HAND PAPERMAKING

NEWSLETTER

number 131 • july 2020

Newsletter Editor: Maria Olivia Davalos Stanton

Columnists: Sidney Berger, Donna Koretsky, Winifred

Radolan, Amy Richard

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Hand Papermaking is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Staff: Michael Fallon, Executive Director;

Mina Takahashi, Magazine Editor; Maria Olivia

Davalos Stanton, Newsletter Editor; Karen Kopacz,

Designer. Board of Directors: May Babcock, Colin

Browne, Jazmine Catasus, Lisa Cirando, Joan Hall,

Lisa Haque, Kazuko Hioki, Samiha Tasnim (student

member), Kelly Taylor Mitchell, Darin Murphy, Alta

Price, Irene Wei (student member).

International Board of Advisors: Yousef Ahmad (Qatar),

Timothy Barrett (US), Simon J. Blattner (US), Kathryn

& Howard Clark (US), Mandy Coppes-Martin (So. Africa),

Jane Farmer (US), Peter Ford (UK), Helen Frederick

(US), Simon Barcham Green (UK), Helen Hiebert (US),

Therese Hofmann (Brazil), Dard Hunter III (US),

Kyoko Ibe ( Japan), Winsome Jobling (Australia),

Carolina Larrea (Chile), Roberto Mannino (Italy),

Beatrix Mapalagama (Austria), Bob Matthysen

(Belgium), Radha Pandey (India), Giorgio Pellegrini

(Italy), Brian Queen (Canada), Victoria Rabal (Spain),

Vicky Sigwald (Argentina), Lynn Sures (US), Aytekin

Vural (Turkey).

Co-founders: Amanda Degener and Michael Durgin.

>IN SOLIDARITY

Hand Papermaking stands in solidarity with The Movement for Black Lives and all those who are protesting nationwide and across the globe against systemic racism, police brutality, and social injustice that disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, and communities of color. We state unequivocally that all lives can’t matter until Black Lives Matter.

At the core of Hand Papermaking’s mission is to celebrate the transformative act of making paper by hand. In this time of necessary societal transformation, we recognize that Hand Papermaking has a responsibility to acknowledge to ourselves and to our community that we have been operating within a culture that perpetuates social inequities. We acknowledge that, throughout our history, the vast majority of our Board and staff—as well as the artists whose work is reflected in our publications—are white. We are resolved to thoroughly identify similar, and often-hidden, patterns and practices within our organization and publications and take concrete steps to replace them so that we may fulfill our role as the journal of record that truly reflects the full breadth of work in our field. 

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>DEAR READERS

I became serious about papermaking about 3 years ago, after retiring from a career in mechanical engineering with a heavy dose of materials and chemistry. My interest led to a round of classes, visits to paper mills and artists’ studios, and a lot of reading. After my first year of bouncing around with a blender, I realized that I needed a Hollander. I had two requirements that led me to build my own. First, the cost of buying, but more importantly I wanted a smaller size. In my case, I settled on 0.5 pounds of pulp in 5 gallons of water. This allowed me to explore many fibers and fiber processing variables.

In sheet forming, I have mainly adopted the deep deckle pour technique. With this, I can make each sheet separately, with different colors, thickness, and additives. I also need less pulp because I don’t need to fill a large tray. I have defined 11 x 17 inches with 10 grams of dry fiber as my “standard sheet.” This size matches my space, desire for variety, and the equipment that I can easily build. It also corresponds, more or less, to one quart of “beater strength” pulp and provides an easy basis for smaller, larger, or thicker sheets, making fiber weight easy to manage.

For color, I have tried dyes, inks, paints, and pigments. I found that natural dyes don’t often look like they do in books, that ink and paint are messy, and that fabric dyes probably aren’t archival, and I am becoming more dependent on solid pigments with retention aid. The two drawbacks are that they are also messy and are very difficult to manage when you are only coloring 10 grams of fiber. I recently standardized a set in dropper bottles so that 5 cc of dilute colorant can provide full color for my standard 10 gram sheet. My droppers dispense 0.5 cc per squirt, so one squirt should provide 10% color intensity and more will deepen color in steps of 10%.

For texture, I normally pour over heavy Pellon felt to control drainage. Since my Pellon has been washed multiple times, this gives a surface with the wrinkles and folds reproduced. I can also pour over a screen to get screen imprint or over other surfaces to get other textures. Pressing and drying is done conventionally and I also use a vacuum table for 3-D forming. I use trays, racks, containers, and a wet table from the food preparation industry, mostly purchased used. I have built my own moulds, deckles, drying box, and vacuum table.

My first paper show focused on variety in 11 x 17-inch sheets. My next show will focus on 3-D objects, and after that on large sheets. In addition, I am making writing cards and paper jewelry for local sale. This schedule gives me lots of time to experiment and learn along the way. My website has more photos and description. My main interest in papermaking seems to be evolving into collaboration, sharing, and meeting people. I have branded this as a “BUDDIES, NOT BUCKS” approach.

Bruce Bunting

Knoxville, TN

Some paper samples in a variety of fibers and additives available on brucebuntingart.com/.

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>YOUR STORIES: PAPERMAKING IN PLACE

In late April we asked you—our paper community—to send us your COVID-19 stories. I have loved reading each and every submission and wish I could publish them all in this issue. So keep a lookout in later newsletters if you do not see your story here! -Maria Olivia, Editor 

My biggest pleasure during the pandemic is doing remote art lessons with my grandchildren, Paul (7) and Marie (4). We meet by Zoom most weekdays at 1:00. I plan what we’ll do, and then anything can happen. Today Paul was making a house with Popsicle sticks and a glue gun (we use only the finest art supplies). The lesson gradually disintegrated into using the Popsicle sticks to make grappling hooks and trying to knock things off the shelves. Then Paul asked me whom I liked better, Marie or him. I hesitated and pondered this important question. Then said I loved them both the same.

I haven’t spent this much time with Paul and Marie in a long time. Part of me hopes the quarantine never ends. When they settle into a project, when they’re really engaged, they sing together. I know they’re learning the joy of creating things, even if they are grappling hooks.

 Laurie Wessman LeBreton

Chicago, IL

--

As one of the fortunate ones to have personal outside space to enjoy during COVID-19, I have spent the last few weeks gathering dye materials for ink making and for colouring the Daphne (Daphne laureola) papers that I made in 2019. My experiments have been fuelled by instructions from papermakers/inkmakers Anne Covell, Denise Bookwater, Chika Ito, and Babs Behan. 

Although similar results have been experienced by many others, the fact that I could get such a wide range of colours from the land I live on has been very satisfying. Our five acres near Victoria, BC, Canada are under conservation covenant and the Garry Oak meadow and Douglas-fir/Arbutus forest needs constant monitoring for invasive plants. Daphne is a serious invasive shrub on our land and the second worst offender is Bur Chervil (Anthriscus caucalis), followed closely by Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoprarius).

As well as the invasive plants, native dye plant sources include Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) bark, Arbutus (Arbutus menziesii) bark, Red alder (Aldus rubra) cones, Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium) bark and berries, and Lungwort lichen (Lobaria pulmondria). I have made a swatch book to record the results.

Frances Hunter

Victoria, BC, Canada

--

Corona stories! There was a Saint called Corona, she is pictured in a beautiful painting.   

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Magic paper

Reflecting

Floating

Shiny paper

in a sky filled with birds

reflecting stars 

with shiny rays

Mirror-like paper

drifting slowly by

and I! observe it all 

Merge with the paper and tell my story!

Aliza Thomas

Israel/Netherlands

--

I hope you all are well! I am in Delhi at the moment waiting to be allowed to travel again so I can get to Norway and have been here for eight months. I don’t have a studio which is frustrating but I am making do.

After having my entire summer teaching schedule cancelled or postponed, I really was hoping for something to do. One of the gigs was at Princeton University where I have been teaching a workshop on Indo-Islamic papermaking for the past two or three years. This year however, they still wanted to go ahead with it–online! Luckily, as last time, I was co-teaching with Johan Solberg, and we figured out how to get the students to make paper at home, and how to demo the technique from our Norway studio while filling in the blanks with a live “voiceover” from Delhi!

It worked surprisingly well and allowed us to do more in a sense that we would have done in person.

Radha Pandey

New Delhi, India‍

--

My remote work day begins with a poem, recited in my ear by poet Dwayne Betts, who is turning his book of extraordinary poems, Felon, about life after incarceration into a performance for prisons and theaters. He is whizzing down the street on his bicycle, or doing the dishes, or on break from coaching his boys’ online learning; I am at my desk with the text of the poem he is committing to heart. This little ritual of rehearsal and step-by-step work on a task is important to the day. Dwayne first approached me as a theater director who develops performance with poetry, he a writer, first formerly incarcerated person to graduate from Yale Law School. What we only discovered later is that what binds us together is papermaking. He makes a thick grey paper out of inmates’ sweats; I make a performance, Recycling: washi tales, that incorporates papermaking with washi sets and costumes by Japanese paper artist Kyoko Ibe (Hand Papermaking Summer 2020). Somehow, Dwayne and I found each other, two fibers floating in a vast vat, now we are working every day to make a new sheet in which prison time is recycled into something of use and beauty.

All best wishes,

Elise Thoron

Bethany, CT

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>IN MEMORIAM

Richard Joseph Flavin, 1943–2020

With sadness, we report the death of our friend and colleague, Richard Flavin on May 11th of this year. Richard passed away peacefully at home in Japan, in the company of his wife Ryoko, a few close friends, and his cat Toby. The cause of death was metastatic cancer. Richard is survived by his wife Ryoko Haraguchi, his sisters Mary Gustin and Maureen Sloan, and his brother David Flavin. He was predeceased by his sister Peggy Doran and his first wife Haruko Ito Flavin.

Richard had a certain magic in his being. He valued life, and nature, and friends who make things with their hands, with a natural sincerity that people were drawn to. He saw things the rest of us missed. It was evident he was gifted and it was a gift to be around him. The world will be a different place without him, but it is enriched by all the lives he touched and changed just by being himself. Thus, all he was, still is, and will not be lost. We just have to concentrate on the precious times, the good times we had together, and attempt to live Richard’s approach to life in our own. 

Nicole Donnelly has helped us establish a website richardflavin.wordpress.com where friends and colleagues can share reflections and photos. You can also refer to Paul Denhoed’s article on Richard in the Summer 2009 issue of Hand Papermaking Magazine https://www.snowbackpress.com/on-richard-flavin/ and/or listen to Helen Hiebert’s November 2019 interview with Richard at helenhiebertstudio.com/products/podcast/richard-flavin/.

Tim Barrett, Paul Denhoed, Mary Gustin (sister), Helen Hiebert, Chris Leatherwood, Barb Tetenbaum

From left to right: Ryoko Haraguchi, Richard Flavin, Martha Little, Barb Tetenbaum, Paul Denhoed and Maki Yamashita. 2006.

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>ALONG THE PAPER ROAD...

DIY TP

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 Koretsky talks about the history of a rather common, but not often thought of as handmade, paper.‍

At the mercy of coronavirus, the media has been paying special attention to toilet paper, and the phenomenon of its hoarding. Funny enough, I boast the largest collection of handmade toilet paper in the US. The bulk of my TP acquisitions were collected during journeys to remote parts of China, namely in Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, where handmade paper is still used for sanitary purposes. 

Taking inspiration from our artifacts and the current TP shortage, I recently wrote an article for the Carriage House Paper website’s first blog entry on how to make one’s own, which I shall share with you later in this column. But first, allow me to give you the scoop on the origin of toilet paper. 

There were many novel methods of cleansing oneself prior to the use of paper; however the Chinese should be recognized as the first to realize that paper could be used. The earliest reference to the Chinese using paper to “keep oneself clean” was in the sixth century. Interestingly, this is about 700 years after the invention of paper. According to Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin’s Paper and Printing chapter in Joseph Needham’s epic book Science and Civilization in China, paper was “probably used for wrapping from the moment of its invention in the Western Han [206 BCE–9 CE]; for writing from the Later Han [25–220 CE]; for cutting into designs, making stationery, fans, and umbrellas from the third or fourth century onwards; for clothing, furnishings, visiting-cards, kites, lanterns, napkins, and toilet purposes no later than the fifth or sixth century.” 1

Sixth-century Confucian scholars thought highly of their sacred words on paper and believed that every piece of paper that had writing on it was to be respected. We know that Chinese were using “toilet paper” at that time due to the noted scholar Yen Chih-Thui’s family instructions, which stated “paper on which there are quotations or commentaries from the Five Classics or the names of sages should not be used for toilet purposes.”2 Around 851 CE, a religious Arab traveler to China commented that the Chinese “are not careful about cleanliness, and they do not wash themselves with water when they have done their necessities; but they only wipe themselves with paper.”3

The early toilet paper in China was mostly made from rice straw, as the fibers were soft, broke down easily in lime, and took less time and labor to make. According to the statistics written in 1392 by the Bureau of Imperial Supplies, 720,000 sheets of paper were made for the use of the imperial court, and each sheet was two feet by three feet.4 This breaks down to nearly 2,000 sheets per day of super-sized TP. That’s enough to wipe a lot of imperial posteriors. The imperial family, however, had an additional modern requirement: three-inch squares, light yellow, thick but soft, and perfumed!

Another interesting documented tidbit is that the imperial paper factory generated so much byproduct from their TP production that they left behind an enormous mound of rice straw and lime refuse, dubbed Elephant Mountain.5 Yet there is no mention of the presumably bigger mound of used paper that must have accumulated (which maybe they could have called Turdle mountain).

If you’re running low, you’re in luck—because we’re flush with papermaking how-tos! Continue reading for Carriage House Paper’s first blog post: 

How Do I Make My Own Toilet Paper

Due to the recent shortage as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, we have been asked this question repeatedly.

First consider what type of toilet paper you desire. Are you going for soft, extra soft, premium extra soft, or are you okay with what the industry refers to as “brown” toilet paper, which is made from recycled paper and not known to be soft. Next to consider is how thick you need to make your toilet paper in order to get the job done. The industry layers their toilet paper into 1-ply, 2, 3, and even 4-ply. As hand papermakers, we don’t have to layer the sheets—we can simply make our sheets thin, medium, thick, or extra thick. The trick is to balance the degree of softness with thickness, yet maintain the strength and pliability for proper cleanliness. You must also factor in cost; not only of the raw material, but also what your time is worth.

My fiber of choice would be cooked, cleaned, and hand-beaten Japanese kozo, formed on a bamboo su with formation aid to make traditional sheets, then pressed and board dried. Because I can, I would spritz my favorite Italian perfume onto each sheet when wet, and once dry, again because I can, I would use my inkjet printer to print an image of my least favorite politician onto each sheet. As satisfying as the end result would be, I personally would never spend that much time and expense making toilet paper.

A quicker and cheaper option would be to throw some cotton linters into the blender and make a stack of  8.5 x 11-inch sheets of medium thickness, press them, and let them air dry. They will be soft and you should be able to fold or crumple, depending on your preference, and hopefully they will be strong enough to get the job done. Next, does size really matter? A standard square of toilet paper is 4.5 x 4.5 inches and according to more than one reputable site on the Internet, the average consumer uses 8.6 sheets of toilet paper per bathroom visit. You could cut your 8.5 x 11-sheets into 4 sheets, and each would measure 4.25 x  5.5 inches. According to my calculation, based on 10 visits to the toilet per day, you would need to make at least 560 sheets of paper in order to have enough toilet paper for one week for a family of 4.

This next obvious step of the process is so important that I am devoting a new paragraph to it. DO NOT FLUSH. You will clog the toilet. It’s handmade paper. Even flimsy soft cotton paper will not immediately disintegrate in water.

If you feel discouraged after reading this description, then perhaps you may prefer to heed the advice of a prominent physician in Florida who offers this: “As a gastroenterologist I’m doing my best to help people with GI issues during this difficult time. Here's my hot tip: take your stash of 2-ply toilet paper, separate the plys of the first piece, then, grabbing each piece, have two people walk in opposite directions and unroll the roll, leaving each person with one long 1-ply piece. Then re-roll each piece, giving you two 1-ply rolls. This doubles your wiping capacity!!”

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1. Joseph Needham and Tsein Tsuen-Hsuin, Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 1, Paper and Printing (Cambridge University Press, 1985), 85.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid, 123.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

 My backup TP, just in case. This handmade TP is from Lonzhou city in Northwest China’s Gansu province, along the Silk Road. The paper is made from bamboo fiber and each sheet measures 6 x 11 inches.

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>TEACHING HAND PAPERMAKING

Zoom Book Wednesdays

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, Winifred Radolan describes her first foray into teaching virtual workshops.

Once I had settled into the unfolding pandemic days of uncertainty and confusion, I discovered that our current situation has provided yet another opportunity for personal growth. It has come in the form of my taking baby steps into the growing field of online learning. I should comment, briefly, that I have mountains to climb on my journey towards comfort with technology! But our current collective confinement has provided me with the motivation to explore a new way to seek the connection that is such a personally satisfying aspect of the art of teaching.

I have tip-toed into two avenues of online education, both giving online dog training classes on the Facebook platform, and utilizing the ever-popular Zoom app for three bookmaking demos for Abington Art Center in Philadelphia. I am learning quite a bit from both offerings.

The journey began because I was hesitant to meet with a new dog training client due to Covid-19 social distancing protocols. I proposed that we proceed through video exchanges and phone consultations. Then, a colleague from my dog training center suggested I might try completing a couple of my classes that began before pandemic confinement via creating a private online Facebook classroom. Since I’d already started the video production, the next step was to set up the Facebook classroom. This was a hurdle, but I received much guidance from a younger colleague who was quite familiar with the process. In turn, I had to coach my interested students through their first steps. And I was surprised and proud of my newfound ability to do so, at least for simple things!

So, when the director of my local Abington Art Center, Rosalie Guzofsky, asked if any instructors might be willing to try offering a lecture, demo, or class through their Zoom platform, I bravely committed to three one-hour session demos, during which participants could watch me having fun cutting, folding, gluing, and sewing three simple book structures. It was free for viewers and new for all of us so I thought, “why not give it a try!” By the way, I’d never even Zoomed before, so I must have been feeling pretty empowered after mastering my early Facebook classroom hurdles!

I wrote up a description for the art center website, advertising three Zoom Bookmaking Wednesday afternoons. I picked three structures I could almost execute blindfolded. The art center was so pleased that overnight the reservations to participate in these free demos were piling up. So no pressure here, right?

Week One’s demo featured the playful Star Book. For Week Two I planned to show everyone how to fold an accordion spine. And in Week Three I demo-ed a simple Japanese Stab Binding. I gathered book models and materials already on hand, as we were all sheltering in place. All that remained was to figure out the Zoom logistics. I sensibly requested that the Art Center’s education coordinator Jeanne O'Shell be along for the ride to handle the inevitable quandaries.

My new workspace has a great little counter with very bright lights above it, perfect for me to see what I am doing. Because I wanted the camera to have a clear view of all my cutting, folding, and assembling, I used my smart phone camera, propped on a ledge in front of me. I positioned a healable cutting mat on the counter, both to protect the surface and to delineate the area that would be visible to viewers. And finally, I asked Jeanne to run me through a practice sign-in and to make sure she could see and hear correctly.

My first realization was that her presence to handle the technological logistics during live demos was going to be key to our success! I am glad I signed onto the link early, as Jeanne needed to remind me how to turn on my camera and mic! She welcomed our guests as they signed on, and remained there to handle any potential glitches. This left me worry free to “do my thing!” 

The very first demo session, how to fold and glue a Star Book, was the most fun I’ve had since March 11th, my last day of teaching in the real world! Many old friends, and new, had signed up for this free opportunity, and although I only briefly saw them on the camera screen, I recognized their voices. We perhaps got too chatty! I learned that many people were following along and folding with me, so I needed to be extra clear and give ample time. But we still completed in time for questions and answers. I really enjoyed the experience! However, watching the recorded session later, it was evident that during the next demo, participants would need their cameras off and mics muted. Every time someone coughed or sneezed or breathed loudly too close to their devices, everyone saw that person rather than my screen, which was quite distracting.

So, as people signed on for our accordion book spine demo, we had the chance to exchange brief greetings. Then everyone’s mic was muted and they were instructed to ask any questions with a hand wave feature or in a chat box. Jeanne was able to relay questions to me as we folded. It was such a quiet contrast to my first session that I related immediately to what many performers and TV personalities have been conveying. It is so much harder to read the crowd with no audience feedback and energy exchange. But it turned out that I had no trouble entertaining myself with my hour-long monologue, and Jeanne fed me questions as they arose.

We’ve just wrapped up the final scheduled demo, a couple simple variations of the Japanese Stab Binding.1 This one proved to need a little more time to clearly explain as people followed along, with more frequent questions. Therefore, I didn’t feel quite as isolated. And I think Jeanne and I have fallen into a smoother rhythm of handling feedback. I took more opportunities to pause and ask if anyone had issues. That’s probably why we went a little over time, but it was OK.

The demo sessions were so popular and I had so much fun that I have offered to do another series of Three Zoom Book Wednesdays. This time I will provide a supply list, knowing that everyone intends to follow along. An hour seems the perfect amount of time to sustain attention, so I will plan structures that can be accomplished within that time frame. It is crucial for me, at this stage at least, to have a Tech Wizard like Jeanne to get people signed on and to relay questions as they arise. And finally, I guess I CAN teach “this ol’ dog” some new tricks she enjoys, even involving technology!

1. Abington Art Center’s Facebook page has posted some of the Zoom Books that participants made during these fun sessions.

Book models and materials from my Zoom Bookmaking demo sessions.

>DECORATED PAPER

John Carter & Co.

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 College 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 discusses a prolific Bostonian commercial paper mill, and a surprising addition to his Decorated Paper collection.

About 30 years ago, at an antiquarian book fair, I acquired a large cache of materials from John Carter & Co., a paper mill and a wholesale distributor of fine papers from other commercial mills. In cataloging this large collection, I found a host of truly beautiful decorated papers that this company sold. They were not produced as decorated papers per se, but they were quite varied in their printing and embossing.

The company, originally called Carter, Rice & Co., was founded on January 2, 1871 in Boston by James R[ichard] Carter,1 who was only 30 at the time.2 By the 1880s they had dropped the “Rice” from their name,3 and as late as the 1940s they were still operating under the name John Carter & Co. (with the “Co.” often spelled out). The samples I obtained were of two types: individual pieces of many kinds, and a wide variety of paper sample books, several of which were beautifully designed and printed.

The range of their products was remarkable. On the rear cover of one of their paper sample books (undated, but from about 1900) there is a list of 55 kinds of things they sold—and the list is titled “A Few of Our Lines.” The item, Sample Book and Price List, mentions among a host of other things: Ball Orders, Bills of Fare, Bond Papers, Coated papers of several kinds, Calendar Pads and Backs, Fans, Merchandise Tags, Napkins, Ribbons, Ruled Goods, Silk Cards and Fringes, Tassels, Toilet Paper, Wedding Plate, and Wrapping papers.  

Among the sample books in our collection, there are many with lovely covers and elegant papers. Their sample book for Sales Record Ledger (papers which they acquired from Millers Falls Paper Company) had a fine illustration of the leather-bound ledger volumes. One kind of paper that they must have sold a great deal of (since we have a few sample books of theirs showing this paper) is Bankers Linen Bond, which came in several colors.

The collection we acquired had about 200 loose pieces, each with a stamp giving the Carter stock number, and representing scores of kinds of things they sold: dated items for programs, letters, brochures, dance cards, and the like, for schools, among others. They are all printed on beautiful papers, some with fancy (and often tinted) deckle edges, some hand sewn with decorative ribbons. Some with tassels, many that are embossed or printed in gold or silver foil. The logo for the “Class [of] 1909” shows high embossing in bright gold.

The large bound volume that came with the collection contains Samples of School and College Programs, Invitations and Dance Orders. As the pictures show, the cards and other materials in this volume are samples of beautifully decorated papers.

The items in this cache were produced from about 1900 to 1920; most are dated from 1906 to 1916. This was a time of great experimentation with, and an explosion of, printing technology. The ge of inks, foil-stamping machines, and so forth, all of which played into the creation of decorated papers. I have written about this with columns about wrapping papers. Businesses like John Carter & Co. wanted to appeal to a wide range of customers; the materials in this group show elegance, taste, exceptional use of prevailing technology, a fine color sense, commercial printing and papermaking magazines of the era had hundreds of advertisements for letterpress and engraving presses, an exceptionally broad ranand restraint in their use of decoration. It was also a time—especially after WWI ended in 1918—of expansion of culture in the US and abroad. All of the items here were aimed at high-school and college graduates and their schools and parents.  

Addendum:

My wife and I have a side collection based on a specific kind of decorated paper: toilet-paper wrappers. Bizarre! you might say. But think about it: every one of them is designed and printed, sometimes in several colors, many with lovely images on them. Most of them qualify to be called “Decorated paper.” We have hundreds of them, even “duplicates” from a single company. I use quotation marks since many of them might look like duplicates, but they have printing variants of several kinds. This is not a collection to write much more about, since everyone out there knows what they look like and how they feel, how big they are, and how they are almost always discarded. But one addition to this collection came by chance from an attendee of one of my talks about decorated paper. He said, during the Q&A period, that he had something that I didn’t: a toilet-paper roll inner cardboard core with decoration on it! He was right. He had picked it up about 30 years ago in Ecuador. He saw the decoration printed on the inside of the cardboard, so he carefully unwound it and saved it. It is really lovely, depicting an anthropomorphic toilet paper roll with a smiling face surrounded by leaves, and above this face is a decorative image that looks something like the word “TOP.” It now resides happily in our collection, among all the other Decorated Papers. Thanks to Stuart Walker, who gave it to us. 

1. Janice Brown, “Jefferson New Hampshire: Carter’s Town,” Cow Hampshire: New Hampshire’s History Blog, December 17, 2007, www.cowhampshireblog.com/2007/12/17/jefferson-new-hampshire-carters-tower/.

2. At the website Find A Grave, we learn that he was born on October 9, 1841, in Boston; he died on May 12, 1908, www.findagrave.com/memorial/72537706/john-carter.

3. I found an 1887 reference to the company as John Carter & Co. in The Boston Directory, Containing the City Record, no. 88 (1887): 225, 1676.

4. I mention the colors since the printed version of this newsletter is black and white.

Many of the school programs are embossed or printed in gold or silver foil.

A sample book cover printed in 5 colors with a fine illustration of the leather-bound ledger volumes.

>PAPER CONSERVATION

Mitigating COVID-19 When Managing Paper-Based, Circulating, and Other Types of Collections

BIO: Maria Olivia Davalos Stanton is a visual artist and art conservator to be in San Francisco, California. In this column series, Davalos Stanton shares interviews, resources, and news about paper conservation—bringing the paper cycle full circle.

ABSTRACT: Reproduced here is a portion of the transcript from a webinar hosted by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in coordination with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Dr. David Berendes (epidemiologist in the Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch at the CDC), Dr. Catherine Rasberry (Health Scientist in the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health), and moderator Crosby Kemper (Director of the IMLS), present an overview of the CDC’s guidance for community settings and environmental disinfection, with a focus on libraries, archives, and museums. The talk was given March 30, 2020 (excerpted and edited for length and clarity with permission).‍

Dr. David Berendes (DB): A lot of the work that we have been doing is around hand hygiene as well as environmental cleaning and disinfection. If I give you any point today, the main point is: clean and disinfect your high touch surfaces. 

…Certainly just to get a couple definitions down: when I’m talking about “cleaning,” I’m talking about cleaning with a detergent or soap or something that’s going to remove visible dirt, soil, things like that. “Disinfecting” is going to be me talking about the use of an actual disinfectant: something that will kill the residual virus or germs that are present. 

…Again, the good news is that this virus is extremely susceptible to many of the typical disinfectants that your [library and museum] staff are already probably using. So while I’m going to give you a reference for a list of products that are approved by the EPA for use against coronaviruses, you’ll find that that list is essentially many of the common household and commercial disinfectants you’re already using. This is not a supervirus that survives for extremely long periods…It’s actually quite susceptible to most of our common disinfectants like bleach and alcohols and other things that you’re used to using in your own household. So I want to put everyone at ease there as well.

…For soft or porous surfaces, like carpeted floors or rugs or drapes, if there’s any visible contamination there you can clean those off and then you can launder them if possible, or try to find an appropriate product for that particular surface. For softer porous surfaces, we are not as concerned about those in terms of their transmission, just because the virus doesn’t survive for as long and it’s really hard to get the virus out of that surface. Once it’s in a fabric, it’s probably going to die off there. It’s not going to be re-aerosolized and get into an individual’s lungs at that point.

So we’re really not concerned about that. For similar reasons—I know a question many of you are concerned about—we are not concerned at all about paper-based materials like books being a transmission route…The virus, if it’s present, would be present in very low quantities and would die off pretty quickly.

Crosby Kemper (CK): …Okay, so, Dr. Berendes, one question that occurs to me and I imagine has occurred to a lot of librarians…is that you're not being worried about paper-based products. It’s been published in various locations, because I’ve seen it more than once, that the virus could exist for as long as 24 hours on paper or in a book. I hear what you have to say as being counter to that. Can you talk a little bit more about how long the virus lasts or if it’s just so weak on paper that we shouldn’t be concerned about it?

DB: Sure…There has been a study that was published that showed that survival of the virus on porous surfaces like cardboard lasted for up to 24 hours. However, that was under sort of ideal lab conditions is one point to emphasize, and also we don’t know anything about the virus’s ability to then get back out of that surface and onto your hands or for you to come into contact with it in some way. So we’re much more concerned about the hard non-porous surfaces that are high touch, because the virus survives longer on them, but also because it’s much easier for your hands to become contaminated with it after touching one of those surfaces.

…the only additional point I’ll make also, is that just in terms of the amount of virus that an infected person is shedding is going to be highest if an individual is symptomatic and coughing. So really for us to have been concerned about transmission from any paper-based material, the individual would have really had to cough or sneeze directly on the object, and, you know, really have contaminated it. The sort of regular use by individuals—and hopefully no one is really sneezing into your books and things like that—does not really concern us from that standpoint.

CK: I’m sure I speak for a lot of librarians, and probably for museum folks too, who have some paper-based materials, we’re pretty sure that with some regularity people are sneezing on our books. Of course the question would be how recently they’ve sneezed on it. Do they sneeze on it right before they return it in the dropbox, or to the desk? If there is concern among librarians, which there is, about that particular circumstance, that an infected person can have discharged in one way or another onto a material, onto a book or a DVD or whatever it might be, what would you recommend if that is the concern? What is safe handling of that? If there is a 24-hour—under ideal conditions—possibility of the virus sustaining, should the books be quarantined for a day before they’re brought into human contact?

DB: So I would say that one part of this would be on the front end educating your consumers, reminding them, as Dr. Raspberry said, about good hand hygiene, about symptom monitoring, trying to make sure that people are not going out when they’re sick and they’re staying home. But also then if you are concerned you could—if you’re very concerned about books in particular, you could leave them for a 24-hour period…I would also say that for DVDs or other materials that are more easily cleaned—DVDs may have those sort of plastic covers, things like that—those are pretty easily wipeable with alcohol wipes.

Find the full transcript and webinar recording here:

www.imls.gov/webinars/mitigating-covid-19-when-managing-paper-based-circulating-and-other-types-collections

>STUDYING HAND PAPERMAKING

A handful of books

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 Richard offers the original “virtual” learning tool for studying papermaking.‍

Like so many who were abruptly out of a job in March, I was separated from a number of teaching gigs and artist residencies this spring with no clear indication of when I’d be physically present in the art community again or teaching in my own studio, even when the “shelter in place” directives will be lifted.

I was amazed to see how quickly entire communities around the globe were thrust into online educational formats virtually overnight. I wondered how the instructors and students were handling it all—especially for studio courses—and thought about what it might mean for art education in general. Closer to home, what did it mean for an artist like myself who, up to this point, has been dependent on teaching using traditional methods, hands-on instruction, and demonstration? While it is possible to do with physical distancing guidelines, it would be a challenge.

While I am grateful for technology and how it is facilitating our ability to stay connected, informed, etc., especially during this recent crisis, I find myself weary of it all and wonder what other alternatives I might be able to offer for studying our craft—something that could give us a break from the long hours of glowing screens that have been foisted on us out of necessity, something that might help sooth our papermaker souls.

And then I remembered. 

During my early years of papermaking discovery—waaay before we had access to the Internet or YouTube—I relied solely on print material to teach myself about the process. Raising a family, with limited time and resources, my ability to attend workshops was limited to once a year, if that. Instead, a handful of books, pamphlets, and treasured copies of Hand Papermaking magazine and newsletters provided a creative life-line, enabling me to learn as much as I could while “isolated” and working at home with two small children. It’s hard to exaggerate just how important and influential these resources were.

I started with classics offered through the Twinrocker and Carriage House hardcopy mail-order catalogs that I eagerly read from cover to cover upon arrival. Books like Vance Studley’s The Art & Craft of Handmade Paper, Jules Heller’s Papermaking, and Bernard Toale’s The Art of Papermaking were the perfect appetizers, creating a hearty appetite for more.1 Living in Houston at the time, I stumbled across a David Hockney exhibition and learned of his book Paper Pools which inspired me so much that I turned my kitchen into a papermaking studio for a few days, using Rit dyes to color pre-beaten cotton pulp.2 I was shocked at how labor-intensive the process was and my first pulp paintings were a bit crude, but I was hooked.

Helen Hiebert’s books Papermaking With Plants and Papermaker’s Companion were next on my wish list as I slowly accumulated a papermaking library.3 The well-explained, step-by-step format gave me the courage and motivation to harvest, cook, and make paper from plants, which for a city girl (from Miami) seemed pretty radical. 

And then Tim Barrett’s Japanese Papermaking, a cherished Christmas gift from my sons, was a benchmark in my determination to pursue this new creative outlet in a serious way.4 It was also responsible for making me realize that I had kozo growing in my yard without even knowing it! 

Similar to Glenn House’s epiphany with Alabama kozo on the University of Alabama campus,5 I was dumbfounded to see the leaf illustration in the preface of Barrett’s book, realizing instantly that the weed I’d been trying to remove from my yard was in fact the very plant I wanted to make paper with, more than anything. The bright green suckers that were popping up everywhere were stealthily connected to rhizomes leading back to a cluster of 20-foot tall paper-mulberry (kozo) trees a few steps from my studio door. That following summer, the trees themselves were literally knocking on my studio door as they were being blown down during a hurricane. But that’s another story, for another time…

While there may be no substitute for studying papermaking in a traditional one-on-one, vat-side format, books offer an even older form of virtual learning through the printed word. As I learned years ago, there is much value in studying from the body of print material that has been built over the years by various authors, artists, scholars, and teachers from this wonderful community. Collectively, they provide us with the technical information and tools needed to make paper but even more—like a mouthwatering recipe—they provide the inspiration and excitement to try new techniques, the courage to experiment alone in the studio, to dream big, as well as providing simple companionship. 

While it may be redundant to say this to this particular readership, I’m going to say it anyway. Books can provide great entertainment but they can also be life-changers, serving as a comforting balm during tough times. Times just like these. Struggling to regain my footing with the stress of recent months, I found myself accumulating a small stack of reading material on the bed stand, especially since I seemed to have more time to read. Taking inventory of the titles recently, I realized that nearly all of them were about paper, papermaking, art, or nature. 

It occurred to me that there might be some value in sharing an annotated bibliography I began assembling in grad school (thanks to professor Julie Leonard for giving us this assignment). I’m sharing it here with hopes that it may provide some enlightening, entertaining, and soothing reading: www.amyrichardstudio.com/hand-papermaking-resources

Be well. Stay safe.

1. Vance Studley, The Art & Craft of Handmade Paper (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1977).

Jules Heller, Papermaking: How To Make Handmade Paper For Printmaking, Drawing, Painting, Relief And Cast Forms, Book Arts And Mixed Media (Watson-Guptill, 1978).

Bernard Toale, The Art of Papermaking (Davis Publications, Inc., 1983).

2. Davis Hockney, Paper Pools (Harry N Abrams Inc., 1981).

3. Helen Hiebert, Papermaking with Plants: Creative Recipes and Projects Using Herbs, Flowers, Grasses and Leaves (Storey Books, 1998).

———. The Papermaker's Companion: The Ultimate Guide to Making and Using Handmade Paper (Storey Publishing, 2000).

4. Timothy Barrett, Japanese Papermaking: Traditions, Tools, and Techniques (Weatherhill, 1992).

5. Glenn House, An Alabama Kozo Primer: An account of the recognition of the paper mulberry tree as it grows in the United States, and, most particularly as it grows in Alabama (Parallel Editions, 1995).

Paper mulberry (kozo) trees reaching for the sun.

...realizing instantly that the weed I’d been trying to remove from my yard was in fact the very plant I wanted to make paper with...

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 for the October 2020 newsletter is August 15.

> CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA, (215) 887-4882, www.abingtonartcenter.org. Classes, workshops, and exhibitions in a variety of media. Now offering online classes during the closure. Visit abingtonartcenter.org/online-classes/ for more information.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN, (865) 436-5860, www.arrowmont.org. Classes and workshops in a variety of disciplines, including papermaking. Closed for the remainder of 2020.

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. Closed until September.

Book Arts Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, (310) 722-9004, bookartsla.org. Classes in printing, bookbinding, and other crafts in the Culver City neighborhood. Closed for the time being.

Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network, Bainbridge Island, WA, (206) 842-4475, bainbridgebarn.org. Community art center with classes and open studios in a variety of art fields, including book arts and printmaking. For remote learning opportunities during the closure, visit bainbridgebarn.wildapricot.org/page-1836012 for more information.

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. Closed for the time being.

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. For remote learning opportunities during the closure, visit centerforbookarts.org/online-learning/ for more information.

Dieu Donné, Brooklyn, NY, (212) 226-0573, www.dieudonne.org. Beginning and advanced papermaking classes. Open studio sessions and community studio memberships are also available. For remote learning opportunities during the closure, visit www.dieudonne.org/remote-learning for more information.

Georgia Archives, Morrow, GA, (678) 364-3710, www.georgiaarchives.org/. The Georgia Archives identifies, collects, provides access to and preserves Georgia’s historical documents. Explore their online exhibitions and digital archives during the closure.

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. Closed for the remainder of 2020. The Haystack Fab Lab is producing personal protective equipment (PPE) in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. To learn more and support this effort, visit www.haystack-mtn.org/covid-ppe-project.

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 remote learning opportunities, visit helenhiebertstudio.com/shop/product-category/class/. 

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. Closed for the time being.

Karen Hanmer Book Arts, Glenview, IL, www.karenhanmer.com/. A private studio in north suburban Chicago offering workshops and private instruction to working practitioners and dedicated hobbyists, focusing on a solid foundation in traditional bookbinding skills. For more information on online workshops, visit www.karenhanmer.com/teaching/#WorkshopSchedule.

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, dyeing, weaving, and many more. Closed for the time being.

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. Summer 2020 continuing education classes will be run online. For more information, visit pce.massart.edu/catalog/summer-2020/.

Minah Song Art Services, Arlington, VA, (646) 352-3828, Paper conservation studio in the Washington DC metro area which offers workshops. For more information on workshops and services, visit www.minahsong.com.

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. For remote learning opportunities during the closure, visit www.mnbookarts.org/category/adult-virtual-workshops/ for more information.

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 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. Closed for the time being. Browse the National Juried Exhibition 2020 online here www.morganconservatory.org/national-juried-exhibition-2020.

Papermakers of Victoria, at Box Hill Community Arts Centre, Whitehorse, Victoria, Australia, papermakers.org.au. Papermaking studio offering workshops, exhibitions, and studio access. Closed for the time being.

The Papertrail, New Dundee, Ontario, Canada, (800) 421-6826, papertrail.ca/blog/. Classes taught in English or French in papermaking, marbling, 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, visit www.papierwespe.at/workshops/

Penland School of Craft, Penland, NC, (828) 765-2359, www.penland.org, Penland offers a full program of craft workshops, including papermaking and paper arts. Closed for the remainder of 2020.

Pyramid Atlantic, Hyattsville, MD, (301) 608-9101, www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org, offers workshops in papermaking, printmaking, and book arts as well as residencies, apprenticeships, and internships. For remote learning opportunities during the closure, visit www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org/pyramid-at-home.

Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking. Atlanta, GA, (404) 894-5726, paper.gatech.edu. An internationally renowned resource on the history of paper and paper technology, the museum’s mission is to collect, preserve, increase and disseminate knowledge about papermaking–past, present and future. Closed for the time being.

San Diego Book Arts, 8680 Washington Avenue, 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. Closed for the time being.

San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA, (415) 565-0545, sfcb.org. Book arts classes, workshops, events, and exhibitions year-round. Closed through August 15. For remote learning opportunities during the closure, visit sfcb.org/ShelterInStudio.

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. Closed for the time being.

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. Closed through July.

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.

The Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA, (412) 261-7003, contemporarycraft.org. Classes in fiber, book art, and other media in Pittsburgh’s historic Strip District. For remote learning opportunities during the closure, visit contemporarycraft.org/cc-online-resources/.

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. Adult community classes are now online, for more information, visit www.swschool.org/community-classes/adults.

Textile Art Center, New York City, New York. textileartscenter.com/, NYC–based resource center for textile art which offers classes, workshops, open studio rentals, and events. Closed for the time being.

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. Closed for the time being.

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. For remote learning opportunities during the closure, visit https://wsworkshop.org/events/category/online-workshops-and-events/.

> EVENTS

n/a

> RETREATS

Join Helen Heibert for her 2020 Red Cliff Paper Retreat, Woven Paper: Books/Vessels/Lighting. Come explore a variety of papers that can be made by hand cut, folded, stitched and woven to create books, wall hangings, sculpture, lighting and more. Participants have the choice between a three or five day workshop. If you have questions, feel free to email helen@helenhiebertstudio.com. Note: due to Covid-19, the retreat has been postponed until 2021. 

> EXHIBITIONS

A virtual guide to OPEN • SET, bookbinding competition and exhibition sponsored by the American Academy of Bookbinding, is now available while it is currently hibernating at the Grolier Club. For more information, visit www.bookbindingacademy.org/open-set-catalog/.

PLACE: community, environment, cogitate is an exhibition in which artists Chad Hayward, Lea Larzarus, and Andrea Peterson explore the idea of situation, region, and circumstance through each of their own personal lens. All of the works utilize pigmented paper pulp to create imagery. For more information, visit paper.gatech.edu/place-community-environment-cogitate. Note: postponed to spring 2021. 

> CALLS FOR ENTRIES

Las Laguna Gallery in California presents 2020 Botanical. Works that show flowers, plants, trees, leaves, cactus, succulents, etc. will be considered. Applications due September 6, 2020. For more information, visit www.laslagunagallery.com/botanik.

The Chico Art Center in California seeks art forms of all media that consider native plants that are currently threatened or endangered for the exhibition, FLORA: The Other Endangered Species. Artwork must include a plant that is threatened, endangered, or extinct. Apply by August 2 at chicoartcenter.com/flora/.

The Escondido Arts Partnership invites West Coast regional artists to submit book arts and textile works to the juried West Coast Fiber Art Exhibition. Fiber work can include paper, felt, fabric, yarn, cloth, plant, or other organic materials. Send images by August 15. For more information, visit escondidoarts.org/call-artists-resources/

The North American Hand Papermakers invite all artists utilizing hand papermaking techniques or working with handmade paper to submit artwork to the 2020 NAHP Juried Exhibition, an online exhibition with a digital catalogue. Submissions deadline July 20. To apply, visit artist.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=7872.

Treewhispers is an ongoing installation of flat handmade paper rounds with personal stories, poetry, and art related to trees. The project, started by Pamela Paulsrud and Marilyn Sward, continues to seek contributions. For more information, visit treewhispers.com/here.

> OPPORTUNITIES

Wells College seeks applicants for the full-time (10–12 month) position of Director for the Book Arts Center. As Director, the successful candidate will possess a clear vision for a college Book Arts Center and will oversee all aspects of the vibrant and historic Book Arts Center. Interested candidates should apply online at www.wells.edu/employment. Note: all candidate searches at Wells College have been placed on hold through the end of June. 

> PUBLICATIONS, FILMS, VIDEOS

A film by Eyes and Ears, Two Rivers takes us inside a historic paper mill in Somerset, UK. Watch the short film at vimeo.com/409191271.

European Hand Papermaking: Traditions, Tools, and Techniques, by Timothy D. Barrett, offers a comprehensive “how-to” about traditional European hand papermaking aimed at a variety of audiences as the companion volume to Barrett’s Japanese Papermaking: Traditions, Tools and Techniques. For more information, visit thelegacypress.com/barrett-papermaking.html.

Mark Lander’s papermaking videos on YouTube are soothing as they are educational. Watch the series here: www.youtube.com/channel/UCtwOnNk8KcyEUdAALaMgm9w.

Paper Talk is an ongoing series of interviews by Helen Hiebert featuring artists and professionals who are working in the field of hand papermaking. New podcast episodes each month. Subscribe to Paper Talk in iTunes.

> ONLINE PROGRAMMING

Designed by Big Jump Press in response to the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, Read This Out Loud is a downloadable book template available for anyone to use. Make as many copies of this book as you can and disperse them in your community. Links to downloads and video demonstrations can be found at https://bigjumppress.blog/read-this-out-loud/.

The Rare Book School is now offering a varied series of free digital programs centered on bibliography and the history of the book. To find videos, visit rarebookschool.org/rbs-online/.

Each week, Fellows in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation are sharing tips on how people can care for their personal collections while they are staying safer at home! To read Attics and Basements and Closets, Oh My!, which includes posts on paper and pest management, visit www.artcons.udel.edu/outreach/public-outreach.

The inaugural Chantry Library Subject Bibliographies focuses on South Asian Paper. Compiled by Jasdip Singh Dhillon, this entry features familiar names such as Dard Hunter and Edo Loeber. The Subject Bibliographies aim to support the work of conservators by providing curated information through up-to-date lists of key information sources about a given subject, chosen by a specialist. Visit chantrylibrary.org/chantry-library-subject-bibliographies-2/ to learn more.

> MISCELLANEOUS

Seeking interns: Jim Croft, a bookbinder and papermaker who lives in the foothills of the Bitterroot Mountains in rural north Idaho, is seeking interns to help make books from raw materials. Particular focus will be on rebuilding a water-powered paper stamper. Also ongoing: flax, hemp, and cotton fiber processing; and medieval bookbinding using wooden boards and clasps. Interns have access to an extra wood-heated cabin with a board shear, guillotine, and fiber cutter. More information is available at cargocollective.com/oldway/Story-Place. Snail mail (Jim Croft, PO Box 211, Santa, ID 83866) is the best and quickest way to inquire about this internship opportunity.

Taller Leñateros is Mexico’s first and only Tzotzil Maya bookbinding and papermaking collective. Founded in 1975 by the Mexican-American poet Ambar Past, the workshop is dedicated to documenting and disseminating the endangered Tzotzil language, culture, and oral history. See their entry in Atlas Obscura, and visit their website at www.tallerlenateros.com/index.php to learn more.

> CLASSIFIEDS

Classifieds in Hand Papermaking Newsletter cost $2 per word, with a 10-word minimum. Payment is due in advance of publication.

Unbleached Philippine Abaca $6.00 lb. For samples, please send SASE to Ifugao Papercraft, 6477 E. Grayson, St., Inverness, FL 34452.

Need affordable paper for workshops? We offer authentic hanji, lokta, washi, and xuan. Mention this ad for 10% discount, paperwoman@paperconnection.com.

Cotton Linter Pulp. All quantities available. Call Gold’s Artworks, Inc. (910) 739-9605.

HAND PAPERMAKING

loves to hear from readers:
newseditor@handpapermaking.org

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McLaughlin, Todd Moe, Darin Murphy, Elaine

Akiko Nishizu, Pat Owens, Nancy Pobanz,

Melissa Potter, Jackie Radford, Sandra Reese,

Renee Rogers, Ingrid Rose, Michelle Samour,

Kimberly Schenck, Kim Schieder-mayer, H. Paul

Sullivan Jr., Betty Sweren, Thomas Taggart, Claire

Van Vliet, Aviva Weiner, Beck Whitehead,

Kathy Wosika

supporters: Timothy Barrett, Nancy Cohen,

Jennifer Davies, John Dietel, Karla & Jim

Elling, Helen Frederick, Sara Gilfert, David

Lance Goines, Robert Hauser, Mildred Monat

Isaacs, Kristin Kavanagh, Sue Kanowith-Klein,

David Kimball, Steve Kostell, Aimee Lee,

Winifred Lutz, M. P. Marion, Edwin Martin,

Lynne Matott, Anne Q. McKeown, Susan Melczer,

Kathryn Menard, Catherine Nash, Nancy Pike,

Brian Queen, Dianne L. Reeves, Caroline Riley,

Robbin Ann Silverberg, Deborah Stone, Kathleen

Stevenson, Nickolas Waser, Pamela Wood

friends: Annie Alexander, Jack Becker,

Mona Dukess, Christopher Eley, Shireen

Holman, Betty L. Kjelson, Sandra Miller,

Sue Miller, Judith Glazer Raymo, Sally

Rose, Peter & Donna Thomas, Virginia Yazbeck

in-kind: Adobe Systems Inc., Mary Ashton,

Tom Balbo, Drew Cameron, Amanda Degener,

Janet De Boer, Kathleen Flenniken, Peter

Ford, John Gerard, Shireen Holman, Dard

Hunter III, Microsoft Corporate Citizenship,

Steve Miller, Radha Pandey, Ali Pezeshk,

Tedi Permadi, Andrea Peterson & Brian

Beidler, Alta Price, Jessica Spring

founding contributors to the

hand papermaking endowment: 49er

Books, Shirah Miriam (Mimi) Aumann,

Cathleen A. Baker, Tom Balbo, Timothy

Barrett, Sidney Berger & Michèle Cloonan,

Tom & Lore Burger, Jeffrey Cooper, Jeanne

M. Drewes, Jane M. Farmer, Fifth Floor

Foundation, Helen Frederick, Sara Gilfert,

Tatiana Ginsberg, Susan Gosin, Joan Hall,

Lois & Gordon James, Sally Wood Johnson,

David Kimball, Elaine Koretsky, Karen

Kunc, Barbara Lippman, Winifred Lutz,

Susan Mackin-Dolan, David Marshall, Peter

Newland Fund of the Greater Everett Community

Foundation, Margaret Prentice,

Preservation Technologies L.P., Michelle

Samour, Peter Sowiski, Marilyn Sward,

Betty Sweren, Gibby Waitzkin, Tom Weideman,

Beck Whitehead, Paul Wong & John

Colella, Pamela S. Wood

contributors to the hand papermaking

portfolio archive fund: Tom Balbo,

Simon Blattner, Tom & Lore Burger, Jeffrey

Cooper, Susan Mackin Dolan, Drachen

Foundation, Michael M. Hagan, Joan

Hall, Joyce Kierejczyk, Betty Kjelson, Ann

Marshall, honoring David Marshall, Julie

Reichert, Laura Merrick Roe, Richard

Schimmelpfeng, Mary Schlosser, Mina

Takahashi, Aviva Weiner, Beck Whitehead

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