Papermaking on the Deck

Its that time of year...Craig (my partner) has disappeared to Victoria for some bike events, I've got the house to myself........so I can safely set up my papermaking 'factory' on the deck without ruining our wonderful relationship....!

I recently collected some plant material from my brother's property at Gympie.  I wanted to try a few different plants in my papermaking, other than that collected from my own garden.

Plants used include:  Bromelaid leaves (dried and chopped up in a mulcher) - lovely dark chocolate, flecked paper but quite a bit of shrinkage so best incorporated with other fibres and recycled paper.
Lomandra, Bladey Grass, Citronella grass, Bracken Fern, Lemon Grass.

The electric cooker

 

Rinsing the cooked fibre

Beating/chopping the cooked fibre, with the
outdoor insinkerator.

Bracken Fern, after cooking for 4 hours.

Bracken Fern, after it has been put through the insinkerator.
Very fiberous, not much bulk. 
The resulting paper looked just like a tree fern trunk. 
Not practical paper but very interesting!



The vat, ready to pull the sheets using the mould & deckle.
I have sprinkled calendula stamens/petals and lavender
on top of the vat as decorative colour and texture when
the sheets are pulled.

My new 'toys', from Japan.  These assist me to adhere
the formed sheets of paper onto my board for drying.

Sheets of Citronella grass drying on the boards.
This paper is, well, very grassy!

Close up of the Citronella grass paper. 
Lots of texutre so I won't be using this one for printing on.....
Lovely to touch and admire though!

A sheet of dried Bladey Grass, this is my favourite.
Lovely golden colour with lots of texture (hard to see in the photo).
I think this is one I will use in some future exhibition pieces.