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This information is reprinted from the For Beginners column
of Hand Papermaking Newsletter #34 (April, 1996).
To learn how to order Hand Papermaking bi-annual magazine
and quarterly newsletter, click
here.
Methods of Drying Paper
Those interested in the papermaking process often focus
on the preparation of materials and the forming of the sheets.
The steps of the process which follow these, of removing
the water from and drying the sheets, are equally important.
Sheets of handmade paper have been dried in a variety
of ways. In many papermaking traditions, although not all,
the papermaker places a stack or "post" of newly-formed
sheets under pressure, which both strengthens the paper
by increasing fiber bonding and accelerates the drying process
by squeezing out large amounts of water. Presses range from
boards with heavy weights (easily reproduced in a simple
studio setting), to elaborate, large screw presses, to modern
hydraulic presses. Most papermakers do not fully dry sheets
of paper in a press, however, as air circulation and other
considerations make alternative methods more practical.
Sheets of paper formed Nepalese-style, in which sheets
are formed in a floating, cloth-covered mold, are dried
in that same mold (and not pressed at all). In this tradition,
the papermaker needs many molds, as each mold is in use
as long as a piece of paper is drying on it. Usually sunlight
and air alone dry this type of paper.
Asian papermakers sometimes dry their sheets by simply
laying them on the ground. They use this method for papers
which will become for wrapping, stuffing, floor coverings,
or other utilitarian products which do not require a smooth,
even surface.
Paper can also be dried sheet by sheet, with one side applied
to a flat surface and the other exposed to the air. In India,
for example, papermakers apply their pressed paper, still
damp, to plaster walls. Elsewhere in India and in Japan,
metal sheets, often heated from the other side, are sometimes
used. Other, more traditional Japanese papers are dried
on wooden boards. Contemporary paper artists use various
surfaces for drying their sheets, including glass, formica,
and linoleum. These all give the paper a two-sided quality:
the side exposed to the air often softer and less compressed;
the side facing the surface denser, smoother, and more regular.
Western-style papers were traditionally dried in sets of
several pages together (called "spurs"), which were either
clipped to or draped over hair ropes or wooden dowels, hung
in well-ventilated rooms. After a certain amount of drying,
the sheets were separated from the spur and rehung.
Most contemporary production papermakers making Western-style
papers dry their sheets, after pressing, using forced air
driers, which employ a series of sandwiched layers containing
the damp paper, blotters, and corrugated or porous plates.
These layers are typically put under moderate pressure and
air from a fan or blower is forced through the entire stack,
until the paper is dry. [See Claire van Vliet's article
on this type of dryer in Hand Papermaking, Summer 1987,
Volume 2 Number 1.]
Especially for paper made from fibers which exhibit high
shrinkage, such as linen, papermakers should dry their sheets
under pressure if they want to keep them flat. Otherwise,
distortion, cockling, and other irregularities will appear
in the dried sheets.
Copyright 1996 Hand Papermaking, Inc
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