3:
Dry the screen and wet sheet of pulp between two pieces of blotting paper. The
pulp sheet will stick to the blotting paper, allowing you to remove the wire from
the sheet. Press or squeeze out excess water with the rolling pin.
Step 4:
Set your iron on a low setting. With the sheet still between the blotting papers,
dry the paper carefully with the iron. Trim the edges of the sheet. Congratulations!
You now have a sheet of your very own handmade paper.
