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This information is reprinted from the Beginner Topics
column of Hand Papermaking Newsletter #75 (July, 2006).
To learn how to order Hand Papermaking bi-annual magazine
and quarterly newsletter, click
here.
Drying Paper
There are many drying methods and most of them are fairly
simple. Some things to consider when choosing a system are
climate, space, and the look of your finished sheets. I
recommend starting simply. There is no need to invest in an
elaborate system--I have seen beautiful high-quality papers
that were made using basic equipment.
The climate can affect how quickly your paper dries. The
more humid or damp it is, the longer it will take to dry
papers, unless you control the environment with an air
conditioner or dehumidifier. Where you will dry your papers
is another consideration. You can hang them on a clothes
line, dry them in spurs (4-5 sheets pressed together), lay
them out to dry on a table or on a rack, brush them onto
boards or walls, or set up a drying system (see below). The
method of drying you choose will affect the texture of your
papers as well. Experiment with different techniques to see
which you like. Take several sheets of paper and try drying
each one with a different method and compare the results,
noting differences in size, shape, surface, and texture.
In some countries in the Far East, papers are not pressed
at all, but are dried directly on the moulds on which they
were formed. The sheets stick to the screen surface as they
dry. When dry, the sheets can be peeled off the moulds. This
system requires many moulds and it is typically used in arid
climates where the sun dries the sheets rapidly, so that the
moulds can be reused. Although the system requires the use
of many moulds, it does eliminate the need of a press and a
drying set-up.
Another process I’ve seen that did not require a press or
a drying set-up was developed by Nance O’Banion. She had a
series of 4’ x 8’ wooden frames with silk-screen stretched
across them. She couched freshly formed sheets of paper
directly onto a screen which could be propped against the a
wall. Many sheets could be couched onto one of these
screens, and they were either left in the sun to dry or the
water was sucked out of them from the back by running a wet-vac
over the screen.
Another simple method of drying is air-drying--just let
your sheets of paper dry on the surface upon which they were
couched. I recommend couching onto interfacing if you are
going to air-dry because it dries quickly. You can spread
them out on screens or on a rack so that air circulates
around them, or you can hang them on a clothesline to dry.
You can also pin the interfacing to a wall or board, to hold
it taut as it dries. When dry, just peel the sheets off of
the interfacing. The sheets might cockle (curl)
slightly--you can put them under clean, heavy books or
boards to flatten. If they are still cockled, gently mist
them with water to help them relax and put them under weight
between blotters or newspaper. If you like the cockling, you
can also try removing your damp papers from the interfacing
before they dry--usually this will cause them to cockle even
more.
You can get some interesting results with air drying
paper. If you used a high-shrinkage pulp, such as abaca or
flax and let it air dry, it would shrivel and wrinkle
creating a highly textured sheet. You can also make paper,
couch and sponge press the sheets and work sculpturally over
an armature or cast the paper into a form.
You can also try exchange-drying: dry your sheets of
paper between newspapers, cloths, or blotters--any absorbent
material which will wick moisture from the paper. After they
have been pressed, interleave the sheets between one of
these materials and form a stack. Put a board on top and
some heavy books or another heavy object to restrain the
paper as it dries. Change the interleaving material daily
until the sheets are dry (otherwise, they will mold instead
of drying). This can take anywhere from a day to a week,
depending on the humidity level, the fiber, and the paper’s
thickness.
During the advent of papermaking in Europe, a system
called loft-drying was developed. Sheets of paper were
actually hung in lofts (top stories of buildings) to dry,
where the air was considered the cleanest and the warmest.
The sheets were first pressed into spurs, which prevented
them from cockling very much as they dried.
To loft-dry your sheets, you must first press them. After
pressing, separate them from their felts and pile them in
stacks of four to six sheets (depending on the thickness of
the sheets). Each pile is called a spur. Pile the sheets one
on top of the other and line them up one exactly on top of
the other, rotating every other sheet so that they are piled
in a different fashion to even out any inequalities. Put a
felt in between each spur and form a post of spurs.
Put this post in the press again and press a second time,
this time pressing just until you see drops of water forming
at the edges of the felts. More pressure could inhibit
separating the sheets when they are dry. After pressing,
each spur should be stuck together. You can hang the spurs
on a clothesline with clothespins, or you can lay them flat
on a rack or screens. (Make sure they get air from all sides
so they dry evenly.) In Europe, they hung the sheets from
wooden poles with clothespin-like clips that did not mar the
surface of the sheet. Alternately, you can drape the spurs
over plastic tubing or thick ropes (in Europe, the tradition
was to hang the sheets over ropes woven from cow or horse
hair coated with beeswax). Test the material you use to make
sure it won’t stain your paper. Jana Pullman of Western
Slope in Minneapolis makes a nifty drying rack system which
is ideal for drying spurs.
If you can control the air circulation, you should try to
direct it to come in contact with the breadth of the sheets
and not the edges for the least amount of cockling. When
dry, separate the spurs by starting at one corner and
peeling the sheets of each spur apart in one fluid motion.
Separate the spurs in halves: if you have a spur of four,
first divide it into pairs, then separate the pairs into
single sheets. Your sheets will probably cockle to some
degree, but they can be flattened with another pressing.
Make a stack of individual sheets, rotating them again and
press them again to flatten. If the sheets cockle a lot, you
may need to gently moisten them to relax them. You can do
this with a spray mister before pressing.
At Taos Paperworks in New Mexico, I saw an innovative
loft-drying system. A long wooden pole that was
approximately 6” in diameter was rigged to the ceiling on a
pulley system. It was lowered and spurs of papers were
draped over it before it was hoisted to the ceiling, out of
the way as the sheets dried. Then the pole was lowered again
and the dry sheets were removed.
In China, Japan, and other Eastern countries, wet sheets
of paper are brushed onto boards or walls for drying. The
sheets stick to the boards and then are peeled off when dry.
The paper takes on the finish of the board or wall, showing
the grain or texture on the side of the sheet that was stuck
to the surface. You can use almost any smooth surface for
drying papers, such as wood, metal, glass, Plexiglas, or
Formica. You can even brush your sheets onto plaster walls,
as is common in India, where the walls are heated by the sun
and the sheets dry quickly.
To board dry, press your sheets--they should not be quite
fully pressed, or they won’t stick to the boards. Lift one
sheet from its felt and lay it on the drying surface. Use a
rubber brayer or wide paint brush to fix the sheet to the
surface. If brushing onto a vertical surface, there is a
technique you can use to adhere it while keeping it from
falling to the ground. Start by brushing diagonally from the
center towards the upper right corner of the sheet. While
holding the upper left corner with your fingers, brush from
the upper right corner to the bottom left corner. Next brush
the from the center to the upper left corner and then
continue brushing from the center out to adhere the rest of
the sheet. Cover the entire surface of the sheet, brushing
with firm, even strokes. If the sheets were pressed
correctly, you should be able to brush firmly without
damaging the sheet’s surface. The edges must be well adhered
because they will dry the fastest and could pop off the
drying surface. If the edges curl before the sheets are dry,
they will shrink more than the rest of the sheet and will be
difficult to flatten.
Some fibers shrink a lot when drying and will pop off of
boards before they are dry. You can try applying methyl
cellulose to the edges of the sheets as you apply them to
the boards to help them stay adhered until dry. If you are
drying your sheets outside, you might try starting them in
the shade and then moving them into the sun after they are
somewhat dry. This allows them to dry slowly and might
prevent them from popping off.
When dry, peel the sheets of paper off the boards. Start at
one corner and peel in one fluid motion. If you have a
problem releasing the corner, try using a razor blade to
lift it, but be careful not to damage the drying surface.
A drying box is the highest-tech system I’ve seen, and
all it requires is some cotton printing blotters, bi-wall or
tri-wall cardboard (two or three layers of cardboard
laminated together), plastic sheeting, and a box fan. The
laminated cardboard is a bit costly, but this system is very
efficient, yielding flat and dry papers in about 24 hours.
This system can dry many sheets at a time and is designed
for production papermaking. I wouldn’t bother with it if you
are not planning to make paper on a regular basis.
The system works as follows. Your paper sits on blotters,
which are absorbent and act as a barrier between the
cardboard and the paper. The air from the fan blows through
the channels in the cardboard, which dries the blotters and
subsequently, the papers. When purchasing cardboard to make
your own drying box, make sure that the channels run in the
direction of the length of the system (not the width of the
fan). I suggest getting the cardboard as wide as the fan and
no longer than one-and-a-half times the width. You will need
one piece of bi-wall or tri-wall and four blotters per
layer, and you can stack the drying system up to the height
of your fan. You will have to do a bit of calculating to
figure out how many blotters and how many pieces of
cardboard you need.
David Reina manufactures and sells a nicely-designed drying
box based on this type of system, with a built in screw
press on top to ensure that the papers dry flat. This is
also nice because you don’t have to lift weights onto the
system each time. (See David’s display ad in the
newsletter.) you can also build your own drying box with the
help of an article and plans by Claire Van Vliet in the
Summer 1987 issue of Hand Papermaking magazine.
Portions excerpted from The Papermaker’s Companion,
c 2000, with permission from Storey Publishing <www.storey.com>.
Copyright 2006 Hand Papermaking, Inc.
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