The full-size 8½ x 18-inch sheets are a mixture of bleached abaca and raw hemp, with an abaca spine strip laminated lengthwise to the base sheet when wet.

I prepared the pulps separately. For the abaca, I soaked the pulp sheets, then beat it in a Reina Hollander beater for 2.5 hours with the roll at zero to achieve the degree of shrinkage I wanted. For the hemp, I cut and soaked it overnight, and beat it for 90 minutes at 1.

I used a deckle box to form each sheet directly onto a dampened medium-weight Pellon, using the “magic tablecloth” method. In the “magic tablecloth” method, the slurry is mixed on a piece of plastic lining the deckle box. The plastic is then quickly pulled out. I find that it is gentler on an aging back to form sheets in this manner and it allows me to easily make thicker sheets with slow-draining fiber, and to use a variety of pulps in one session. It is also good for indoor situations without floor drains; you can do it over a sink. Or, to conserve water, you can work over an empty vat, collecting and re-using the drained water over and over.

To make the sheet, I measured out the abaca into the prepared deckle box, then added about three-quarters of an inch of water, then hogged with a flat hand until the abaca was fully suspended in the deckle box. Then I randomly added the hemp, stirring lightly until it was suspended but not evenly distributed, to make a slightly mottled sheet. Then I pulled the plastic. The slow drainage of the abaca allowed enough time to shake the deckle box and set the sheet. To keep the mottled appearance, I used a very short shaking motion, more like a vibration.

To produce the “text” I made a stencil out of heavy vinyl, drilling a hole for each letter. However, I didn’t align the marks conventionally; I made it run parallel to the spine. I kept the stencil slightly above the surface of each drained sheet, then made it rain with a spray bottle.

To couch, I carefully picked up the Pellon and transferred it pulp face up to a wet felt, and then added the torn spine strip. Each subsequent sheet was simply laid onto the one before it. After six sheets, I laid a damp Pellon then a felt onto the post and began again.

After a slow pressing, the sheets for the sculptural piece were transferred to dry Pellon and laid out to air dry. The sheets for these samples also went onto dry Pellon, and then into my very old stack dryer for 24 hours. Even though they were restraint dried, the paper tried to shrink and become dimensional, leaving some samples slightly cockled.

The sample is tipped in backwards so that the abaca spine strip is visible. Please lift the sample up to see the front side of the paper.

‍