|
This information is reprinted from the Cranberry Corner column
of Hand Papermaking Newsletter #49 (January, 2000).
To learn how to order Hand Papermaking bi-annual magazine
and quarterly newsletter, click
here.
Introduction/Cranberry Mills
This is the
first of a series of articles that I will be writing about
paper and paper quality and how this interacts with its end
uses.
In future
articles I will be describing the invention of paper, what
paper is, how it is made, paper permanence, the various
types of paper (both machine made and handmade), and their
physical and optical properties and end uses. I will explain
the meaning of any technical terms when they are mentioned.
And now a word
about me! In 1987, when I retired after 37 years of paper
engineering and science, I decided to build my own paper
mill by myself, to make archival handmade papers.
Acquisition of equipment and construction started in 1989
and the first paper was produced in January 1993.
The mill is
situated in a small barn beside my retirement home--“Windy
Willows”--located on a five-acre drive-on island in
beautiful Cranberry Lake (part of the Rideau Canal system)
just a 30-minute drive north on Highway 15 from downtown
Kingston, Ontario. Hence the mill is called Cranberry Mills.
Here I make
archival handmade papers for such uses as bookbinding, book
conservation, printing, woodblock printing, printmaking,
painting, drawing, and stationery.My wife Betty and I also tend about an acre of gardens,
including an orchard of dwarf fruit trees, nut trees, a
vineyard, vegetables and herbs, rock gardens, hardy
rhododendrons, an “English border,” and a Japanese water
garden complete with Buddha and fountain! From our wide
selection of perennials and annuals I pick certain flower
petals for use in my “Floral Inclusion” papers.
That’s enough for
introductions. Tune in to The Cranberry Corner in the next
newsletter.
|
