I woke up this morning and strolled through the house unable to locate my recently liberated corporate slave. I tried out in her craft cottage, and found her making paper. She is learning at the moment, but is determined to eventually sell home gown and spun llama fiber yarns wrapped with a home made label.
Paper drying on rack. Missus has included some leaves in her slurry to add interest to the finished product, and to gain confidence working with contents other than just plain pulp.
The paper she is working on this morning is practice, and the color and thickness may not quite be right, but as she progresses and works on what to put into the slurry, we hope to have a lovely finish that will take a label stamp.
The slurry is made by blending material then setting it aside to add to water where it loosens up to be collected with the deckle and mold to form individual sheets.
We have plenty of options for future paper to make, including essential oil scented, or with added mint leaves from the garden. She is also interested in commondeering wood from my shop to incorporate starting with sawdust or shavings from the hand plane.
The slurry is collected from the water with the deckle and mold, causing it to form into a useful sheet of paper, and forming it into a uniform shape.
If I do turn out to produce a useful waste that can be used in papermaking, then I hope to produce a lot of it for her! Of course, there is a lot to do with excess sawdust too, but that is a different story!
A finished piece lies next to the one currently being released from the deckle and mold by sponging away excess water.
The paper was then left to dry for the day. Future efforts will resolve a better color and texture as Missus refines her skill in the medium.