Pulp Pleasure

Yesterday's post brought a delightful parcel from Beth, containing little origami envelopes of crafty bits and pieces suitable for putting in handmade paper. She also enclosed a piece of handmade paper (which looks completely unlike mine!)

So, in went the waste paper to soak in hot water so I could have a play. I thorougly enjoyed myself.


I enjoyed myself so much, I ran out of the drying sheets, so experimented with using jay cloths to press the paper onto. This gives a slightly textured surface, a bit like linen, and the paper is slightly bent and crinkled.





I've been experimenting further today. The paper that Beth enclosed is sort of lumpy on the surface. I realised that mine is flat because I press it onto something (drying sheet or cloth). So today, I've tried four experiments.

i) put jay cloth on top of mesh, sandwiched between deckle frame. Result: jay cloth gets bubbles in, over which the pulp doesn't settle, so paper has a hole in.
ii) use deckle and mesh as usual, tip onto jay cloth but don't press. Result: don't know until it dries. Soggy mess at the moment.
iii) leave paper on the mesh to dry. Result: mesh not available for further paper making. Doh.
iv) use jay cloth in place of mesh. This resulted in a thin covering. Experimentally, I tried putting it in again. The pulp ruckled up, making interesting textures. So I did it again. The result looks more like what I was after. The jury is out, though, until it dries (if it ever does).