Hand Papermaking Newsletter Issue 129

HAND PAPERMAKING

NEWSLETTER
number 129 • january 2020

Newsletter Editor: Maria Olivia Davalos Stanton

Columnists: Sidney Berger, Donna Koretsky, Winifred

Radolan, Amy Richard

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‍

>DEAR READERS

Those Were the Days My Friend, You Thought They’d Never End1

My father, Rémy John Barcham Green, and I sold old hand papermaking moulds for many years. I had not realised how early this had started until I recently came across the card illustrated, which presumably Rémy sent to a wide range of customers.

In 1961, hardly anyone was making paper as a studio type of activity, so I infer that Rémy initially thought that he would sell to customers as collectors’ items to hang on the wall or incorporated into coffee tables etc. By the time I joined the business in 1968, sales of old moulds were in full swing. Customers included Howard and Katherine Clark at Twinrocker, Greg Knowle at Iowa Center for the Book, and Muir Dawson in Los Angeles. Rémy kept selling moulds after I bought the business back in 1975. After a while this became a bit of an issue between us, as his prices were still ridiculously low and he was selling to some workshops who were trying to compete with us on a small scale. Eventually he stopped selling moulds in about 1976.

When Hayle Mill closed in 1987, I had about 250 pairs of moulds in stock and decided to price them based on what Ron MacDonald at Edwin Amies charged. I classified all the moulds by condition from 1 to 10 and discounted accordingly. Hayle Mill moulds have gone to new owners in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Catalonia, Czechia, Finland, France, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Japan, Korea, Sweden, the UK, and the USA, among others. Most are in collections and some are in use. In early 2019 I sold all but a dozen moulds to the Cropper Paper Foundation in northern England. The few moulds that I am keeping are for my personal collection.

So, after 58 years, the sale of moulds from Hayle Mill has eventually ended. I sometimes wonder where they are now and what they are used for. Some will have changed owners again and hopefully most have survived. However, not everyone values moulds. I recently had an email from someone about a mould that he had rescued from a skip2–discarded and on its way to oblivion.

If any readers of Hand Papermaking Newsletter have information about them, what they are used for, and their journey from Hayle Mill over the years, I would be very interested to hear from them.

Thanks for spreading the word,

Simon Barcham Green

United Kingdom

1. With apologies to Gene Raskin who actually wrote in his lyrics: “we thought they’d never end.”

2. Editor’s note: A “skip” is what Americans would call a dumpster.

We invite our readers to send in a picture of their Hayle Mill’s mould to newseditor@handpapermaking.org or tag us on Instagram or Facebook!

Do you appreciate fine hand-made paper?

>ALONG THE PAPER ROAD...

In it for the long term!

BIO: Since 1998 this column has featured paper musings from Elaine Koretsky (1932–2018), renowned paper historian, researcher, and traveler. Since 2016, her daughter Donna Koretsky, co-founder and owner of Carriage House Paper, has continued the legacy.

ABSTRACT: In this issue, Donna continues Elaine’s tradition of papermaking with homegrown cotton.

At the most recent annual meeting of the Friends of Dard Hunter in Philadelphia, I gave a presentation entitled “The Brilliant Life of Elaine Koretsky.” Included was a short video clip from a lecture my mother gave at the 1990 Dard Hunter conference in Atlanta about fiber preparation. She discussed how she grew a number of jute plants one summer, retting the jute for four weeks in water in order to extract the bast fiber, with the net result of just three ounces of fiber—not nearly enough to put in her beater. To much laughter from the audience, she remarked that she had to grow jute for three more years before she could make paper from it: “I’m in this field of papermaking for the long term,” she asserted.

Another papermaking plant that Elaine continued to grow for the long term was cotton, botanically known as Gossypium. In the spring, she would place a few seeds in pots, and by mid-summer the cotton plants would develop white flowers which withered after a few days, and a cotton boll (not ball) would begin to form. In the fall the boll would burst open, exposing the soft cotton fibers. Every fall Elaine would harvest the cotton bolls, put them in a plastic bag and mark its date. I recently uncovered ten plastic bags of Elaine’s cotton, from ten different growing seasons, over a span of 16 years. Some years were better than others; she had a bumper crop in 2001, while 1997 yielded very little. All those years of growing cotton yielded two pounds of cotton fluff, ready to be made into paper. I was thrilled; I could fulfill my mother’s wish to make paper from plants that she grew, and there was enough cotton to process in the beater.

As every papermaker knows, fiber preparation is key to successful papermaking. Therefore, I began the task of separating the long staple cotton fiber from the seeds by hand, not realizing how tedious it was going to be. The fibers were attached to the seeds and it took a lot of work to pull them apart. I figured out that it would take me 26 hours to remove all the seeds from two pounds of cotton. I was surprised when I also figured out that fifty percent of the weight of the cotton is seeds and the other fifty percent is fiber.

Well, as much as I loved my mother, there was no way I was going to spend 26 hours removing seeds by hand. I wondered what would happen if I beat the cotton along with the seeds. However, the seeds were rock hard and I was afraid they might damage the beater roll. I decided to boil one pound of the cotton with the seeds, which softened them. I beat the boiled fiber and seed for one hour in my Reina beater and made paper.

I imagined crisp, pristine, white sheets of paper with tiny black specks. Instead, each sheet was so loaded with black specks of ground-up seeds, that the surface was rough and uneven and looked and felt like a sandy beach. The white cotton fiber was overpowered by the black seeds. I should not have been surprised since there was such a high fiber-to-seed ratio.

One pound of cotton remained and I decided to bite the bullet and remove all of the seeds. I watched a Youtube video showing the removal of the seeds by running the cotton through a pasta maker. It sounded like a good idea until I tried it. It was slow going, and took the same amount of time as it took to remove the seeds by hand. So I then spent 13 hours pinching and pulling seeds from one pound of cotton, and have a newly acquired appreciation for Eli Whitney’s 1793 invention of the cotton gin. The result was half a pound of beautiful white cotton fiber, ready to be thrown into the beater. (In addition, I had half a pound of fuzzy and hard cotton seeds.)

I beat the pulp for an hour and was pleased with the finished paper. The formation was good and the laid and chain lines are visible when a sheet is held up to the light. The sheet isn’t white like the cotton, but a cream color with a minimum of black specks throughout.

My grappling with the cotton bolls gave me a better understanding of cotton and its uses in industry. Once the cotton bolls are picked from the fields, they are put in the gin, a machine that separates the seeds from the long staple cotton fiber. This seed-free cotton fiber is also called lint and is baled and sent to the textile industry to be spun and woven into cloth. Meanwhile the cotton seeds still have a white fuzz of shorter fibers attached to them. These seeds go through a second ginning process and the fuzz that is removed gets sent to a pulp mill to be made into cotton linters. The de-fuzzed cotton seed is made into cooking oil, and the meal that remains after the oil is extracted is used as livestock feed. Nearly every part of the cotton plant is used.

For papermaking, cotton can be in the form of either the ginned raw cotton, cotton rag, or cotton linters. Raw cotton, as I used, could have been what the early cotton papers were made from in the end of the 9th century when there is mention of the discovery of charta bombycine or cotton paper in the empire of the east.1 Cotton rags have been more commonly used historically for papermaking from the 12th century on.2 Cotton linters, developed in the early 1900s, were not originally used for papermaking, but used during World War 1 to make smokeless gunpowder! They did not become popular for papermaking until after the 1920s.

I still have a pile of nearly 2,000 “vintage” cotton seeds, covered in cotton fuzz. I will likely plant them in the spring in the hopes that some of them will be viable, and continue my mother’s tradition of harvesting miniscule amounts of cotton every year.

Notes

1. Joel Munsell, A Chronology of Paper and Paper-making (Albany, New York: Munsell, 1870), 12.

2. Benedict Cowell and Robert Frost Wilson, The Giant Hand: Our Mobilization and Control of Industry and Natural Resources 1917–1918, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1921), 139.

Elaine’s homegrown cotton bolls; ten years of growing cotton plants in pots.

A couple handfuls of cotton produces about a handful of seeds.

The paper with seeds (right) was much coarser than the paper made from Elaine’s homegrown cotton with the seeds removed (left).

>TEACHING HAND PAPERMAKING

Breaking a papermaking dry spell

BIO: Based in Philadelphia, Winifred Radolan operates an itinerant teaching papermill, and has taught papermaking to thousands of adults and children. Her works, both paper and book, have been exhibited internationally and are in private collections.

ABSTRACT: In this issue, Winnie celebrates getting back into papermaking after an unfortunate tumble put her hand in a cast.‍

This past Thursday, after my longest dry spell since becoming a papermaker, I plunged both hands eagerly into a vat of pulp. For the first time in nearly two months, I demonstrated the sheet-forming method to a brand-new student in my Paper Studio class at Abington Art Center in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. It surely felt wonderful!

Why, might you ask, such a long hiatus from my beloved papermaking? A misadventure in another of my passions sidelined me. While I was running agility with one of my dogs, my foot became entangled with the “field turf monster” while the rest of me stayed in motion. Down I went, full force on my left hand. My left wrist now stirs the pulp with the aid of a plate and nine long pins! I am fortunate that it wasn’t worse and that I have wonderful friends who helped me continue to function as I healed.

But oh...the timing of this setback was poor! This happened on the morning that I was looking forward to meeting the Friends of Dard Hunter conference attendees at Historic RittenhouseTown to assist with their tour. I had been happily anticipating helping to assemble the conference keepsakes. But those wonderful friends stepped up and took my place in both instances, and did a fantastic job! Nevertheless, I was quite sad to miss the Friends and festivities!

Fortunately, I had recently done a pulp refrigerator inventory and major pulp reconstitution with fibers that weren’t exhausted from the summer in the vats. I had rinsed old pulp and made a supply of new to tide me over what I thought would be a busy stretch of weeks. As it turned out, I’ve been busy healing. But my studio class at the art center continued on, with my student-artists necessarily much more proactive with set-up and clean-up.

During the last week of the five-week session of Thursday classes we got creative. Everyone decided they would like a “veggie pulp” afternoon. During the week each artist cut, cooked, and rinsed a vegetable to contribute to the vats. In class, we subjected the rinsed veggies to a spin in the blender to break down the fibers before adding them to a medley of pigmented cotton/abaca pulp in the vats. Our dwindling fiber supply was augmented with fennel, leeks, chard, and beet stems as well as some cooked ginkgo leaves and camellia petals. The resulting sheets were positively stunning.

It was unfortunate that I had to miss making paper with the children at a yearly book festival that I’ve attended since it began. But lifting buckets of water is still a bit too much. Until this recent setback I hadn’t fully considered how physical our pulp pursuits can be. My sister’s recent visit was timed conveniently with my empty pulp buckets. She did all the heavy lifting while I ran three loads of fiber through the beater and pigmented them. I believe I’ll be ready to make the next batch solo!

I am most grateful for all the support and assistance I’ve been receiving as I “power back up” to the vats!

A healed wrist, with the minor addition of a plate and nine long pins.

‍

>DECORATED PAPER

The Dessauer Company

BIO: Sidney Berger is Director Emeritus of the Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum, and a professor on the faculty of the library schools at Simmons University and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He and his wife Michèle Cloonan put together the Berger–Cloonan Collection of Decorated Paper (about 22,000 pieces), now in the Cushing Library at Texas A&M University.

ABSTRACT: In this issue, Sid takes us to the city of Aschaffenburg and the extraordinary decorated papers produced there.

Nearly ten years ago I wrote about paper sample books (in Hand Papermaking Newsletter no. 91 and 92 in July and October 2010), and now and then I refer to them again (especially in no. 126 when I wrote about wallpaper sample books). Thanks to a fairly recent acquisition, I wish to return to the subject, this time to focus on some of the most prolific producers of decorated papers from one city, Aschaffenburg.

This town in northwest Bavaria, Germany, was the home of a company specializing in decorated papers. As Karli Frigge notes in her little book Sample Book of Aschaffenburg Fancy Paper Factory (1993), the first company there was started in 1810 by Johan[n] Daniel Knode, a marbler, who quickly had to sell the firm to cover the loans he had taken out that were called in.1 He sold the company in 1811 to Alois Dessauer, a much better businessman, under whose ownership the company flourished. Showing Dessauer’s success, Richard J. Wolfe points out in his book titled Marbled Paper (1990) that by about 1818 Dessauer employed over 100 people at the plant.2 When Dessauer died in 1850, the factory employed over 500 workers. And by the 20th century the company had absorbed several other paper-decoration companies, two of which were in Aschaffenburg, with several others elsewhere in Germany. Though the company (referred to in the trade as “Aschaffenburg,” though more properly “the Dessauer company”) made it through two world wars, it shut its doors for good in 1968.3

In an extraordinarily lucky moment, my wife and I acquired a small collection of the sample books from this company, some labeled with the name of one of the firms that Dessauer took over—A. Nees & Co. (but with the Aschaffenburg rubber stamp on the front pastedowns and many pages of samples designated with the Aschaffenburg name). What is startling about these amazing sample books is the number and range of decorated papers the establishment was producing when these books were compiled, probably around 1910. Three of the books that we have are massive. The one I will speak of here is 13 x 10½ inches, and is 5 inches thick, and it has over 250 pages holding 6,067 samples with no repeats. The volume is undated, but it predates World War I, and is after 1900, when the zeppelin was first flown (there are papers showing these lighter-than-air crafts).

The range of papers here is absolutely astonishing. The sample book was clearly meant for a broad buying clientele since the captions throughout are in German, English, and French. And section after section of the volume show papers with an enormous range of colors, textures, patterns, and surfaces. Some papers are matte, some are semi-gloss, some are glazed, and some are what the book calls “gelatined”—that is, not merely glossy and coated with a gelatin glaze, but thickened with a bright, shiny, stiffening coating that glistens in the light. There are hundreds of these. For instance, there is a section labeled Gelataniert Krokodil-Papier (Gelatined Crocodile Paper), with the embossed crocodile-skin texture palpable through the bright coating.

The first section of this 17½-pound volume shows a great range of marbled papers, mostly done by hand, though some seem to have been machine made, followed by an equally impressive group of paste papers—just what one would expect of a company purveying decorated papers. But impressive and beautiful as these sections are, they cannot hold a candle to the rest of the catalog.

In the Winter 2009 issue of Hand Papermaking I contributed an article titled “Dutch Gilt Papers as Substitutes for Leather.” Though the Japanese were early masters of this kind of paper (which are called kinkarakawakami or kinkarakami), the Germans excelled in them too. One of the aims of my essay was to point out the versatility of paper. This Aschaffenburg sample book multiplies that message a hundred times over. The so-called “imitations” in this volume are astonishing. There are hundreds of papers showing beautiful imitation leathers, including calf, goat, deer, antelope, gazelle, zebra, and other mammals, along with snake, crocodile, and armadillo. And not just one or two of these papers, but dozens of them, in varying colors and textures. There is an extensive section of just “embossed fancy leather papers,” some adorned with gold-stamped patterns. And there are papers with imitation ivory and moss as well.

Many of us have seen wood-grain papers, but this sample book has papers imitating cedar, birch, olive, apricot, and many other woods, and in a host of shades and grain patterns. In fact, there are at least 125 different imitation-wood patterns here, along with imitation cork, metals, brocades, moire, and many others.

One set of imitations is of ceramics, specifically those for Wedgewood Imitation porcelain; another is for Meissen porcelains; and a third is for the Dutch Delft china. There is a group of series of papers showing “Parkett-, Mauer-und Ziegel-Papier” (“Extrafine Floor & Brick Paper”), with patterns of bricks and tiles. Other groups of papers are called “Brokat”—as in the German word brokatpapier, which we call “dutch gilt papers.” (See my column on these amazing papers in Hand Papermaking Newsletter no. 81 of January 2008). One could look for (and have great difficulty finding) the handmade, extraordinarily expensive originals from the 18th century, or one could go to Aschaffenburg and get their machine-made copies, which, themselves, are lovely—and which were available in more than a hundred patterns.

Yet another series of papers were inspired by the beautiful 18th-century “Fantasie” papers of the French, called here “Chromo-Fantasie” papers, of which there are hundreds of amazing patterns in bright and glowing colors. In fact, one of the startling things about these sample books is that their pigments look as shiny-new today as they did when this book was put together.

Catering to a wide range of users, the manufacturer offered a tremendous number of papers for bookbinders—for covers and endpapers. One group of series—showing hundreds of patterns—is specifically designated for endleaves, with one of the company’s series called “Aschaffenburger Goldbrokat” and designated in English “Aschaffenbourg Brocade Endpaper.” At many an ephemera fair one will encounter scrapbooks filled with decorated papers. There is no doubt that this company supplied the compilers of these scrapbooks with their wares. One series of papers are touted for people who want to decorate box covers; others were for wood veneers; yet others were for wall coverings.

And remember, this is just one of their sample books. At an antiquarian book fair two years ago, one dealer had a collection of 18 of them, most of which were like the one I have been describing here. I would love to have gotten them, but it would have meant selling my house or cashing in my retirement.

* * *

With such an extensive line of papers, it is easy to see why over 500 people were employed by this company when this catalog was compiled. The number of colors, kinds of paper substrates, textures, patterns and designs, finishes, and other artistic effects offered by this company is truly astonishing. Wolfe says that just after the company’s 150th anniversary, the firm decided to close. “While apparently solvent, it was not making a sufficient profit to satisfy its stockholders; liquidation began in 1968 and its factories were torn down in 1971.”4 We will never see the likes of such an establishment again. But for decorated paper aficionados, the sample books of this truly amazing company live on as a testament to their imagination and artistry.

Notes

1. Karli Frigge, Sample Book of Aschaffenburg Fancy Paper Factory (Buren, Netherlands: Frits Knuf, 1993), 2.

2. Richard J. Wolfe, Marbled Paper: Its History Techniques, and Patterns (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990), 25.

3. Frigge, 2. And Wolfe, 26.

4. Ibid.

A sample book page with the Brokat-Fantasie Serie VII, from the German word brokatpapier, which we call dutch gilt papers.

Walzendruck-Kattun, which roughly translates to printed calico papers, are exceptionally vibrant.

A sample book page with lush florals; the Dessauer company came to be known for such bright and elegant decorated papers.

From tiny farm scenes to strange fairy-tale vignettes, these sample books have something for every occasion.

>PAPER CONSERVATION

From the papermaking studio to the conservator studio

BIO: Maria Olivia Davalos Stanton is an artist, tea drinker, and apprentice art conservator in San Francisco, California. In this column series, Davalos Stanton shares interviews, resources, and news about paper conservation—bringing the handmade-paper cycle full circle.

ABSTRACT: In this issue, Maria Olivia talks with Associate Conservator Michelle Sullivan from the Department of Paper Conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum. The interview was conducted via phone on November 14, 2019.

‍Maria Olivia (MO): How did you discover this field? And what made you decide to stay?

Michelle Sullivan (MS): Though I didn’t know about art conservation as an undergraduate, I’ve always been drawn to paper-based art. At the University of California Santa Barbara, I double-majored in art history and studio art, within which I focused on drawing, printmaking, papermaking, and book arts. Within my art history major I developed a focus on ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock prints), completing an undergraduate honors thesis and several museum internships on the subject. Like many undergraduates, I felt I had two options as an art history student: professor or curator. I knew I wanted to work in a museum, so upon graduation, I started as a curatorial assistant at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, assuming that I would ultimately pursue a PhD in art history. Working at the museum was a wonderful experience, but I did miss the studio environment. Fortunately, I continued to work with one of my studio art professors, Harry Reese, in the evenings and on weekends. I was part of a team that created hundreds of sheets of handmade paper for his installation Grus Pacifica at the Broward County Public Library in Hollywood, Florida.

About a year after I started working at the museum, I met my first paper conservator, Jeffery Warda from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. After spending an hour talking with Jeffery about his work, I knew that I wanted to be a paper conservator. Conservation offered me the opportunity to combine my art historical interests and work with my hands. I continued to work at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art while chipping away at prerequisite coursework in chemistry and gaining practical experience through internships. My final internship before admission to graduate school was with the Department of Paper Conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum, where I now work. Ultimately, I earned my master’s degree from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Graduate Program in Art Conservation, completing summer internships at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Getty. Conservation students complete a one-year capstone internship before graduating; I spent my third year at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC before returning to the Getty Museum after graduation.

MO: A question which I find produces a really varied response from conservators is: Do you consider yourself an artist?

MS: I don’t think I would call myself an artist, though I still enjoy making art from time to time. I enjoy participating in classes and workshops that allow me to flex my creative side, things like book arts, knitting, and other handcrafts. And my studio background, knowing firsthand how paper is made, has proven invaluable to me as a paper conservator; it is something I appreciate and use every day.

MO: What is an average day like at the J. Paul Getty Museum? It is quite a large institution, how does that impact your work?

MS: We have five conservators in the Department of Paper Conservation, and each of us works on a specific area of the collection. I am the conservator for the Drawings Collection. We also have a conservator for Illuminated Manuscripts and three for Photography Collections. Mainly, I work on Old Master material, as the Drawings Collection focuses on work from European artists dating from the Renaissance through the late 19th century. Through exhibitions and loans, however, I often have the opportunity to work on quite a variety of artworks—modern and contemporary, American and Asian.

My work at the Getty also involves public education. Sometimes, conservators help develop material and displays for exhibitions at the museum. We even have a didactic papermaking mould to help describe the hand papermaking process to students and classes visiting our lab.

MO: Have you ever worked in private practice?

MS: Right now, I really enjoy working in an institutional setting. I truly value the expertise of my colleagues and collaboration between curators, scientists, and fellow conservators. The Getty really fosters this type of work. With Old Master drawings, our approach tends to be rather conservative with limited intervention. Much of our work is preventive in nature with preservation, not restoration, as the aim. By controlling the environment in which art is stored and displayed (temperature, humidity, light, pollution, etc.), we try to limit change and prevent damage. If a drawing does require treatment, my goal is usually stabilization. I might mend a tear, reinforce a weakened edge, or upgrade the materials used to house the object. Conservators always document their interventions and, as much as possible, try to make their work reversible.

MO: What is your most memorable project involving handmade paper?

Well, most of my treatments involve handmade paper! I use handmade European, Japanese, and Korean papers in conservation treatment—mending tears, filling losses, and adding false margins to double-sided drawings. Also, because I work with an Old Master collection, nearly every drawing I work with at the Getty is on handmade paper.

Through my work at the Getty, I continue to seek out opportunities to learn more about papermaking as often as I can. I am so lucky that workshops on hand papermaking are part of my professional development! This past September, I participated in a workshop in Puymoyen, France at Moulin du Verger, a 16th-century mill. The workshop focused on learning historic papermaking techniques. We spent five days dyeing rags, creating pulp with stampers, pulling sheets, and loft drying paper. This experience, and the paper samples we took home, provide a fantastic reference for identification and examination of historic examples in the collections of our home institutions. It also touched upon the importance of educating ourselves as paper conservators. The ability to witness firsthand such an amazing craft is truly valuable and helps us better understand the qualities we observe in the paper—grain direction, thickness, absorbency, surface texture, translucency, and color. By making paper ourselves, we become more aware of these properties and how our treatments can alter them. Artists often select paper for a reason, for specific qualities. As conservators, we need to understand those qualities to fully preserve the work of art.

Michelle Sullivan working on a paper treatment. Courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

The didactic papermaking mould we keep in the lab to show visiting classes. Courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.

>STUDYING HAND PAPERMAKING

Pa·per \ˈpāpə(r)\ n.

BIO: Amy Richard is a visual artist, writer, and proprietor of Amy Richard Studio in Gainesville, Florida where she produces original artwork, teaches papermaking, and tends to her kozo garden. In this column series, Richard explores the unique energy of handmade paper, the spiritual and healing characteristics of the process itself, and the opportunities for studying papermaking in colleges, universities, and other established art centers in the United States and abroad.

ABSTRACT: In this issue, Amy ponders a new definition of paper and relives a visit to The Papyrus Museum in Ortigia, Sicily [Italy]. ‍

Describing paper just got a little easier thanks to a new definition proposed by Tim Barrett in his recent book, European Hand Papermaking: Traditions, Tools, and Techniques:

Paper is a material made of cellulose fibers beaten or otherwise manipulated while moist for use as a substrate to carry writing or display images.1

As Barrett explains, this broader definition (currently under discussion in the field), acknowledges “the contributions of earlier cultures to the development of human civilization by their inventions of new lightweight, long-lasting cellulose-fiber-based sheets.” It also contrasts with a long-held opinion that specifies fiber dispersion in water as a defining characteristic: “Traditionally, paper is defined as being made from cellulose fiber that has been beaten, dispersed as fibers in water, strained out again to form a sheet or a three-dimensional structure and dried…”2

In a few words, this is huge. It means that materials previously relegated to pre-paper or paper-like (e.g., amate from Mesoamerica, daluang in Indonesia, tapa in Polynesia, and papyrus from Egypt) would now, “all fall under the category of paper.”3

While I am not a scholar, this new perspective makes sense and will help eliminate quizzical looks among novice papermakers who nearly always reference papyrus in historical discussions before being told that it is not a “true” paper—especially since the word paper is derived from the word papyrus!

This profound shift in terminology made my recent trip to The Papyrus Museum (Museo del Papiro) in Syracuse, Sicily, that much more meaningful. Founded by Corrado Basile and Anna Di Natale and dedicated solely to the study of papyrus and its uses, the museum is considered to be the only one of its kind. For more than 30 years, its focus has been on the study of ancient manufacturing of papyrus paper, its preservation and protection, as well as the history and origins of papyrus in Sicily.

Housed in a St. Augustine convent dating back to the 17th century, the exhibition is well organized in a series of small galleries containing a host of information and artifacts. Papyri documents from the 15th century BCE to 7th century CE; life-size papyrus boats from Ethiopia (replicas of the same design used in biblical times), and other handmade items such as baskets, sandals, ropes, and mats are on permanent display. A herbarium is also featured containing umbels from papyrus plants gathered from various locations in Egypt, Sicily, Africa, and Israel.

Didactics provide insights into the origins and manufacture of papyrus paper in Egypt and also in Syracuse, Sicily where papyrus plants are thought to have been introduced in the 3rd century BCE.

It was here that I learned that ancient papyri are “of different qualities depending on the variety of techniques and substances used.” As the museum literature describes, “The finest papyri are the oldest ones dating from the Pharaonic and even Ptolemaci period. Roman papyri until the 3rd century are of good quality, even if thicker…” with a sharp decline in the quality of papyrus from the later Byzantine and Arabic periods.5 Exquisite examples are provided to illustrate the difference and one does not have to be an expert to see it.

While studying the exhibit, I remember being struck by parallels in the rise and decline of the quality of papyrus to a similar pattern in European handmade papers of hemp and flax, which Barrett has dedicated much of his career to.6 Like Barrett, Corrado Basile has dedicated much of his research to identifying and reconstructing significant phases of papyri production in search of secrets that the ancient papyri might reveal.

Looking out at the turquoise sea from the museum window, I remember thinking how easy it would have been to miss this gem of a museum tucked away from the hustle and bustle of mainland Italy. It was pure chance that we spotted it in an innocuous tourist pamphlet. To reach the museum, one has to leave their car or other transportation behind in the adjacent city of Syracuse and cross one of two bridges (on foot) to enter the tiny island of Ortigia, which serves as Syracuse’s historic city center.

This first visit was far too short but rest assured I will be back for a guided tour and hopefully a live demonstration of papyrus manufacture (although a video in the museum provides a substitute).

Back across the bridge and near the immense archeological museum in Syracuse I spotted a canal full of Cyperus papyrus. Finally able to see and hold a live specimen, it occurred to me that papyrus is to Egypt (and Sicily) what paper mulberry (a.k.a. kozo) is to many Asian cultures, both are humble plants whose fibers have been transformed into paper “vehicles” that have changed the world. For millennia, both types of paper were used for a full spectrum of communication from the most mundane business transactions to great literary works and some of the most important spiritual manuscripts in human history.

When one considers that papyrus remained in use longer than any other material in the history of written documents, it clearly deserves more attention from papermakers and artists alike.

Notes

1. Timothy D. Barrett, European Hand Papermaking: Traditions, Tools, and Techniques (Ann Arbor, MI: The Legacy Press, 2018), 316.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Museo del Papiro: Corrado Basile, no. 7 in the series The Papyrus Museum, Monograife del Museo del Papiro (Syracuse, Sicily, Italy: Pubblicato dall’Istituto Internazionale del Papiro, 2015), 20.

5. Barrett, 316.

Both video monitor and ancient press provide insights into the techniques used for producing papyrus paper, at The Paper Museum on the island of Ortigia, in Syracuse, Sicily.

The author is delighted to be able to see and hold a live papyrus plant in Syracuse, Sicily.

LISTINGS

Listings for specific workshops and other

events in the following categories are offered

free of charge on a space-available basis.

Contact each facility directly for additional

information or a full schedule. The deadline f

or the April 2020 newsletter is February 15.

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA, (215)

887-4882, www.abingtonartcenter.org.

Classes, workshops, and exhibitions in a

variety of media.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts,

Gatlinburg, TN, (865) 436-5860, www.arrowmont.

org. Classes and workshops in a variety

of disciplines, including papermaking. Visit

https://www.arrowmont.org/workshops-classes/

for information about the school’s series

of National Workshops that run from April

through early November.

Sneak peek of the 2020 Workshop series:

Paper Arts and Installation, May 24–30,

with Kristina Arnold

Paper Arts, Oct. 4–10, with Gretchen

Schermerhorn

Paper Baskets, Oct. 4–10, with Jackie Abrams

Paper Arts, Nov. 1–7, with Nicole Uzzell

Paper Arts: Joomchi, Nov. 1–7, with Jiyoung

Chung.

The Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada,

(403) 762-6100 or (403) 762-6180, www.-

banffcentre.ca. Artist residencies in fully

equipped papermaking studio and other

disciplines. Contact wendy_tokaryk@banffcentre.

ca for registration info.

Book Arts Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, (310)

722-9004, www.-bookartsla.org. Classes in

printing, bookbinding, and other crafts in

the Culver City neighborhood.

Brainbridge Artisan Resource Network,

Brainbridge Island, WA, (206) 842-4475,

https://bainbridgebarn.org/. Community art

center with classes and open studios in a

variety of art fields, including book arts and

printmaking.

John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown,

NC, (704) 837-2775, www.folkschool.org.

Classes in papermaking and other crafts in

the mountains of western North Carolina.

Paper: Cleaning, Washing & Repair, Feb.

14–16, with Dea Sasso. Learn methods of

dry-cleaning paper; how to wash, buffer,

and deacidify paper; three types of paper

repair; and encapsulation of documents

Papercutting: An International Craft

(Scandinavian Week), March 8–14, with

Lind Miller. Create cards, pictures, and 3D

projects with a variety of papers using

small scissors (provided) or a craft knife.

Paper Conservation, Apr. 24–26, with Gian

Frontini. Learn the basics of paper conservation

and restoration: paper composition,

properties of old paper, and how they

relate to conservation.

Carriage House Paper. Brooklyn, NY, (718)

599-7857, www.carriagehousepaper.com.

Short, specialized, intensive workshops;

private teaching sessions; artist collaborations;

and group programs offered

throughout the year at a fully equipped

papermaking studio.

Center for Book Arts, New York, NY, (212)

481-0295, centerforbookarts.org. The Center

for Book Arts is a contemporary arts organization

dedicated to the art of the book through

exhibitions, classes, public programming,

literary presentations, opportunities for artists

and writers, publications, and collections.

Jiseung—

Paper to Rope to Basket, March

7–8, with Aimee Lee. Students will learn

jiseung, an old Korean tradition of

twisting strips of paper into cord and

weaving it like baskets.

Cottage Industry Technology Center, 20 Russet

St., SSS Village, Marikina City, Philippines.

Workshops, demonstrations, and technical

consultancy in a variety of crafts and livelihoods,

including hand papermaking and related crafts.

Contact Loreto D. Apilado at Lor-Eto.DA@-

gmail.com or bookends-here2002@yahoo.com

or (632) 942-3974.

Dieu Donné Papermill, Brooklyn, NY, (212)

226-0573, www.dieudonne.org. Beginning

and advanced papermaking classes. Open

studio sessions and community studio

memberships also available.

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle,

ME, (207) 348-2306, www.haystack-mtn.org.

Haystack offers workshops in various disciplines,

including papermaking and book arts.

For more information, visit www.haystack-mtn.

org/programs.

Helen Hiebert Paper Studio, Red Cliff, CO,

www.helenhiebertstudio.com. Helen holds

regular papermaking workshops at her studio

in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, online,

and around the world. For her upcoming schedule,

visit http://helenhiebertstudio.com/-

calendar/.

Hook Pottery Paper, LaPorte, IN, (219) 362-

9478, hookpotterypaper@comcast.net,

www.hookpotterypaper.com. Hook Pottery

Paper consists of a clay studio; a combined

book, paper, and print studio; and a gallery

shop. For information on residencies, workshops,

and experiences at Hook Pottery Paper,

visit www.hookpotterypaper.com/classes/.

Inter-Ocean Curiosity Studio, Englewood,

CO, (303) 789-0282. For more information on

papermaking workshops with Ray Tomasso,

contact him at ray@raytomasso.com or (303)

552-8256.

Jane Ingram Allen Studio, Santa Rosa, CA,

(857) 234-2432, info@janeingramallen.com.

For more information on papermaking workshops,

individual consulting, and private use of her papermaking studio, visit janeingramallen.

wordpress.com.

Kalamazoo Book Arts Center, Kalamazoo,

MI, (269) 373-4938, info@kalbookarts.org,

www.kalbookarts.org. The Center offers

classes in book printing and binding, printmaking,

hand papermaking, and creative writing.

Karen Hanmer Book Arts, Glenview, IL. A private

studio in north suburban Chicago offering

workshops and private instruction to practitioners

and dedicated hobbyists, focusing

on a solid foundation in traditional binding

skills. For more information, visit www.karenhanmer.

com/-teaching/index.html

March Let There Be Light! Feb. 8–9, with

Kim Hosken Eberstein. In just two days,

you will create a lamp covered with your

own handmade paper.

Kitchen Scrap Papermaking, March 9, with

Lorrie Grainger Abdo. Take this crash course

in papermaking to create beautiful sheets

of natural fibers and inclusions (that can

all be found in your kitchen!).

Paint with Paper? Yes! Apr. 18–19, with Kim

Hosken Eberstein. Are you an image

maker? A painter? This two-day class will

allow you to explore paper pulp as a

paint medium.

Maiwa School of Textiles, Vancouver, British

Columbia, (604) 669-3939, www.schooloftextiles.

com. Maiwa School of Textiles offers

an international roster of instructors. Learn from

some of the most skilled hands working in

textiles today. For information about upcoming

workshops, visit www.schooloftextiles.com.

Papermaking with Natural Dyes, Apr. 27–30,

with Radha Pandey. Students will learn

how traditional fibres used in Indo-Islamic

papermaking are prepared, and how materials

and tools were adapted through time.

The Book of North Country Shifu, May 6–10,

with Velma Bolyard. This course presents

Velma’s take on a traditional Japanese

technique; students will make, spin, weave,

and write on paper with stitch and color.

Massachusetts School of Art and Design,

Boston, MA, (617) 879-7200, pce.massart.edu.

MassArt’s Professional and Continuing Education

offers courses and workshops in fine

art and design, professional design certificates,

summer immersive programming, and more.

Minah Song Art Services, Arlington, VA,

(646) 352-3828, Paper conservation studio

in the Washington DC metro area which

offers workshops.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis,

MN, (612) 215-2520, www.mnbookarts.org.

A visual arts center that celebrates the art of

the book, from letterpress printing to hand

papermaking. The Center offers youth and

adult classes, exhibitions, artist residencies,

studio memberships, and more.

March Making Simple Paper Lanterns and

Vessels, Jan. 18 and 25, with Regula Ruselle.

Learn the skills to make simple lanterns

and vessels with handmade paper.

19th-Century Book Cloth with Natural

Dyes, March 21, with India Johnson. The

workshop focuses on using natural dyes

in recreating 19th-century book cloth,

but participants will also learn to use

XSL pigments, which are more suitable

for conservation applications.

Introduction to Western Papermaking, Thursdays

Apr. 2–May 7, with Bridget O’Malley.

Learn the tools, terminology, and procedures

of Western-style papermaking.

Paper: An Ancient Medium in East Asian

Contemporary Art, Apr. 19 and 26, with

Peng Wu. The class will start with a brief

survey of paper as a historically significant

medium and its presence in Asian contemporary

art and design. Two sessions

of hands-on papermaking will allow for

open-minded experimentation and play.

Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory

and Educational Foundation, Cleveland, OH,

(216) 361-9255, www.morganconservatory.-

org. The Morgan Conservatory Open Studio

program provides artists and students access

to studio space and equipment; gives them with an opportunity to create art in areas of

papermaking, letterpress printing, and bookbinding;

and presents regular workshops in

papermaking, printing, book arts, and mixed

technique. For more information, visit

www.morganconservatory.org/open-studio.

Mixed Technique Papermaking, Feb. 15–16,

with Tom Balbo. In this experimental art

lab geared towards the creation of individual

artworks, you can arrive with a

pre-planned idea or leave yourself open

to the possibilities.

Western Papermaking and Pulp Painting,

March 7–8, with Anna Tararova. In this

workshop students will learn every step

of the papermaking process as well as

painting with many thin layers of finely

beaten cotton pulp.

Papermakers of Victoria, at Box Hill Community

Arts Centre, Whitehorse, Victoria,

Australia, phone 9885 2479. Workshop and

exhibition information can be found at www.-

papermakers.org.au.

Introduction to Papermaking, Feb. 9, with

Barb Adams. This workshop will introduce

you to the skill of hand papermaking

with recycled pulp of different colours.

Watermarks, May 17, with Gail Stiffe. Learn

about the history of watermarks and how

to make permanent and temporary watermarks

for your own moulds.

The Papertrail, New Dundee, Ontario, Canada,

(800) 421-6826, www.papertrail.ca. Classes

taught in English or French in papermaking,

marbling, and related arts, and studio rental

scheduled on an as-needed basis.

PapierWespe (PaperWasp), Klimschgasse 2/1,

Vienna, Austria, (0676) 77-33-153, office-

@papierwespe.at, www.papierwespe.at. Workshops

in English and German taught by paper

specialists in downtown Vienna. For information

about upcoming workshops at PapierWespe,

visit www.papierwespe.at/workshops.

Penland School of Craft, Penland, NC, (828) 765-

2359, www.penland.org, offers a full program

of craft workshops, including papermaking and

paper arts. For information on upcoming

workshops in paper and book arts, visit http://-

penland.org/workshops/books-paper/.

Paper of Place, Apr. 5–11, with Frank Brannon.

In this workshop, we’ll intertwine the process

of hand papermaking with an understanding

of its wide-ranging history.

Pyramid Atlantic, Hyattsville, MD, (301) 608-

9101, www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org,

offers workshops in papermaking, printmaking,

and book arts. For more information

on upcoming classes, visit https://www.

pyramidatlanticartcenter.org/workshops.

Book Repair for the Personal Library, Jan.

11 or 12, with Linda Rollins. In this workshop,

you will learn how to assess and explore

simple repair options that can be tackled at

home and with easy-to-source and relatively

inexpensive tools and equipment.

Make a Stack of Paper, Jan. 15, with William

Burke. Come to this Make + Take and

walk away with a pack of 20 sheets of

elegant handmade paper.

Watermarks Techniques, Jan. 19 and 26,

with Jovana Ivezic. In this workshop the

students will learn about the art of watermarks

and how to make them.

Handmade Paper Valentines, Jan. 25, with

Jeana Foley. Join us in the Paper Studio

to transform a hunka, hunka watery pulp

into a whole lotta love with custom-created,

heart-shaped moulds.

Paper Monoprints, Feb. 22–23, with Georgia

Deal. This workshop covers the many

exciting possibilities when using pulp as

a print medium to make unique works

on handmade paper.

Pulpy Experimentations, March 7, with

Christy Ball. Go beyond the basics of pulling

a single sheet of paper by experimenting

with new techniques using the traditional

mould and deckle.

Robert C. Williams Paper Museum. Atlanta,

GA, (404) 894-5726, http://paper.gatech.

edu. The EXPLORE! series consists of nine

educational workshops dedicated to the art and science of paper. Perfect for homeschoolers

or anyone looking to experience the diverse

potential of paper. For upcoming workshops

and other programming, visit paper.gatech.

edu/upcoming-workshops.

San Diego Book Arts, 8680 Washington Ave.,

La Mesa, CA 91942, www.sandiegobookarts.

com. The mission of San Diego Book Arts

is to serve as an educational and creative

resource for the community and to advance

the book as a vital contemporary art form.

For information on upcoming classes, visit

www.sandiegobookarts.com/classes/.

San Francisco Center for the Book, San

Francisco, CA, (415) 565-0545, www.sfcb.org.

Book arts classes, workshops, events, and

exhibitions year-round. For information on

upcoming classes, visit sfcb.org/workshops.

Introduction to Japanese Style Papermaking,

Feb. 4, with Michelle Wilson. Students in

this workshop will learn to make thin yet

strong paper in the Japanese tradition.

Korean Paper Magic: Bark, Thread, Weave &

Color, Apr. 20–24, with Aimee Lee. Come

prepared for intensive hand work in a

cooperative and collaborative classroom, and

leave with a multitude of techniques, samples,

and stories from a rich paper culture.

Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis, OR,

(541) 994-5485. www.sitkacenter.org. The Sitka

Center offers workshops, residencies, and

community events at its facility near Cascade

Head and the Salmon River estuary in Oregon.

For information on upcoming workshops,

visit https://www.sitkacenter.org/workshop/-

workshopslist.

Snow Farm: The New England Craft Program,

Williamsburg, MA, (413) 268-3101. www.snowfarm.

org. Workshops at Snow Farm span eight

subject areas, including printmaking and

paper/book arts. For more information, visit

www.snowfarm.org/workshops/class-listings.

The World of Korean Paper, May 17–23, with

Aimee Lee. Explore a myriad of Korean techniques

for making and transforming paper

known as hanji.

The Soapbox: Community Print Shop & Zine

Library, Philadelphia, PA, info@phillysoapbox.

org, www.phillysoapbox.org, offers studio space,

a zine library, and other resources for anyone

interested in print-, book-, and zine-making.

For upcoming workshops, visitwww.phillysoapbox.

org/events.

The Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh,

PA, (412) 261-7003, www.contemporarycraft.

org. Classes in fiber, book art, and other media

in Pittsburgh’s historic Strip District. Information

about upcoming workshops can be

found at http://contemporarycraft.org/education/.

Southwest School of Art, San Antonio, TX, (210)

224-1848, www.swschool.org. Classes at the Picante

Paper Studio. Individual papermaking classes

can be scheduled for one person or a group. Studio

time, consultation, and instruction available. For

more information on upcoming papermaking

workshops, visit https://www.swschool.org/

_community-classes/adults/papermaking.

Decorative Paper for Books and More, Jan. 25,

with Keri Miki-Lani Schroeder. This one-day

workshop will introduce the art of marbled

and paste papers for all kinds of creations

from books to wrapping paper and wallpaper.

Exploring Three-Dimensional Papermaking,

Feb. 1–2, with Ingrid Tegn.r. Learn how

to form sheets as well as how to embed

a variety of materials between the sheet

layers to create 3D shapes.

Mitsumata in Japanese Papermaking & Watermarks,

Feb. 22–23, with Lindsay Nakashima.

Explore using mitsumata in papermaking,

and then dabble with burnishing it over photopolymer

plates to create watermarks.

Textile Art Center, New York City, New York.

http://textileartscenter.com/ NYC–based resource center for textile art which offers

classes, workshops, open studio rentals,

and events. For information on upcoming

workshops, visit http://textileartscenter.com/

index.php?route=classes/category.

West Dean College, Chichester, West Sussex,

U.K., (0)1243 811301, short.course@westdean.

org.uk, www.westdean.org.uk. West

Dean College of Arts and Conservation in

West Sussex provides course work and degrees

in creative arts and conservation fields, including

papermaking, bookbinding, and printmaking.

Papermaking Unearthed: Artworks Informed

by Landscape, Feb. 16–20, with Jane Ponsford.

Explore the landscape through papermaking

using natural dyes, iron, clay, and chalk.

Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY, (845)

658-9133, info@wsworkshop.org, www.wsworkshop.org. The Women’s Studio Workshop rents

studio spaces in etching, papermaking, letterpress,

silkscreen, book arts, and ceramics.

Visit www.ws-workshop.org/rent-studios/for

current rates and details.

Sneak peek of the 2020 Summer Art

Institute, held July–August:

The Power of Electro-Etching, with Malgorzata

Oakes

Painting with Pulp: Beyond Papermaking,

with Candy Alexandra Gonz.lez

Let’s Make Hanji: Korean Papermaking, with

Aimee Lee

Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board: Techniques

in Paper Casting, with Sarah Rose Lejeune

Handmade Paper and Encaustic, with

Laura Moriarty.

EVENTS

The College Book Art Association invites you

to New Orleans to discuss the “Intersections”

of present-day book arts: Where we’ve been,

where we’re going, and whose paths are crossing

now. The 2020 CBAA Conference takes place

at The Ace Hotel in New Orleans on January

2–4. For more information, visit www.collegebookart.

org/2020-New-Orleans.

The Focus on Book Arts (FOBA) conference is

a five-day celebration of book and paper arts

workshops held biennially on the campus of

Pacific University in charming Forest Grove,

Oregon, just west of Portland. The FOBA

conference attracts over 200 book and paper

artists from around the world and offers five

full days of workshops taught by renowned,

professional instructors in the fields of bookbinding,

book arts, printing, decorative papers,

and papermaking, along with a Trade Show,

Artists’ Shop, and a Faculty-Staff Exhibition.

The event is an excellent opportunity for

community, networking, and learning new

skills. This fourteenth FOBA conference

takes place June 26–30, 2019. If you need

more information visit https://focusonbookarts.

org/sneak-peeks-2019 or contact workshopchair@

focusonbookarts.org.

The Institute of Preservation and Conservation

at the Bavarian State Library in Munich, Germany

is hosting East Meets West: Traditional Japanese

Techniques for Paper Conservation. This workshop

runs Aug. 24–27 and invites professionals

in the field of paper conservation to gain a

deeper insight into the knowledge of the methods

and materials of Japanese traditional conservation

techniques and their adaptions. For

more information, contact IBR-Sekretariat@

bsb-muenchen.de or Rosemary.Marin-Loebard

@bsb-muenchen.de.

Radha Pandey is leading an India Book Arts

and Culture 2020 tour Dec. 19, 2020–January

2, 2021. This intimate two-week tour of India

offers a peek into the studios of various working

artists and craftspeople in printmaking,

papermaking, and dyeing. For more information

visit www.radhapandey.com/tours.

EXHIBITIONS

The Contemporary Craft Satellite Gallery in

Pittsburgh, PA, is showing Crafting Conversations:

A call and response to our changing climate now

through January 15. Curated by Ann Rosenthal

and paper artist Katy DeMent, Crafting Conversations

includes fifteen artists or artist groups

whose work suggests how we can shift our

thinking and actions to create a more sustainable

relationship between humans and nonhuman

nature.

The Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking

at Georgia Tech University will present the

exhibition PLACE: community, environment,

cogitate from May 1 to August 1 and will feature

three artists—Chad Hayward, Lea Larzarus,

and Andrea Peterson—who explore the

idea of situation, region, and circumstance

through their own personal lens. All of the

works in the show utilize pigmented paper

pulp to create imagery. For more information,

visit paper.gatech.-edu/place-community-

environment-cogitate.

The OPEN • SET competition and exhibition

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