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Issue Number

133

January 2021

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HAND PAPERMAKING

NEWSLETTER

number 133 • january 2021

Newsletter Editor: Maria Olivia Davalos Stanton

Columnists: Sidney Berger, Donna Koretsky, Winifred

Radolan, Amy Richard

Hand Papermaking Newsletter is published quarterly.

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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.

>DEAR READERS

The Busyhaus Paper on Paper Collection represents over five decades of collecting by the artist and museum conservator Robert Hauser started when he was a student and graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (now the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University). The art history and graphic art programs at these institutions provided technical training in letterpress printing, printmaking, book arts, and the making and preservation of paper materials.1

All of these media depend on the use of paper and the understanding that not all papers serve all media in achieving the best results. A traveling scholarship from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston enabled Hauser to visit European bookbinders, fine printers, papermakers, and paper-book conservators. These experiences evolved into Hauser’s business, Busyhaus, and his development of a traveling papermaking workshop. During this period the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kress and Mellon Foundations sponsored his advanced study of these subjects.

It is this personal history that, over time, enabled Hauser to form a diverse paper collection through a variety of discoveries, acquaintances, and acquisitions that has now been inventoried and made whole. The archive, or collection, is comprised of 15 subjects, alphabetically filed and stored in 32 archival library document boxes.2 Another 15 library document boxes and flat storage cases contain an international papermaking and book arts research library, European and Japanese papermaking moulds, decorative papers, watermark specimens, wood engravings, the work of American hand papermakers, etc.

In 2015 the Busyhaus Paper on Paper Archive was donated to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut.3 The archive is housed in a 55,000-square-foot secure, climate-controlled repository on the campus of the University of Connecticut. The Archives & Special Collections were established to support and advance the research, teaching, service, and outreach missions of the University of Connecticut by collecting and preserving original source materials in the humanities and social sciences, and by engaging students, faculty, and scholars in creative achievement. 

 The Busyhaus Paper on Paper Archive compliments other holdings in Archives & Special Collections that are the result of a long history of collecting fine press and artists’ books that began in 1965, including the Paper and Papermaking Collection, Fine Press and Artists’ Books Collection, Ex-Libris Collection of bookplates, and a significant library of books on type and type founding. The Busyhaus Paper on Paper Archive adds depth to the documentation of the book as a form and space for art making, offering both the collector and researcher perspectives as well as the craftsman’s work. The collection in Archives & Special Collections are built on the belief that makers, like students of the visual arts, need exposure to other makers’ work. 

1. Robert Hauser, “History As History,” Hand Papermaking vol. 28, no. 2. (Winter 2013): 30–34. The article reviews fifty-five years of collecting.

2. The archive is comprised of 15 subjects: American Hand Papermakers & Artists, Busyhaus Papermaking Workshops 1973–1980, Busyhaus Papermaking Photography Library, Busyhaus 2013 Hand Papermaking Article, Boston 1980 Hand Papermaking Conference,European Hand Papermakers & Artists, Rittenhouse First American Papermaker, Busyhaus 1983 American Decorative Papermakers, American Decorative-European Decorative Papers, The Papermakers Publications 1954–1970, 11. International Collection of Paper Specimens, Japanese-Chinese Hand Papermakers, Asian–Middle East Hand & Decorative Papers, Oversized Books & Related Materials, International Paper on Paper Library (est. 200 books, & publications, etc.).

3. For research inquiries please contact archives@uconn.edu and/or consult the finding aid online for the Busyhaus Paper on Paper Archive at archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/1034

Melissa Watterworth Batt, Archivist, Literary, Natural History, and Rare Books, UConn–Storrs                                                                                                                                Kristin Eshelman, Archivist, Multimedia Collections and Northeast Children’s Literature Collection, Uconn–Storrs

Robert Hauser, Busyhaus, P.O. Box 508, Peterborough, NH 03458.

Robert Hauser with artifacts from the Busyhaus Paper on Paper Collection at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Conservation Laboratory, New Bedford, Massachaussets.


>ALONG THE PAPER ROAD...

Know Your Papermaking Lingo

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 has fun with some of the more unusual papermaking terms.

Inspired by Simon Green’s casual mention of huvver during his informative presentation “Reminiscences of Hayle Mill” during the virtual North American Hand Papermaking conference this past October, I am devoting this column to describing an assortment of unusual papermaking terms.1

Many of you are familiar with most of these terms, but I bet no one is familiar with Simon’s definition of huvver. And yes, Simon insists that is the correct spelling. It is not hover, although it is pronounced the same. Huvver refers to the wavy condition of the edges of newly dried paper. This is not to be confused with cockle, which is a permanent waviness in paper caused by unequal shrinkage. Huvver, however, goes away in time, after the sheets have been turned and restacked, though it may take 3-6 months for the sheets to completely flatten. We have yet to find huvver in any dictionary but I have no doubt that it is a legitimate papermaking term.

When my husband David makes his Reina beaters, he sets his bedplate into a recess in the floor of the hollander, otherwise known as the den. He refers to the metal strips that he attaches to both ends of the beater roll as bangers. Bangers keep the small clearance between the roll and sides of the beater free of pulp. A doctor is a device for keeping the beater roll clean of pulp and is located immediately above the backfall and behind the roll. The doctor deflects the pulp over the top of the backfall to prevent the pulp from being carried around with the roll.  Not all beaters have doctors, but they can be found in all Valley beaters. Just remember to unplug your Valley before you shove your hand up the roll to locate the doctor. Have you ever noticed lumps of pulp adhering to a corner or side of the beater that eventually become detached? These lumps are lodgers.

  An economical way to ship moist pulp is in the form of noodles, which are made by shredding the damp pulp sheets that had been formed on a machine that makes wet pulp or wet-lap. The pulp that comes out of the beater is called stuff or stock and is ready to be made into paper. Broke is reject paper and is usually repulped. Broke can be determined during the wet stage of papermaking, or during the dry stage when the paper is sorted. The reject trimmings from paper are also called broke.

  The sheet formation process at the vat doesn’t always go smoothly. Sometimes short fibers clump together into tiny knots. This is known as ricing. I have always called those knots dumbbells since there’s usually a fiber with a knot attached to each end that look like miniature dumbbells. After sheet formation, you may notice at times a little leakage of pulp under the deckle when you lift it off. These small rolls of pulp are curlers.

  If you are a production papermaker, there may be a hog in the bottom of your vat. A hog is an agitator for pulp so you don’t have to continuously mix it by hand and the hog usually includes a steam pipe that heats up the pulp. This makes drainage faster and also keeps the papermaker’s hands warm. If you are a serious production papermaker, then you will slide your freshly dipped mould across the stay, a platform to the left of the vat, removing the deckle as it slides. The coucher catches the mould and rests it on the ass, a curved wooden post at the vat’s corner. After couching, the coucher slides the mould along the bridge located across the back of the vat, returning it to the vat man. At the end of the day when papermaking has been completed, the badger is the pulp remaining in the vat.

  When pressing your post in a hydraulic press, make sure you use up all of your daylight. Daylight is the maximum opening from the bottom platen to the top platen when the piston of the jack is fully extended. So if you are continually pumping your jack and pressure doesn’t seem to be increasing, the piston is probably fully extended and you will need to add more press boards to the stack in order to get hydraulic pressure.

  Once the paper is dry, it could have blisters, defects formed when air is left between the sheets and felt. Or you may see fish eyes or translucent spots. Finally, if someone in the know refers to your sheet of paper as a snowstorm, they mean your formation is wild and irregular.

  Those of us who constantly order copy paper know that a ream contains 500 sheets of paper. But what about a quire? A quire is 1/20th of a ream. However, as I learned, if the sheets of paper are coarse, a quire will contain 24 sheets. If the sheets are fine, as in book paper, there will be 25 in a quire. If you work in a paper lab, some of your sheets will likely be due for a pop test, a slang term for the burst strength of paper.

  Most of these terms can be found in papermaking dictionaries written by the papermaking industry. However it you were to look up these words in an ordinary dictionary, you may interpret them as follows:

  After the doctor confused a badger with a hog, he realized what an ass he was and was ready to stop seeing things through fish eyes. As a way to redeem himself, he crossed the bridge in daylight, started lifting dumbbells even though it gave him blisters and took in a broke lodger during a snowstorm who wanted to stay and was okay sleeping in the den. For dinner they put food through a ricing mill, ate noodles in chicken stock, bangers, cockles, and other stuff. At night, they huvvered (hovered) over the fire, curlers in hair, and the doctor gave the lodger a pop test about the difference between quire and choir.

1. References consulted:

British Paper and Board Makers’ Association. Technical Section. Education Committee, Paper Making; A General Account of its History, Processes, and Applications (England: The Section, 1950).

The Dictionary of Paper: Including Pulps, Boards, Paper Properties and Related Papermaking Terms, (New York: American Paper and Pulp Association, 1951).

James d’A Clark, Pulp Technology–and Treatment for Paper (San Francisco: Miller Freeman, 1978).

>TEACHING HAND PAPERMAKING

Pavilion Papermaking 

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 is teaching in person again, physically distanced, of course.

On the first day of fall, after a six-month-long period of silence, my Hollander beater was called back into service! Way back in March when my art center closed due to the pandemic, my faithful group of papermakers were forced to dry their hands midway through their five-week session. When our local county deemed it safe to gather in small groups, the center offered the papermakers an opportunity.

Abington Art Center has a spacious, beautiful, covered pavilion that is used for weddings, special events, and summer camp programs. They offered it to me and my dedicated group of papermakers so that we could finish our interrupted session. The space is ample for seven or eight people to each set up a six-foot table workspace. The center promised to provide a hose for water access, and to set up the tables in the pavilion for us if my group felt comfortable getting back into the vats together.

After a poll was taken of the group, all agreed, with some hesitancy, that they were game to come out of hibernation and gather together. I promised the papermakers each a vat at their own table if they were OK with using a single color. They also had the option of bringing smaller personal vats as long as they took care of setup and cleanup of the additional water and pulp. And of course, we would all be wearing masks and in open air, at least ten feet socially distanced.

On that first day of class, the happiness to once again be in the company of treasured friends in art was extraordinary! There was some initial stumbling about how to best function in the new space. There were the vats, moulds and deckles, buckets, and everyone’s personal supplies to transport to the outdoor pavilion. With seven papermakers, there were seven vats to fill, which meant carrying multiple buckets of water from a hose that didn’t quite reach our space. And I was hoping that the beater load of pulp I brought would stretch to charge seven individual vats over a three-hour class length. (Fortunately, there was much conversation and catching up to do, which slowed production, thus pulp usage.)

As is usual with my group, everyone had an individual project to pursue. One artist was creating a thicker, highly textured paper foundation, upon which, later she would apply a variety of paint and print applications. Another was producing base sheets upon which she would print her photographic works. One artist filled a couple large sheets of plexiglass with overlapping sheets of paper designed to carry future works of paper lithography. After taking Helen Hiebert’s lamp-making workshop, another woman asked me to beat some high-shrinkage abaca to use in covering a wire armature. And a couple other artists worked with short-fibered cotton rags to create watermarked sheets.

With the initial setup completed, everyone fell into their personal rhythm pretty quickly. I was mighty busy checking in with each individual and their process. We were all blissful in the beautiful pavilion, surrounded by the visual oasis of fall colors painting the acreage of the art center’s grounds. The afternoon of community and creativity just flew by, with everyone agreeing that we should meet on successive Thursday afternoons, as long as the weather permitted.

Weeks have gone by since that first day of fall. Mother Nature has been kind. My group, initially anticipating two days together, has met every Thursday afternoon, save one really chilly and rainy day. Each afternoon at cleanup time we hope for one more good weather opportunity. We all know the season is changing. And with the pandemic persisting, no one feels comfortable about moving indoors for classes anytime soon. So we watch the weather forecast and plan our Thursday afternoons on a week-by-week basis, relishing our time together in the vats while we have it!

Though setup was a bit more complicated than usual, the beautiful foliage certainly made up for it.

“One artist was creating a thicker, highly textured paper foundation, upon which, later she would apply a variety of paint and print applications.”


>DECORATED PAPER

Miniature Books

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 returns to the realm of the miniature decorated paper.

Several of my Hand Papermaking Newsletter columns have concerned books about decorated paper. The subject seems limitless, since there are millions of sheets of such papers out there, and the number and kinds of decoration seem equally boundless. I wish to turn here to a much smaller realm, in quantity and size, revealing yet another world: miniature books on the subject.

In the US,1 the Miniature Book Society’s website says, “In the United States, a miniature book is usually considered to be one which is no more than three inches in height, width, or thickness. Some aficionados collect slightly larger books while others specialize in even smaller sizes. Outside of the United States, books up to four inches are often considered miniature.”2 These books have a long and distinguished history. The Society’s site explains: “It’s said that the earliest miniature books were produced primarily for convenience; large proclamations transcribed into miniature for ease of storage; miniature bibles for monks to carry tucked in their pockets; miniature books of etiquette for young Victorian ladies to discreetly reference for proper conduct. Queen Mary made them very popular when, in 1922, 200 miniature books were produced for display in the library of her miniature doll house.” 

         While my wife and I don’t actively collect miniatures, we have amassed quite a number of them because of their subject, not because of their size. One of the areas in which we do collect, as readers of this column will know, is paper decoration, and since many tiny volumes are done about decorated paper, we have acquired a fairly respectable collection of them.

         Many miniatures are about papermaking. Robert E. Massmann, who acquired a passel of Dard Hunter papers, did a series of wonderful little books using Hunter’s papers. But they were more about papermaking than about decorated sheets. They are fairly well known in the book world thanks to their subject: the most famous paper historian in the Western world. And small books on the general subject of papermaking are fairly numerous. But the narrower area of decorated paper is also well represented in the miniature book realm.

         One thing that makes these books appealing is that most of them are hand produced. That is, the samples are often done by hand, as is the typesetting, the printing, and the binding, though many book artists choose to use the computer to set the type. And of course, tip-ins are all handwork, adding a touch of intimacy to each volume. The ones done from hand-set type are the most alluring for me. Henry Morris said that setting 6-point type is like trying to pick fly crap out of pepper (a slightly modified version of what he said), and the effort to set the type for miniatures (as I know from experience) makes these books particularly enticing and wonderful.

         One of the premier volumes on the subject, and one that has become a serious collectible, is Christopher Weimann’s Marbling in Miniature.3 This lovely volume is only 2¼ x 3 inches. It is bound in Weimann’s own marbled paper, and it contains 12 tipped-in samples. When one marbles, the rakes and combs used have “teeth” spaced wide enough to allow the pigments to be shaped attractively and distinctly—but marbling tiny patterns requires precisely made tools and pigments formulated such that they can be pulled into extremely thin lines without “glopping” in the comb’s teeth, and so that the fine lines of the pattern will stand clearly delineated on the page, not touching one another. To marble in miniature is a great skill, and Weimann perfected it. This lovely little book is a real gem.

         In England, Weimann found his match in Ann Muir, who became that country’s best marbler. Her miniature The Ancient Art of Ebru is only 3 x 2¼ inches; it is a giant in its beauty.4 It is bound in one of her papers, with a matching slipcase, and the 10 tiny tipped-in marbled leaves are wonderful: daisies, pansies, goldfish, a ladybug beneath a flower, a butterfly, a spider on its web, a sliced apple. The 100 copies required Muir to produce 1000 of these amazing pieces of art, and the book is charming and beautifully produced.

         For brilliance of execution, also, is Karli Frigge’s remarkable Double Face: Two-sided Paper Especially Marbled for This Sampler.5 The tiny book is a mere 1¾ x 1⅛ inches, and every tiny leaf is marbled on both sides. The colophon says that only 55 copies were done, but it does not reveal that Frigge did not know that the publisher was producing this book. She found out only after it was published that the book even existed. (This column is the first time this bibliographical bit of information is revealed in print.)

         Claire Bolton of the Alembic Press published Claire Maziarczyk’s lovely little book Miniature Pastepapers, showing the work of one of the great paste paper makers in the world.6 The deluxe version is bound in a gorgeous metallic paste paper (that Maziarczyk calls her “copper sponge” paper) with a copper-stamped paste paper label on the cover; the accordion book is sheathed in a volume-sized paste paper wraparound band, and it is laid into a paste paper tray that slides into a matching slipcase with a grosgrain ribbon for pulling out the tray and volume. When the panels of the accordion are fully extended, the book is 40 inches wide, and it has text and sewn-in samples on both sides of each accordion panel. Each sample opens to about 4½ inches. The engineering on this book is amazing, and the text is remarkably informative for such a small book. And of course, Maziarczyk’s papers are stunning.

         In making the papers for these books, the artists had to think small, making many tiny tip-ins to scale for the miniature form of the volume. Another book took a different tack; William Morris Wallpapers reproduces in its tip-ins the full-size patterns of the original papers, but reduced to fit the tiny leaves of the book.7 The 175 copies, only 2⅝ x 1⅝ inches, each have 11 tip-ins showing the full patterns of the original wall coverings. Of course, this required using reproduction techniques since original sheets would not have worked for such a small format.

         Peter and Donna Thomas are masters of the small book. They partnered with Rod & Cone Company in producing a lovely miniature (2½ x 2½ inches), Patterns from Chaos: RoCoCo Papers (the half-title riffs on the name of the company).8 The artists Warren Stringer and Beth Regardz created the decorated papers for this edition. The introduction to the book explains that “Rod & Cone Company has developed a micro universe for generating patterns. Here, computer-bred lifeforms grow from the most basic of graphic elements into a panorama of textures and shapes.” The edition’s 50 copies are letterpress printed and hand-stitched with exposed sewing on the spine, and the volume is housed in a cloth-covered solander box. The 10 tip-ins are stunning: printed in colors and metallic foils on black paper. The foils and other colors on the black paper are simply radiant, and the volume is a grand addition to a collection of miniature books showing decorated papers.

         In future columns I will show even more of these charming productions. And I hope that by the time I write these later columns, my wife and I will have acquired a lot more of them.

1. There are such organizations in other countries, like the German Freundeskreis Miniaturbuch Berlin e.V. (www.minibuch-berlin.de/). From the Museums of the World: “The world of miniature book is highly diverse nowadays. Internationally there are several hundred publishers of miniature books as well as several hundred collectors. The Miniature Book Society, the largest collectors club in the USA, has about 400 international members. There are three clubs in Germany: in Stuttgart, Berlin and Leipzig. Within the former socialist block the publishing of miniature books was highly developed in the former Soviet Union [and] in Hungary.” museu.ms/highlight/details/104141/collection-of-miniature-books-in-the-ljubljana-city-library.

2. Miniature Book Society, Inc., mbs.org.

3. Christopher Weimann, Marbling in Miniature (Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1980).

4. Ann Muir, The Ancient Art of Ebru (Oldham: Incline Press, 2004).

5. Karli Frigge, Double Face: Two-sided Paper Especially Marbled for This Sampler (The Netherlands: Frits Knuf, 1991).

6. Claire Maziarczyk, Miniature Pastepapers (Marcham: The Alembic Press, 1988).

7. Guus Thurkow, introduction to William Morris Wallpapers (Zuilichem: The Catharijne Press, 1997).

8. Peter Thomas and Donna Thomas, Patterns from Chaos (Santa Cruz, CA: Rod & Cone Company, 1991)

When the panels of Claire Maziarczyk’s accordion book are fully extended, the book is 40 inches wide. 

This sliced apple is one of 10 tiny tipped-in marbled leaves in Ann Muir’s The Ancient Art of Ebru.


>PAPER CONSERVATION

Adapting a Historic Process

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: In this issue, Maria Olivia interviews book conservator Oa Sjoblom on using couched laminate boards in a treatment.

Maria Olivia (MO): You recently graduated from Buffalo State with a Masters in Art Conservation, specializing in Library and Archive Conservation; what was the program like? 

Oa Sjoblom (OS): The Garman Art Conservation Department at SUNY Buffalo State provides training in objects, paintings, paper, photograph, and library and archive conservation, as well as classes in conservation science, preventive conservation, and imaging techniques. Each class has ten students, and the program is three years, two years of course work at Buffalo and the last is a year-long internship at a conservation. Many students do summer internships which are a great chance to work with different conservators and gain more treatment experience. My internships were at the University of Michigan Library conservation lab, and the Bibliothèque national  de France book conservation lab.

I was lucky enough to be part of a recent project funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, supporting Library and Archive Conservation Education (LACE) for students at Buffalo, Winterthur/University of Delaware Program and New York University. The LACE curriculum provides additional course work, such as a historic book structures bookbinding workshop, a bibliography class at the Rare Book School, and modules on audiovisual preservation. This was also a wonderful chance to get to know students in the other programs, and build a close community of book people.

It is hard to pick a favorite memory from Buffalo because I have so many! I particularly enjoyed lessons on the historic production of different materials. We learned how to make paper, panel paintings with egg tempera and gilding, and even had Days of Fire, a regular event hosted by our department where we recreate Iron Age technologies (like building a smelting furnace). Not only were these activities fun, but gave me an intimate knowledge of how items are made. This helps me better identify the materials used to make objects that I treat, as well as evidence of production. This hands-on work was supported by courses in conservation science and imaging, which gave me tools to analyze and identify the materials. The thing I loved most about Buffalo was the people I met and my classmates. It was incredibly inspiring to be working and learning alongside so many talented people.

Because so much of our training is hands-on, the pandemic had a big impact on my studies. I was in the middle of my third-year internship at Weissman Preservation Center (WPC) at Harvard Library, and ended up having to work remotely from March through August. It was a challenge, and a disappointment to miss out on time doing treatment, but the staff at WPC went above and beyond to make my internship an incredibly positive experience. We adapted quickly and created an Endbands in Isolation group, working on documentation protocol, and pursuing research topics. Working with my supervisors to come up with enough hands-on projects to work on at home was key to keeping up my hand-skills and sanity!

MO: How did you find art conservation; what drew you to library and archive materials?

OS: I was very lucky to be introduced to conservation at a fairly young age by my father. It was at the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, where there was a conservator working in the gallery. I was a very shy child and distinctly remember my dad trying to get me to go talk to the conservator, and me refusing. It wasn’t until my junior year of undergrad that I decided to pursue conservation as a career. I had majored in Art History but did not see myself working in a gallery or as a curator. I had worked as an artist assistant, and taken a lot of studio art classes, and knew that I wanted to find a career that combined my love of research and working with my hands. I took a month-long workshop in Italy on fresco restoration, and after that there was no going back, I had found my dream job. I moved to New Orleans after college and worked as a book and paper conservation technician for seven years. During this time I took the four semesters of chemistry that are prerequisites to many art conservation programs in the US. I had been concerned about the chemistry requirement because I had focused so much on arts and humanities in college, but once I had a purpose and application to what I was learning, I really enjoyed and did well in chemistry.

Although I had originally been most interested in paintings conservation, once I started working with paper I fell in love with the material. I loved working with washi and wheat starch paste, and learning about paper and printmaking. I was later drawn to books because it allows me to work with a wide range of materials, like paper, parchment, wood, and leather. I love the challenge of working on objects that needs to function, open and be used. My mother was a librarian and I spent a lot of my childhood in libraries, so I really love the chance to work with librarians and researchers as a book conservator. For every book I treat I think about all the people who have read it in the past, and will use it in the future, and it is so meaningful to be part of that continuation.

MO: At the Book and Paper Tips Session of the 2020 American Institute for Conservation annual conference, you talked about adapting a historic papermaking process and making your own laminate boards. Can you talk a bit about that treatment and the object? 

OS: The treatment that prompted this research was of an 1814 letter book with couched laminate boards that were very damaged by water, making them extremely soft.1 The corners of the front and back board had large losses that needed to be filled to protect the text. I had experience using laminates of different materials to build out corners on book boards, but felt these were too stiff because of the adhesive used, so began experimenting making handmade couched laminate boards for a softer fill material. This treatment was part of my master’s project, which researched the production and treatment of wooden and paper book boards.

My professor Anne Hillam had given us a lecture on Lelande’s treatise Art du Cartonnier, published 1762 in Description des Arts et Métiers, a collection of books on crafts from the French Academy of Sciences.2 Lelande describes materials boardmakers used, how the materials were processed, the forms used, and how sheets were pulled. He also discusses mould made thick boards, as well as couched and adhesive laminate boards. Couched laminate boards are made by layering sheets directly pulled from the vat, and rely on hydrogen bonding between the sheets for adhesion, whereas adhesive laminate boards are made with sheets of paper and adhesive. I was intrigued to learn more about boards, and how the production of boards influenced their qualities.

I had worked as an assistant teaching papermaking workshops with Jessica Peterson who runs The Southern Letterpress in New Orleans before starting grad-school. This work gave me the confidence and knowledge to start experimenting with making my own boards. From working with Jessica, I knew how to make my own simple papermaking form with stretcher bars and screen. Because I had access to a wood shop at school, I updated this process to make my form. I used the diagram from E.G. Loeber’s Paper Mould and Mouldmaker to design my form, which includes a second mould.3 The main difference between the board making form I made and a papermaking form are the extended deckle walls to hold more pulp for a thicker sheet, and the second mould to remove excess water. A papermaking form could easily be adapted to boardmaking by adding extended deckle walls of coroplast or a similar water-resistant material, and making a second mould to fit in the deckle.

MO: What did you need to change from the historic technique, what could stay the same? What sources proved the most helpful in your research?

OS: I used historic sources to understand some of the basics of board making and how it differed from paper making, and then adapted my process with experimentation. Resources on boardmaking I found most useful, in addition to Lelande’s Art du Cartonnier and Loeber’s diagram, was Practical Guide for the Manufacture of Paper and Boards by Albert Proteaux.4 I would not say my process directly follows the steps described in any of these sources though; I used them more as a starting point.5 

I relied heavily on information about leaf-casting and cast pulp fills for preparing the pulp in a conservation lab setting. This helped me process my paper scraps, which I soaked in hot water, and then used a blender to make a pulp slurry. I also used calculations from these processes to determine pulp concentration for my sheet. I opted to pour my pulp into the extended deckle walls rather than use a vat because it allowed more consistency of pulp concentration , and was neater for working in a conservation lab. For a skilled paper-maker, this may not be necessary. 

One of the nice things about board making based on historic manuals, is that it is very clear that this was not a fussy process, and nowhere near as precise as paper making. For this reason, I did not obsess over processing my pulp. Thinking that a looser weave of screen would be useful to better drain water, and since I was not concerned with any texture left by the screen, I stapled on a plastic window screening. 

One of the challenges with boardmaking for treatment is that you are often trying to match an original board, and this can be very hard. It can be a challenge to match historic board materials with good quality materials available today, that are appropriate for conservation. I found that my test samples often looked too regular and uniform compared to the original boards. For materials, using scraps of Western handmade paper collected in the lab produced the best results. This not only seemed most reminiscent of historic board making—where scraps of paper were often recycled into boards—but also resulted in a mix of fibers, and was economical. 

MO: What was the most surprising part of the treatment?

OS: The experience of making handmade boards gave me a lot of perspective of the challenges and choices of boardmakers. One of the things that surprised me was the importance of timing in the process. I had read one to the reasons to make couched laminate boards was because the drainage time eventually became too long when pulling a thick board, so multiple thinner sheets were pulled and couched together. It was very useful to experience this for myself. I soon found that when I tried to speed up the process or deviate too much from tradition I ran into problems. I had to find ways to simulate the time and pressure from boards sitting in a post before pressing otherwise when I put them in the press they would squish flat. I also really appreciated the second mould functioning as a manual press, because it let me remove excess water from the sheet while still keeping the fixed size of the deckle. It was really interesting, and sometimes surprising, to see which steps were vital to the process, and which could be modified.

1. A write up of my tip session talk will be posted on the BPG Annual Meeting Tips Sessions Wiki: www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/BPG_Annual_Meeting_Tips_Sessions

2. Jérôme Lelande, Art du Cartonnier (Paris: Académie Royale des Sciences, 1762).

3. E.G. Loeber, Paper Mould and Mouldmaker (Amsterdam: Paper Publications Society, 1982).

4. Albert Proteaux, Practical Guide for the Manufacture of Paper and Boards, trans. Horatio Paine (Philadelphia: H.C. Baird, 1866).

5. Additional resources:

Peter Bower, “Strong Stuff: An Historical Survey of Boards and Boardmaking” New Bookbinder vol. 22 (2002): 17–22.

Jane Eagan, “Board Making in Lalande’s Art du Cartonnier” in Looking at Paper: Evidence & Interpretation: Symposium Proceedings, Toronto, 1999. ed. John Slaven, Linda Sutherland, John O’Neill and Janet Cowan (Ottawa: Canadian Conservation Institute, 2001), 95–98.

Renate Mesmer, and Evers, Jennifer “Cast Pulp Paper: An Alternative for Traditional Repair Materials for Infills in Book and Paper Conservation” (poster, American Institute for Conservation 42nd Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, May 28–31, 2014) www.conservation-us.org/docs/default-source/annualmeeting/2014am_poster33_cast_pulp_paper.pdf?sfvrsn=2.

Boardmaking form with primary mould (left), deckle (center), and secondary mould (right).

Oa making boards with the extended deckle made with coroplast.

Handmade couched laminate boards.

>STUDYING HAND PAPERMAKING

To Once Again Study Through Teaching

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 reflects on silver linings that have emerged as a result of studying and teaching papermaking online during these tumultuous times.

After years of resisting the virtual classroom, I’ve finally given in, prompted by an inquiry from abroad and heavily influenced by drastic changes in our economic situation. The request was to teach an online kozo workshop that would cover the full spectrum of the process beginning with harvesting the paper mulberry saplings, and then steaming, cooking, beating and forming sheets using the nagashi-zuki technique topped off with several other creative processes.

My first reaction: “There’s no way.” But then Helen Hiebert came to mind, and the impressive virtual presence she’s been developing for years including online classes, The Sunday Paper blog, and podcasts that not only contribute to the hand papermaking community but also create community. And then there’s May Babcock’s Paperslurry blog, another incredible online resource with all sorts of topics related to hand papermaking, generously providing informative tutorials and articles. I’ve visited both of these resources many times looking for trouble-shooting solutions or interesting material to share with others. (Forgive me for not mentioning more here; I will try again in future issues.)

So why have I resisted for so long, after seeing the value in what others are doing?

For one thing, it looked like too darn much work! And I didn’t want to spend that much time with technology. But after last March, with the world turned upside down and teaching opportunities evaporating, things were suddenly looking very different. I distinctly remember a shift in my thinking after receiving a little ‘nudge’ last May. It was delivered in the form of a six-minute commencement speech broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR). Driving home from an errand, I recognized the voice of Shankar Vedantum, correspondent for NPR and host of the podcast Hidden Brain (a longtime favorite) and turned up the volume.1   

Vedantum was addressing the millions of students who graduated in 2020 but were unable to experience formal graduation ceremonies or celebrations. In his typical fashion, he began by thoughtfully acknowledging their frustrations at being denied one of life’s major rites of passage. While listening, I thought about how brave he was to try and provide inspiration at a time like this and wondered what he could possibly say to comfort our young people. My question was soon answered…

“When the world is uncertain and the ground under our feet feels unsteady, that’s often the time we discover new things about ourselves. Periods of disruption invariably lead to invention and reinvention…”

He continued with stories of individuals and communities who have experienced dramatic changes in their lives and, as a result, discovered new opportunities. One story involved a young musician who lost a promising career as a result of an injury. Through perseverance and an open mind, she found a new career as a social scientist, eventually serving as a senior advisor for the Obama administration. His next story was about a London transit strike that resulted in thousands of people having to find new ways to get around. After the strike was over, researchers were surprised to learn that instead of returning to their old routes, most people chose to move forward with entirely new routines. His message was hitting home. 

“When chaos strikes – we all become tourists in our own lives. We start to see things with fresh eyes and when we do, we realize the world really does have endless possibility.”

As I have worked to develop the lessons and presentations for my online workshop, it occurred to me that had I said “no” I would have missed out on a tremendous opportunity to once again study through teaching.

I would have missed learning about the different ways paper mulberry grows in Taiwan and seeing the beautiful bark cloth made by students by pounding strips of raw kozo fiber between rocks in a river. All of us would have missed out on learning about brick rocket stoves and how this simple ingenious structure generates enough heat to steam bark off the woody kozo branches.

And because it’s summer in Australia, where two of the students reside, we’ve learned that the outer bark is more difficult to remove from the inner bark without steaming first, even though it peels off the woody branch easily. And thanks to a student in Germany, we’ve seen that a paper mulberry tree can be pruned in such a way that allows dozens of branches to grow out of a 4-foot trunk, providing a healthy quantity of fiber from just one tree. (It’s called pollarding.)

But perhaps best of all, we have discovered that even during such challenging times, where physical and social distancing are needed, we can still find community with hand papermaking.

1. Shankar Vedantum, “Celebrating Commencement During the Pandemic,” May 13, 2020, 2:51 PM ET, in Hidden Brain, MP3 audio, 6:49, www.npr.org/2020/05/13/855297738/a-hidden-brain-commencement-address.


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 April 2021 newsletter is February 15.


> CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA, (215) 887-4882, www.abington art center.org. Classes, workshops, and exhibitions in a variety of media. For remote learning opportunities, visit abingtonartcenter.org/online-classes/.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN, (865) 436-5860, www.arrowmont.org. Classes and workshops in a variety of disciplines, including papermaking. For additional remote learning opportunities, visit www.arrowmont.org/craft-conversations/.  

Kudzu Papermaking, Feb 22–24, with Logan Szymanowski and Ashlee Mays. Learn how to harvest and process everyone’s favorite invasive vine! This class will include harvesting techniques, stripping the bark, beating the pulp, and pulling sheets of handmade paper.

The Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada, (403) 762-6100 or (403) 762-6180, www.banff centre.ca. The Centre is a learning organization leading in arts, culture, and creativity across dozens of disciplines. Artist residencies in fully equipped print, textile, fiber, and papermaking studios.

Book Arts Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, (310) 722-9004, bookartsla.org. Classes in printing, bookbinding, and other crafts in the Culver City neighborhood. For remote learning opportunities, visit bookartsla.org/collections/all

Book Paper Thread, learn@bookpaperthread.com, bookpaperthread.com. Book Paper Thread offers online workshops to learn basic skills, explore artists books, or discover new paper treatments. Three book and paper instructors join together from across the country to present their expertise online, in your own home or studio. For additional remote learning opportunities, visit bookpaperthread.com/online-workshops

Kakishibu and Washi, Feb 27–28, with Linda Marshall. Learn to prepare kakishibu (fermented persimmon) and how to treat Japanese papers with it.

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 additional remote learning opportunities, visit bainbridgebarn.wildapricot.org/.

Papercutting on Stage: Kamishibai and Paper Theaters, Jan 11, with Béatrice Coron. Participants will learn different techniques of papercutting and how to design a stage for a story to develop.

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. Visit their YouTube channel for Folk School webinars and garden videos from Farmer Teddy, or join for Friday Virtual Morningsong on their Facebook page. For additional course information, visit classes.folkschool.org/Browse.aspx

Care and Repair of Books and Collections, Jan 17–23, with Andrew Huot. Learn book enclosures and how to repair clothbound books, from simple repairs to constructing new cases.

Kakishibui (Persimmon) Dye Techniques, Jan 29–31, with Anne Murray. Kakishibui is a Japanese dye made from the fermented juice of astringent persimmons. Create a number of sheets of paper, along with a small Japanese stab-bound sampler book.

Repair of Paper and Book, Mar 5–7, with Dea Sasso. Learn to identify different book structures as well as the problems books develop over use and time.

Sculptures in Papier-mâché, Mar 7–13, with Ken Weaver. Learn how to create figures, creatures, animals, bowls, vases, eggs, and masks, all from papier-mâché.

Book Restoration Clinic, Mar 28–Apr 3with Gian Frontini. Restore your worn books to their original beauty. If you have never done binding, this class is an excellent introduction; if you’re experienced, you will learn some of the latest conservation methods.

Playing with Paper and Book, May 30–June 5, with Holly Fouts. Use an array of Eastern and Western methods, such as suminagashi (a type of marbling), orizomegami (folding and dye-dipping), paste-paper making, and relief printing to create gorgeous, one-of-a-kind decorative papers.

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. For additional workshops, visit carriagehousepaper.com/workshops

Pulp Pouring, Apr 18 or Jun 20. Pulp pouring is an ideal way to make large consistent sheets of paper without breaking your back.

Pulp Painting, Apr 19 or Jun 21. Using multiple moulds and vats of pigmented pulp, along with contact paper, dental syringes, paint brushes and squeeze bottles, participants will develop images by layering and overlapping thin veils of pulp.

Contemporary Watermarks, Apr 5. Create personal watermarks using wire, magnetic sheeting, and puff paint. 

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.

Book Design Clinic, Jan 21, with Johanna Drucker. Create a mock-up of a cover, title page, half title, first page, and first opening. The clinic will look at the type, design, layout, and other features of the project and think about how these support the theme and concept of the project. The clinic will be two-hours and held once a month for three months.

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. For online programming, visit www.georgiaarchives.org/visit/programs

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/

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. For remote learning opportunities during the closure, visit kalbookarts.org/workshops/

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.

The Ethiopian Binding, Feb 4, 11, 18, and 25, with Karen Hammer. This humble, elegant binding opens flat and is the inspiration for many contemporary “Coptic” book arts structures.

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. Listen to Voices on Cloth: Podcasts from Maiwa at www.schooloftextiles.com/podcasts. For free online lessons, visit maiwa.teachable.com/courses

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 including book arts and printing, professional design certificates, summer immersive programming, and more. Fall 2020 continuing education classes will be run online. For more information, visit pce.massart.edu/catalog/winter-2021/categories/.

The Art of Making with Paper, Jan 9–10, with Joseph Ray. This two-day course explores the topic of paper as a medium incorporating its traditional and non-traditional uses.

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

Asian Papers and their Applications in Paper Conservation, Jun 15–17, at The British Library, London, UK, with Minah Song. This three-day intensive workshop is designed to provide both emerging and established conservation professionals with the theoretical and practical foundation for understanding Asian papers and their applications in paper conservation.

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/adult/ 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. For free online lessons, visit www.morganconservatory.org/online-classes

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.

T-shirts and Jeans to Paper, Mar 21, with Gail Stiffe. Turn your T-shirts and jeans into fine paper instead of sending to the landfill. 

Watermarks, Apr 25. Learn about the history of watermarks and how to make permanent and temporary watermarks for your own moulds.

Hanji Lamp, May 15–17, with Jan Coveney. Participants will acquire a good knowledge of what Hanji paper and craft is, its origins, strengths and practicalities as well as discovering a completely new craft and set of skills.

The Papertrail, New Dundee, Ontario, Canada, (800) 421-6826, papertrail.ca/blog/. Workshops taught in English or French in papermaking, marbling, related arts, and studio rental scheduled on an as-needed basis.

PaperWorks, Tucson, AZ, paperworks.info/index.html. This Sonoran Collective for Paper and Book Artists provides educational and creative opportunities through workshops, programs, collaborative groups, community exhibitions by PaperWorks members, and scholarships for students studying paper arts.

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.

Finishing Touches: Materials, Tools, and Methods, Mar 7–Apr 30, with Brien Beidler. The “charming but completely unpretentious” books made in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries have a unique way of harmonizing skilled craft, quirky aesthetics, and evidence of the hands that made them.

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. To read their reopening updates, and to explore remote learning opportunities, visit paper.gatech.edu/upcoming-workshops.

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. For information on upcoming workshops, visit www.sandiegobookarts.com/classes

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, and for information on upcoming workshops, visit sfcb.org/workshops

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. For more information on re-opening policies and workshops, visit www.snowfarm.org/workshops/class-listings/covid-19-updates-reopening

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 remote learning opportunities during the closure, visit www.eventbrite.com/o/the-soapbox-community-print-shop-amp-zine-library-26170124449.

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. For more information on upcoming classes, visit www.swschool.org/community-classes/adults.

Textile Art Center, New York City, NY. textileartscenter.com, NYC–based resource center for textile art which offers classes, workshops, open studio rentals, and events. For remote learning opportunities during the closure, visit textileartscenter.com/adult-classes/.

Natural Dyeing, Jan 9 and 16, with Natalie Stopka. We’ll cover the basics of preparing fibers, extracting color from plants, and using mordants.

Suminagashi, Jan 10 and 17, with Linh Truong. Students will learn the meditative Japanese marbling art of suminagashi.

West Dean College, Chichester, West Sussex, U.K., (0)1243 811301, 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. For remote learning opportunities, visit www.westdean.org.uk/study/online-hub.

Creative Papermaking: Translucency and Form, Jan 18–21, with Lucy Baxandall. Explore the beauty and versatility of thin, translucent papers made from kozo (mulberry) and abaca fibres. 

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 wsworkshop.org/events/category/online-workshops-and-events/.


> EVENTS

The NY Art Book Fair, LA Art Book Fair, and Contemporary Artists’ Book Conference will be produced as a combined online event—Printed Matter’s Virtual Art Book Fair—safely bringing the artists’ book community together for a fun and experimental new Fair. The fair will be free and open to the public on February 25–28. For more information, visit pmvabf.org.

CODEX VIII Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss has been moved to 2022. Registration will re-open Summer 2021; new dates for the Book Fair and Symposium will be announced by Spring 2021. For more information, visit www.codexfoundation.org/codex-2021.


> RETREATS

n/a


> EXHIBITIONS

New York's Atlantic Gallery 2021 Juried Exhibition, Drawn to Paper, will be on view January 5–23, with opening reception January 7. Find more information about this exhibit at atlanticgallery.org/drawn-to-paper/ 

Join the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center to welcome Southwest Michigan Printmakers (SWMP) in this online exhibition featuring work from their series “H2O.” This exhibition will be up February 5–March 31, for more information, visit kalbookarts.org/events/swmp2021/.

PLACE: Community, Environment, Cogitate is an exhibition in which artists Chad Hayward, Lea Basile-Lazarus and Andrea Peterson explore the idea of situation, region, and circumstance through each of their own personal lens. A range of plant fibers has been used as pulp to create the works including cotton rag, flax, abaca, phragmites, and millet straw. On view at Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking May 1–August 1, for more information, visit paper.gatech.edu/place-community-environment-cogitate.

A virtual guide to OPEN • SET, a 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/.


> CALLS FOR ENTRIES

The Kalamazoo Book Arts Center invites printmakers to participate in their Poets in Print broadside series. Find out more about this collaborative opportunity by contacting Katie Platte <katie@kalbookarts.org> or by visiting kalbookarts.org/opportunities/.

The Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking is seeking participation in the People of Paper Digital Archive. The Digital Archive is being built to capture and preserve the accounts of contemporary papermakers, paper scholars, scientists, printmakers, binders, book artists, etc., in their own words. For more information, visit paper.gatech.edu/people-paper-archive.

The Chico Art Center in California seeks mixed media artwork that changes a book from its original form by altering its state or meaning. The exhibition, UNBOUND: The Altered Book, will open February 2021. Fill in the online form by January 10 at chicoartcenter.com/unbound/.

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

Located within the unique ecosystems of Cascade Head and the Salmon River Estuary on Oregon's central coast, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology is a place where natural curiosity is sparked and creativity is unleashed. Apply to the Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency, for experienced artists new to printmaking, by March 31. For more information, visit www.sitkacenter.org/residencies.

The Women’s Studio Workshop (WSW) has available the following upcoming artist residencies. For more information, visit wsworkshop.org/opportunity-calendar/.

The Parent Residency Grant is a four-week residency for an artist with at least one dependent child under the age of 18. Artists may choose to work in any of our studio disciplines: intaglio, letterpress, papermaking, screenprinting, photography, or ceramics. Due January 15.

Pyramid Atlantic Art Center has available the following upcoming artist residencies and opportunities. For more information, visit www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org/.

The Summer 2021 Studio Internship is for an enthusiastic and serious-minded college or recently graduated art students. Our interns assist resident artists, renters, artistic staff, with printmaking, papermaking, and book arts projects, and in outreach education programs. Due February 18.

Those that have completed a studio internship or logged 30 or more hours of volunteer service at Pyramid Atlantic, consider applying to their new Apprenticeship program. Due February 18.

The Denbo Fellowship is designed to offer artists, from a range of artistic disciplines, an environment conducive to individual and collaborative creative practice, and provides a unique opportunity to complete a new body of work. Due February 18.

The Vita Paper Arts Residency, in honor of Gregory Vita, offers a three month residency, with workshops and lessons at Pyramid Atlantic. Due February 18.

Pyramid Atlantic Papermaking Associates are crucial to keeping the papermill thriving, relevant and dynamic. This work-exchange position offers a unique opportunity to engage with Pyramid’s creative community, and work alongside professionals in a sharing/collaborative environment. Position open until filled. To apply for the position, please send letter of interest and resume to Gretchen Schermerhorn at gschermerhorn@pyramid-atlantic.org. For more information, visit www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org/papermaking-associate.


> PUBLICATIONS, FILMS, VIDEOS

Watch the PBS special The Book Makers at www.pbs.org/video/the-book-makers-bzy8li/. From the esoteric world of book artists to the digital library of the Internet Archive, the film spins a tale of the enduring vitality of the book. 

Retiring University of Iowa Center for the Book director, MacArthur Fellow, and renowned papermaker Tim Barrett reflects on his storied, 34-year career at Iowa. Watch Tim Barrett: The Story of a Papermaker on YouTube.

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

Quarantine Public Library, a collaborative project dreamed up by Katie Garth and Tracy Honn, is a repository of books made by artists. The works published are for anyone to freely download, print, and assemble—to keep or give away. Browse the dozens of artist’s books at www.quarantinepubliclibrary.com/by-artist.

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 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 safe 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

How well do you know the print world and the International Print Center New York? Test your knowledge at www.ipcny.org/crossword-challenge.

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.


> 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

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR DONORS

Hand Papermaking acknowledges these recent

contributors to our non-profit programs. All

donations are greatly appreciated and tax

deductible. Our tax ID number is 52-1436849.

Call or write for information on annual giving

levels, automatic monthly gifts, or about adding

Hand Papermaking to your estate plan.

benefactors: Anonymous (in tribute to

Scott Myers), Lisa Cirando, Mark Tomasko

patrons: Tom Balbo, Sid Berger & Mich.le

Cloonan, Colin Browne, Sue Gosin

underwriters: Amanda Degener, Michael

Durgin, Lois & Gordon James, Betsy Miraglia

sponsors: John Cirando, Gail Deery, Susan

Mackin Dolan, Michael Fallon, Jane Farmer,

Kathleen Fitzgerald, Joan Hall, Helen Hiebert,

Kyoko Ibe, Darin Murphy, Peter Newland &

Robyn Johnson, Laura Merrick Roe, Mary Schlosser,

Mina Takahashi

donors: Christine Aaron, Marlene Adler,

May Babcock, Tom Bannister, Ines Ballugera,

James Barton, Tom & Lore Burger, Ann Cicale,

Kerri Cushman, Katy Dement, Marian Dirda,

Devie Dragone, Catherine Futter, Lata Gedala,

Lori B. Goodman, Lisa Haque, Winsome Jobling,

Sarah Johnston, Jamie Kamph, Thomas Lang,

Mary Lannin, Katie MacGregor, Caroline

Macmoran, Mary Lou Manor, Julie McLaughlin,

Todd Moe, Elaine Akiko Nishizu, Pat Owens,

Nancy Pobanz, Melissa Potter, Brian Queen,

Jackie Radford, Sandra Reese, Renee Rogers,

Ingrid Rose, Michelle Samour, Kimberly Schenck,

Kim Schiedermayer, H. Paul Sullivan Jr.,

Betty Sweren, Claire Van Vliet, Aviva Weiner,

Beck Whitehead, Kathy Wosika

supporters: Timothy Barrett, Nancy Cohen,

Jennifer Davies, John Dietel, Helen Frederick,

Barbara Futter, David Lance Goines, Karla & Jim

Elling, Dorothy Field, Sara Gilfert, 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,

Dianne L. Reeves, Caroline Riley, Robbin Ann

Silverberg, Deborah Stone, Kathleen Stevenson,

Thomas Taggart, Nickolas Waser, Pamela Wood,

Jennifer Woodward

friends: Annie Alexander, Jack Becker,

Catherine Boyne, Mona Dukess, Christopher

Eley, Mary Hennigan, Shireen Holman,

Betty L . Kjelson, Chris Leatherwood, Sandra

Miller, Sue Miller, Judith Glazer Raymo, Sally

Rose, Peter & Donna Thomas, Virginia Yazbeck

in-kind donations: Adobe Systems Inc.,

Mary Ashton, Tom Balbo, Marco Breuer, Drew

Cameron, Amanda Degener, Janet De Boer,

Michael Durgin, Kathleen Flenniken,

Peter Ford, John Gerard, Shireen Holman,

Dard Hunter III, Microsoft Corporate

Citizenship, Steve Miller, Radha Pandey,

Ali Pezeshk, Tedi Permadi, Brian Beidler

and Andrea Peterson, 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 & Mich.le 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

contributors to our paper wheel of fortune

and papermakers swap meet fundraising

events: Annie Alexander, Jane Ingram

Allen, Arnold Grummers’ Papermaking,

May Babcock, Tom Balbo, Suzi Ballenger,

Timothy Barrett, Colin Browne, Bruce

Bunting, Ingrid Butler/Moth Marblers,

Jazmine Catasus, Lisa Cirando, Nancy

Cohen, Elaine Cooper, Kate Couturier,

Melissa Jay Craig, Amanda Degener,

Katherine DeLamater, Pam Deluco, Katy

Dement, Ilze Dilane, Susan Mackin Dolan,

Nicole Donnelly, Linda Draper, Emily

Duong, Jane Farmer, Helen Frederick, Lata

Gedala, Tatiana Ginsberg, Zoe Goehring,

Sue Gosin, Joan Hall, Mary Heebner, Beth

Heesacker, Lesa Hepburn, Helen Hiebert,

Kyle Holland, Dard Hunter III, Lois James,

Kalamazoo Book Arts Center, Ann Marie

Kennedy, Donna Koretsky/Carriage House

Paper, Susan Kristoferson, Barbara Landes,

Aimee Lee, Thomas Leech, Anne McKeown,

Todd Moe, The Morgan Art of Papermaking

Conservatory & Educational Foundation,

Catherine Nash, Jill Odegaard, Bridget

O’Malley, The Paper Circle, Paper Connection

International, Andrea Peterson, Alta Price,

Brian Queen, Jackie Radford, Erica Spitzer

Rasmussen, Margaret Rhein, Amy Richard,

Steph Rue, Gretchen Schermerhorn, Peter

Sowiski, Jennifer Spoon, Gail Stiffe,

Lynn Sures, Mina Takahashi, Judy Tobie,

Twinrocker Handmade Paper, Gibby

Waitzkin, Beck Whitehead, Michelle

Wilson, Paul Wong, Jenn Woodward/Pulp

& Deckle Papermaking Studio