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HAND PAPERMAKING NEWSLETTER
number 146 April 2024
(Revised Edition)
Newsletter Editor: Sophia Hotzler
Contributors: Stephanie Damoff, sadé powell, Andreas Fatouros, and Sidney Berger.
Sponsors: Arnold Grummer’s, the Papertrail Hand-made Paper & Book Arts, Penland School of Craft,The Robert C. Williams Papermaking Museum, Car-riage House Papers, and Dieu Donné.
Hand Papermaking Newsletter is published quarterly.Annual subscriptions to Hand Papermaking magazine, which includes the quarterly newsletter, cost $70 peryear in the US; $80 in Canada and Mexico; $105 elsewhere. Two-year subscriptions are $130 in the US;$150 in Canada/Mexico; $200 elsewhere. Institutional subscriptions are $95 per year in the US, $125outside the US. To receive a printed copy of the newsletter, add $30 to your yearly subscription. A stand-alone electronic subscription to the newsletter, which excludes issues of the magazine, is available for $10 per year. Payment in US dollars is required.Visa/Mastercard/Paypal is accepted. For more subscription information:
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PO Box 50859, Mendota, MN 55150-0859Phone: (651) 447-7143
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The deadline for the next newsletter (July 2024) isMay 15, 2024. We encourage letters from our subscriberson any topic. We also solicit comments on articles inHand Papermaking magazine, questions or remarksfor newsletter columnists, and news of special eventsor activities. The newsletter is supported by our spon-sors (listed above). If you would like to support HandPapermaking through a sponsorship, contact us atinfo@handpapermaking.org.
Hand Papermaking is a 501(c)(3) non-profitorganization. Staff: Mina Takahashi, Magazine
Editor; Sophia Hotzler, Newsletter Editor/News & So-cial Media Manager; Karen Kopacz, Designer. Board of Directors: Richard Baiano, Emily Duong, Lisa Haque, Kazuko Hioki, Marie Bannerot McInerney, Betsy Knabe Roe, Steph Rue, Erik Saarmaa, Gretchen Schermerhorn, Megan Singleton, Lynn Sures.
Co-founders: Amanda Degener and Michael Durgin
Dear Readers,
Something that has been on my mind lately is sustainability and accesibility in papermaking. As I practice and work through creating an accessible community in my own creative life, I found that this issue of our newsletter focuses heavily on these topics as well. In this issue we look at papermaker, Stephanie Damoff, and how she makes paper in the city and get some tips on working in smaller studio spaces. We share a Q&A with one of our Black Writers Fellowship recipients, sadé powell, who has an exciting essay to be released in our Summer 2024 Hand Papermaking magazine. Andreas Fatouros talks through his process of creating a recyled, kid-friendly LEGO mould and deckle. Sid Berger shares his column on Decorated Papers, focusing on Netherland based artist Karli Frigge.
—Sophia Hotzler
the maker
A Papermaker In The City
In this recurring feature, The Maker, we look at techniques and problem-solving in the field of hand-made paper. For this issue, papermaker and photographer Stephanie Damoff discusses papermak-ing in the city. If you want to share how you solved a problem in your practice, email newsletter@handpapermaking.org.
In making paper I feel driven to use as much waste and scraps around me as I can. I live inNew York City, in Ridgewood, Queens, where I am lucky enough to have a small backyard, front yard, and a roof deck for growing plants. I began making paper by recycling my paper waste, but yearned to learn how to use plant waste from my garden. With help from an online class with Silvia Turbiner I gained the confidence to move from recycling paper to recycling plant waste. I had already harvested daffodil, snowflake (Leucojum), and iris leaves from my garden to make paper. The experiments were small but successful, but it wasn’t until study-ing with Silvia that I gained sufficient confidence to explore more widely.
By now, I have made paper using kitchen waste—corn husks, onion skins, paper berry boxes, pineapple tops (a neighborhood restaurant was having a drink special involving pineapple). I gathered a mixture of dead and green plant leaves from my garden one fall (including iris, day lily, lily of the valley, weeds)—this made glorious paper, pretty and strong. I opened the organics trash bin last spring and found a pile of spiderwort that had become too successful that my partner had thinned out; I rescued it and made wonderful pieces with it. I have pigmented pulp with scraps of purple cabbage, onion skins, avocado skins, and purple carrot skins.
I keep a lookout for plants outside our home that I can scavenge. A friend with a country house gave me two large sacks of cattail she weeded from her pond (that was challenging, but I have better information and am ready to try that again). While kayaking off the Hudson River, I stuffed a large drybag full of water chestnut. Technically, the waters were in a protected area, but as the invasive plants clog the marsh and threaten navigability, the guide welcomed me to take what I wanted. That was some really fun pulp. From that I learned not to fight the pulpand discipline it into rectilinear sheets, but let it flow and shape itself according to its own nature.
I collected eucalyptus bark from the ground in San Francisco nearLands End. It didn’t work well on its own, but made a gorgeous pink mixed with abaca. I pulled sheets for the handmade paper exchange in 2022, but I couldn’t part with it (sorry). While visiting friends in Florida, I was able to get banana stems that had finished fruiting from their neighbors. We carried bags of it home in our suitcases and my friend mailed the rest. It made a lovely experiment. I keep hoping to find some invasive paper mulberry in the edgelands, but mostly I find white mulberry. We have a neighbor that wants me to harvest white mulberry from a derelict house that is shading her garden. My partner found a tiny sapling of what seems to be paper mulberry. I have looked unsuccessfully for a parent tree nearby. A bird may have dropped a seed from pretty far away.
Last September while biking through Brooklyn I spotted some plant son a traffic island. I thought, hey, those look like papermaking plants. I opened my Seek app, which identified it as a type of yucca. I tried to pull off the dead leaves around the base of the plants, but they were very tough. I rode back the following day with bags and scissors and hacked off the brown leaves during rush-hour traffic. The resulting paper was beautiful and was shared with the 2024 Handmade Paper exchange. I definitely plan to harvest there again this year! Using the city’s street map (for which I have also collected data) I located a black walnut tree in the neighborhood where I have collected walnuts for ink and dying pulp. My next project will be processing the milkweed that I have been collecting from our roof over the past three years. The first stalk I cracked open revealed a surprising amount of bast fiber. It looks like I have a big and fruitful job on my hands!
How to Make Paper in a City Apartment
Our basement was an illegal apartment when my partner bought the building. It is now a flexible space for storage, repairs, my projects, guests, gardening, and laundry. I can set up to make paper in the former kitchen space when we have no guests. I will describe the setup in case it helps other people figure out how to make paper without a studio. I have an induction stove that I carry out back for cooking. It is a safe stove that can be left unattended on the concrete. I use second-hand enameled pots. After rinsing the cooked fibers, I beat them in a Ninja blender thatI bought for cheap on Craigslist, or I beat manually on the roof (because of splatter). My beautiful mallet from Hook Pottery Paper went missing and I can’t get another so I have to beat with pieces of scrap wood. Out of concern for dumping high-alkaline cook and rinse water down the drain I try to neutralize it with white vinegar, which is very tricky because it can go so easily in the opposite direction.
My vat is a plastic storage tub that fits perfectly in my sink. There is no floor drain, so I keep a thick rug on the floor to soak up any water spillage. I have a mesh basket in the drain to block pulp. The maximum size the vat can accommodate (barely) is an 11”x14” decklebox. I cut up a bamboo blanket from which the cat was eating the fringe into lovely felts. I couch onto Pellons on the counter, and when I am finished, I move thes tack to fresh felts on a board on the floor, place my beating board on
top and then stack cinder blocks and anything else heavy I can find for about 15 minutes. If I have a high-shrinkage fiber (such as abaca or flax) I transfer the paper to blotters with copies of Artforum on top and keeping switching them until they dry a couple of days later. More often, I hang the Pellons with the papers on the clothesline and they dry pretty quickly. Casting on foam can be done over the same or a similar vat.
I have an 8-1/2” x 11” mould and deckle I got well used from Carriage House; an 11” x 11” magnetic mould and deckle from SHare Studio; and three deckle boxes from Tactual Goods—all of them pretty reasonably priced. I have also poured larger sheets outdoors on window screens with two layers of voile clipped to it to slow drainage. They can take a longtime to dry and the process invites collaboration with wildlife—certain types of bugs are attracted to the pulp and some pieces appeared to have been pawed by a mammal.
Except for the outdoor parts, this process could be followed in an apartment. I have a dorm-size refrigerator where I store pulp and sizing. Cotton rag and plant pulps can be dried out for storage and rehydrated later. I have a tendency to hoard beautiful machine-beaten pulp until it turns black with mold. I then soak it in hydrogen peroxide—diluted 50-50 with water or straight, depending on the state of the pulp. I put the pulp in a paint strainer bag and put the bag into the hydrogen peroxide so that it is easier to rinse afterward. I am resolving to hoard less pulp, but it is not easy!
—Stephanie Damoff
Stephanie Damoff is a passionate photographer who got seduced by the possibilities of papermaking. Papermaking opened a new world of expression that came to include col-lage, artist books, and sculpture. Influences include chance, literature, philosophy, and her lived environment. She aims to balance rigor and playfulness and to use up her household scraps.
from the organization
Black Writers Fellowship: sadé powell
Featuring some of the latest developments and happenings at our home organization, Hand Papermaking, Inc. In this feature we interview one of our Black Writers Fellowship recipients, sadé powell. We asked sadé a few questions about her background in papermaking, how she got started and talked about some of her chosen pieces that she has shared with us. Read more about sadé's work and her essay in the upcoming Summer 2024 issue of Hand Papermaking magazine.
Hand Papermaking Newsletter (HPN): You mention in your essay you were sitting at your typewriter and it was there that you wondered “What would it be like to make my own paper to typewrite on?” What was that first go at making paper for you like, and what was your papermaking process at the time like?
sadé powell: Oh, diving into papermaking wasn't something I started in a cozy corner of my home. Back then, even the thought of rounding up the simplest materials seemed out of reach. I did not have the means at the time to make paper even with the most affordable materials. It was a time when I was really learning to tune into my own voice as a concrete poet, to trust that inner nudge, which eventually led me to Dieu Donné. When I finally got a scholarship to participate in their Intro to Papermaking course, I was super excited to learn. I was ready to soak it all in. I shared a table with the Glitter Priestess who was extremely reassuring and supportive. My first time couching was rough, I pressed too hard and the edges of the cotton pulp stuck to the mould. There I was, cussing up a storm, feeling a mix of frustration and defiance. That whole weekend felt like I was in the ring with my own shadows—the perfectionist, the inner critic, duking it out over every little decision. Should I emboss this? Add that fabric? Dive into pulp painting? I was so critical of what I made that I banished those first attempts to the back of my closet for a year or so. Still, it was during that weekend that I gleaned a spiritual, processual presence with self in relation to intentionality throughout the papermaking process that confirmed this space as a third realm for exploration that is not tied to outcome. I didn't just learn how to make paper; I learned how to be in conversation with it, to let it teach me about spontaneity. I don’t know how to speak of that type of generativity, I don’t know if there's a grammar for what kind of performance papermaking is, but it allowed me to explore who I am un/becoming in proximity to others who were also processing personal narratives and memories. And that is when I fell in love with the delicacy and strength of abaca. Papermaking holds antinomies like no other medium.
HPN: Has your process for making paper changed at all since that first go?
sadé powell: My process hasn’t changed much. My starting point is always a tangle of anxiety and doubt. It's like there's this initial mistrust in my own ideas, a hesitancy towards my desires. But, strangely enough, this is how I know the process has begun and it signals to mean opportunity to breathe and to yield. Now, with the guidance and encouragement of papermakers I've come across during my fellowship with Hand Papermaking, I lean into my instincts to wonder/wander, fully embracing experimentalism, which is a fundamental aspect of my practice as a whole. I used to think that experimentation was confined to DIY approaches, that stepping outside conventional methods required you to work in isolation. But what I've discovered through my journey—and through resources like Dieu Donné's archive—is that experimentation thrives within a community. There's an incredible freedom in realizing that with just the basic tools of papermaking, you can venture in countless directions. Seeing artists who aren’t traditionally papermakers embrace this freedom has been affirmative. Dieu Donné's archive also provides really great examples of artists who are not papermakers who find that freedom. Procrastination still gets the best of me, though. There’s a raw intimacy to papermaking, a vulnerability
in its sharedness that I sometimes find myself pulling away from. But the moment I immerse myself in the work and allow myself to be taken up spatiotemporally by the practice, I’m transported. That’s when I tend to exhaust everything at my disposal, playing with as many fibers/techniques as possible. It's a study in dynamism I wouldn't trade.
HPN: Can you tell us more about your work that is included in the magazine? It seems as though each layer tells a story, can you tell a bit more about how you approached the layers to your works of art? What fibers/materials did you use?
sadé powell: I created those pieces while in a papermaking course with Kelly Taylor Mitchell. Each layer tells a tale of her pedagogical affect and of my own desire to question what is a poem and what is a book. Each layer in these works is more than just a visual element; they're narratives, intertwined with Kelly's memory work and my own explorations. This journey started with an act of dismantling—physically tearing pages from my chapbook, wordtomydead. This act was both therapeutic and symbolic, a way to deconstruct and decompose my understanding and expectations of my own poetry. Ripping it up felt as if I was taking apart and rebuilding an idea or expectation of my work as a poet. Those poems held a lot of personal weight, so integrating them into my papermaking was also a method of exploring vulnerability and obscuration through layering and experimentation. My approach was not to think but to lead with feeling and intuition. I was drawn to the possibilities of linen pulp paint, its added hues bringing a new dimension to the work. I experimented freely, allowing myself to explore the materiality of the pulp—splattering it on felt without forming a traditional sheet, testing the adhesive qualities of cotton and abaca pulp directly on fabric without relying on methyl cellulose. Throughout this course, we delved into new techniques like using the vac-table, image transfers and creating cosmic, galaxy-like sheets with deckle box methods. My goal was to absorb all the knowledge Kelly shared while also making space for my own creative impulses, honoring the call of my practice. It wasn't about following a strict plan; it was about being in a state of constant discovery, pushing the boundaries of what I could do with paper and how it could serve as a conduit for my poetry. Each piece, each layer, is a step on a path of curiosity, feeling, and experimentation, a path that continues to unfold with each new project.
HPN: In your essay you speak about “the overwhelming pace of technological change.” I would love to hear more about how you find papermaking to be a respite from the woes and ways of the current pace of life. How has papermaking impacted your own personal studio practice?
sadé powell: I have not had social media for 11 years now and have not needed it since almost everything about everyday life is subsumed by it, by some sort of technological apparatus surveilling what we do, and influencing us on what to do and what to become. Because of this I'm very critical about my engagement and the ways I am still overdetermined by it, how I still have to reckon with it. My life outside the digital echochamber is quieter, sure, but the discoveries I make, the connections I stumble upon, they're all the more meaningful for it. I miss out on a lot of things but the stuff that I do find ends up being so much sweeter via word of mouth or curiosity-driven research. Prior to stumbling upon papermaking, it didn't even occur to me to care about paper or print and paper processes. Papermaking came to me not as a hobby but as a revelation. Before, I never really gave much thought to paper, to the craft behind it, to its history or potential. But there's something about the process—the tactile, physical involvement it demands—that pulls you out of the digital stream of consciousness and into a moment of focus that feels transcendental from this push towards singularity. It was that it requires some sort of embodiment that elevated awareness and quieted thought which made it a necessary tool for me. It’s completely shifted my practice by forcing me to contend with how fiber and material studies in tandem with critical black studies can help me gesture towards a poethical engagement with neoliberal capture. It's not just about creating with paper; it’s about challenging and understanding my place within a larger socio-technical landscape. By combining fiber and material studies with critical black studies, papermaking has become a medium through which I can explore and critique the neoliberal forces at play. It's a way for me to engage poethically with the world, to question and counteract the ways in which our lives are commodified and monitored. The deliberate and experimental capacities of papermaking—a process steeped in tradition and physicality—stands in stark contrast to the consumption-driven, fast-moving digital world. It's a reminder of the value of presence, of engaging deeply with ourselves and our materiality.
sadé powell is a concrete poet from New York City, exploring performative writing through experimental print and paper tech-niques. Inspired by her upbringing, she uses the sonic, kinesthetic, and linguistic elements of her 1940s Royal typewriter to deploy dissemblance as black feminist poethics. She holds an MA in performance Studies from NYU Tisch and serves on the editorial collective for Women & Performance journal. Her work has been supported by The Poetry Project, Triple Canopy, Center for BookArts, KOLAJ Magazine, and Hand Papermaking magazine to name a few. She has published a chaplet with Belladonna*Collaborative called period luv and her recent chap book word to-my dead is available from Ugly Duckling Presse. She is currently a fellow in the Whitney Independent Study Program.
kid-friendly papermaking
A LEGO Papermaking Mould
In this feature, Andreas Fatouros talks about his process of creating a re-cyled, kid-friendly mould and deckle using LEGO bricks. Read more about his inovative creation! Have you found a way of making your papermak-ing process and studio a bit more sustainable? Share your story with us atnewsletter@handpapermaking.org!
The idea for creating the first handmade papermaking mould and deckle from LEGO bricks came by chance as I was looking for a papermaking kit for children. Although there are many DIY paper-making kits for children on the market, there are no moulds made from toy materials. While printing an A5 mould on my 3D printer using designs by Brian Queen, I started thinking about recyclable building materials. So I came up with an idea: to make a frame out ofLEGO bricks.
The vast variety of available LEGO shapes on the market helped me find the right bricks to make this mould, which consists of 28 dif-ferent LEGO parts and a total of 537 pieces. The process of finding the right LEGO parts for each part of the mould was difficult but also very creative. I had to try a lot of different pieces to reach the perfect mould form, especially for the curvy parts. I created the final puzzle design from LEGO bricks pieces after numerous trials and many prototypes, ensuring that it would have the durability required for a papermaking mould, so it wouldn't collapse during use. Since I had no experience using LEGO, I didn’t know how to build something stable and sturdy; that's why I used LEGO's design software "Studio 2.0 Bricklink," which served as my invaluable assistant in designing the mould. With the help of the program, I was able to do dozens of tests with different LEGO parts that I might not have even had in my hands. In the end, I had to assemble and disassemble the entire mould more than 15 times, and its individual parts dozens of times. I think the whole process lasted about 4 months from May to August 2022, when I used it and made the first piece of paper from the LEGO mould.
The mould and the deckle are made from LEGO bricks, while the screen is made using 3D printing, which is the type that produces laid paper. The 3D design of the screen was created by Brian Queen, whom I really thank for his time and interest in my idea! To be able to get the LEGO parts I needed, I used the online page “Bricklink” (the world’s largest online marketplace to buy LEGO parts). Through this platform, I was able to find and buy second-hand parts and make the first mould.
For the screen, I used my 3D printer (Creality Ender 5 Plus) and filament SMARTFIL® R-PET, which is 100% recycled; the letter R designates the origin of the raw material, which is recovered from containers made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate).
What makes this mould unique is that, even though it's made from LEGO bricks, it stays true to a traditional European wooden papermak-ing mould. It replicates technical features such as the curved lid and the vertical supports of the frame to evenly support the screen. The mould is functional, and even kids can make it! It's not just a game, but a real tool that has practical value and can be used for a long time.
If you want to make your own mould from LEGO bricks, all you have to do is send me an email, and I will send you the plans and instructions for making it free of charge, as a little gift from me to the Hand Papermaking magazine community! The time you need to assemble the 537 pieces is about 2–3 hours, depending on your familiarity with LEGO assembly. The purchase cost of the 537 LEGO parts varies between €60–80, depending on the store, and the cost of one package of the filament I used is €16, although one can make many screens. But if you want to buy a mould ready to use, then you can from my shop on Etsy.
List of related links:
Andreas Fatouros is a paper artist specializing in the conservation of library and archive materials and co-founder of Clio Muse Tours. He is thrilled to officially announce that within the year he will open a new multispace in Athens, Greece dedicated to the art of paper and it will be called Triton & Shell, which will comprise three integral components: Museum and Archive of Handmade and Industrial Paper History, Paper Workshop, Store for Paper and Book Arts. You can contact Andreas at anrw27@gmail.com and on Instagram @abooktailorlab.
paper recipe
Paper with Snake Shed
In this feature, we share paper recipes from the makers in our community. Have a paper recipe you want to share with the newsletter? Send the recipe on over to newsletter@handpapermaking.org!
Fibers: Cotton linters, abaca, banana leaf, snake shed
Papermaker: Julie Yang (@Midnight.studios.mn on Instagram)
Cotton and abaca were processed in a Critter beater for about 1.5 hours with internal sizing added. The banana leaf was cooked with soda ash for approximately 3.5 hours and blended in a kitchen blender. Variations include pigment and snake shed. The snake shed was blended with a kitchen blender and added to the pulp.
To see more of Julie's work, visit
https://www.etsy.com/shop/MidnightWaxSeals
This paper was made and sent in as part of a Handmade PapeExchange, a full-size sheet paper exchange run by Genevieve Nor-dmark and Sophia Hotzler. Visit @handmadepaperexchange onInstagram for more information on future exchanges!
decorated papers
Karli Frigge
Longtime newsletter contributor Sid Berger continues his documentation of decorated papers. In this feature Sid profiles the accomplished artist Karli Frigge.
In composing this column over the years, I have looked at the work of important and exceptionally accomplished paper decorators,
of whom there are many. One of the best is Karli Frigge, from the Netherlands, who, during her marbling career, produced thousands of lovely papers in an amazing array of patterns.
As a young bookbinder, she studied under Dieuke Kollwyn, who taught Karli the rudiments of marbling. And from there, with her own flair, her brilliant sense of color, and her wonderful aesthetic skills, Karli went on to an illustrious career as a paper marbler, to accompany her bookbinding. My love of her papers led me to write Karli Frigge’s Life in Marbling (North Hills, PA: Bird & Bull Press, 2004), a beautiful book with many tipped-in samples of her work, and a good introduction to Karli and her famous papers.
Karli came up with several series of marbled patterns all her own, riffs on traditional patterns. Her tiger-eye marbles, for instance, take that raditional pattern to a whole new level.
My familiarity with her work began with her landscapes, which Ifirst saw in her book Marbled Landscapes (Buren: Frits Knuf, 1988). Iwas entranced by them, and I wrote her to tell her how much I loved her artistry. Over the years I followed her progress, and my wife Michèle and I now have a good collection of her books. (Our holdings of her papers wound up at Texas A&M, in their Cushing Library.)
About twenty years ago Karli gave up marbling in favor of her sculpting, but she held onto a number of her best papers. Along with her experimenting with tiger eye and coming up with her own “innovations”of it, she developed several series of designs, including wings, landscapes, streamers, plants, and what she called “alchemy marbles.” When people came to our home to see our paper collection, I always brought out Karli’s marbles, and uniformly there were gasps and oohs and aahs when people saw them.
With landscapes, Karli proved that one need not fill the leaf with pattern to create something wonderful. The typical landscape (and believe me: these sheets are so beautiful that “typical” is a misnomer) looks like sky and land. At an exhibition of these, done on Japanese paper for the gallery at Hiromi Paper in Santa Monica, the entire show (all 14 of them) sold out within about 2 minutes of the show’s opening.
Karli calls another of her signature patterns “Streamers”—with stripsof marbled patterns running across the page, but with the strips shifting in such a way that one part of a pattern sort of “moves over” in the middle of the strip, either intensifying or thinning out the pigments. This is difficult to describe. The one shown here is monochrome; it is followed by a stunning full-color one. Marblers traditionally lower their sheets onto the marbling bath by holding them at diagonally opposite corners (mostly to avoid allowing a bubble of air to form beneath the sheet). Karli sets her sheets onto the bath in such a way that she can manipulate them—left to right, right to left, or pulled or pushed across the bath, maintaining a single pattern, but intensifying or thinning the pigments as she shifts the line-up of the pattern on the sheet.
Using special chemicals, she created what she calls “flowers”—a technique that is difficult to repeat. It depends on the consistency of the pigments, the amount of ox gall she used, and other factors. In the images shown here (from a copy of one of her books: The Magic of Marbling [Joppe, The Netherlands: Karli Frigge, 2020], she has created sheets with at least 3 layers of marbled patterns, to which she has added her elegant calligraphy.
Some marblers create two- or even three-level marbles: over-marbling one pattern on another. But the more layers of marbling one created, the more the earlier layers are obscured and covered over. Karli is the only marbler I have ever known who can over-marble one pattern upon another, upon another, upon another and still have all layers visible. One of the sheets in our collection has a remarkable 10 layers (!) of marbling, each layer dated along the edge of the sheet. Under careful scrutiny one can see every layer. On her website is the following picture, showing a similar sheet, with perhaps 7 or 8 levels of patterns.
Karli devised a way to create unbelievably tiny striations in some of her marbles by a carefully controlled use of chemicals. She calls these “alchemy marbles,” because, like the alchemists, she carried out one experiment after another to perfect her patterns, measuring all the variables, including temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, the“ingredients” of her colors, and so forth. On a page from one of her workbooks, Karli has noted the variables that she examines and records. Note that the first three things she measures are humidity, barometric pressure, and temperature:
The striations on this sheet as so thin in places that it is hard to imagine how they were created. The other variation in her alchemy series creates what look like little complex petri dishes, sometimes sitting in a sea of white space on the page, sometimes combined with her other more traditional combing.There is really no way to explain what these look like, but in personthey are jaw-dropping.
As I mentioned, to cap her career of marbling, Karli has decided to part with the last of her papers. And she saved some of the best for last. Plumbing her holdings, she has put together a portfolio of about 40 full sheets representing all of her patterns. The portfolio is like a summary of the work of one of the most innovative and skilled marblers of all time. As the little advertising piece she has produced that announces this gathering says, “The number of these portfolios is constrained by the number of sheets she had in her holdings. The portfolios offered here will be the last ones available, because they are the final sheets from Frigge’s illustrious career.” Only about 22 copies of the portfolio were produced, and several of them were spoken for before publication.
Karli’s papers can be found as cover and end papers of books and in countless other applications. And for a very limited time they can be found in her new portfolio. Lucky readers of this column may be able to get one of these underpriced collections. Handling her papers gives me a sense that I am in the presence of true genius.
—Sid Berger
Sidney Berger is Director Emeritus of the Phil-
lips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum, and
a professor on the faculty of the library schools
at Simmons University and the University of Il-linois at Urbana– Champaign. He and his wifeMichèle Cloonan put together the Berger–CloonanCollection of Decorated Paper (about 22,000pieces), now in the Cushing Library at Texas A&MUniversity.
listings
PUBLICATIONS
Japanese Paper Yarn: Using Washi and Kami-ito to Knit, Crochet, Weave,and More. Explore Japanese paper yarn to add new dimensions to yourfavorite fiber crafts like knitting, crocheting, macrame, weaving, ormixed media. Textile artist Andra F. Stanton focuses you on a freshperspective: crafting with paper yarn instead of expected yarns of woolor cotton. Beginning with its deep roots in Japan and Korea, learn aboutpaper yarn's rich versatility. With simple instructions, make your ownpaper yarn from a sheet of kozo paper. Try 12 inspiring projects, frombeginner-friendly pulped paper weaving to a more-experienced-levelknitted scarf. Then you're ready to use paper yarn to take your ownfavorite crafts in new directions. To be released November 2024.
WORKSHOPS
Several Summer session papermaking workshops at the PenlandSchool of Craft is open for registration. One upcoming sum-mer workshop is Handmade Paper: Surface and Object withHeather Peters. Part of Summer Session 1, May 26th – 31st (4Studio Days), this workshop is perfect for new papermakers, andit will also be informative for those with experience. Beginninglevel. A spring session workshop, What a Relief: Techniques forPulp Casting with SR Lejeune. Part of the Papermaking - SpringShort Session, April 28th – May 3rd (4 Studio Days), is cur-rently open for registraion. For more information, visit https://penland.org/workshops/registration-information/.
An upcoming virtual workshop at The Minnesota Center forBookarts, DIY Papermaking at Home with Sophia Hotzler isopen for registration until April 12th at midnight (Central Time).
Hand Papermaking Newsletter’s Listings now focus only on the mostcurrent, most relevent news, events, and opportunities. For a morecomplete list of organizations, studios, and institutions that makepaper, educate people about handmade paper, or present programmingor exhibitions related to handmade paper visit our website at www.handpapermaking.org/news-resources/listings.
10 • hand papermaking newsletter
In this virtual workshop, learn the processof making paper pulp with repurposedpaper (newspapers, computer printouts,and artwork—old drawings or prints thatyou are ready to part with). Make yourown basic mould and deckle with suppliesthat can be found in your home or at alocal store. Learn how to set up a basicat-home papermaking space and gain fun-damental knowledge and skills necessaryto confidently explore and experimentwith pulp and paper. This workshop willbe part lecture and part guided demon-stration. Participants are encouraged tofollow along with the demonstrations tomake their own pulp, mould, and deckle,but it is not required. There may be timeto pull a few sheets of paper during theworkshop before learning how to properlyempty the vat and store leftover pulp forfuture use. For more information, visithttps://www.mnbookarts.org/diy-paper-making-at-home/
Attend the Intro to Western Papermaking,Part II Workshop at The Morgan SaturdayMay 4th. During Part II of this introduc-tory workshop series, participants willcontinue their education in Western handpapermaking, learning the processes ofinclusions and pulp painting with hand-made paper.
An upcoming In-Person Workshop at
Robert C. Williams Museum of Paper-making, Paper Casting, will be happen-ing Thursday, April 11th. Participants
will have the opportunity to explore theunique nature of paper as a casting me-dium. Students will learn how to capturetexture and dimension with paper pulpfrom provided molds. All materials pro-vided and all skill levels welcome. Regis-tration deadling is April 4th. Visit https://paper.gatech.edu/person-workshop-paper-casting for more information.
Attend the workshop, Thematic workshop:In the style of Cath Laporte, get out of thesheet of paper, at Atelier Retailles, SaturdayJune 8th 12:30 - 5:00 p.m & Sunday June9th 12:30 - 5:00 p.m. In collaboration withCath Laporte , the recuts workshop invitesyou to immerse yourself in the artist'screative universe by creating works inspired
by his practice. “How do we use words andlanguage to evoke, inspire and transcend?How can we go beyond the framework ofthe sheet of paper?” This workshop aims
to develop the visual and editorial content
of a typographic work combining the paperpaste painting method and text inclusions/collages. Leave room for the intuitive, the ex-ploratory, so that our intuition is a source ofcreativity and experimentation. Visit https://www.atelierrtailles.com/workshops for moreinformation.
EXHIBITIONS
The Morgan’s 12th Annual Juried Exhibi-tion artists are posed with the challenge ofexploring New Terrain. Artists are encour-aged to traverse this concept through variousmedia and ideas of mapping, the heroicquest, charting new courses and translat-
ing the experiential into the visual and
how we connect to our environment real
and imagined. Artwork encompassing thistheme is eligible for submission. This year’sexhibition is juried by Dr. Jeffrey Katzin andFafnir Adamites. The opening reception for"New Terrain" will be held on Friday, April5th, 5pm-8pm at the Morgan PapermakingConservatory. The exhibition will be on viewuntil May 4th. Keep an eye out for their up-coming exhibiton, Liminal Spaces: Art andthe Environment. Opening Reception: FridayJune, 7th from 5-8pm. For more informa-tion, visit https://www.morganconservatory.org/2024-exhibitions-schedule
The Robert C. Williams Museum of Pa-permaking is hosting The North AmericanHand Papermakers' 2023 Juried Exhibitioncalled "Sustainability in Chaos." We arepleased and honored to have Hiebert andEileen Wallace as the 2023 jurors. We arewitnessing sudden, surprising, and some-times unexpected changes in our time andlifestyle today. Anarchy, war, and diseasehave become our nation's daily concerns
and only news. Even if we do not face thesesituations directly, in our social and eco-nomic lives, wherever we are, we witness
the prevalence of chaos in various forms.Artists have shown their animus in chaotichuman situations in different ways, such asthrough visualizations, music, poetry, pho-tography, etc. They depict it in dream-likeabstractions, express it in realistic depictionsof life, inform the mind, or convey theirempathy through art. This exhibition will beon display until April 12th. The 2024 GuestCurated Exhibition Triennial - Bark Rhythms- is coming soon! Visit https://paper.gatech.edu/upcoming-exhibits for more informa-tion.
OPPORTUNITIES
Several residencies are open for applica-tions at the Women's Studio Workshop. TheStudio Workspace Residency is an opportu-nity for artists to create new work and fullyimmerse themselves in WSW’s supportiveenvironment. We invite applications fromartists at any stage of their careers. Thisresidency gives artists the gift of time, anuninterrupted period to live and work awayfrom the stresses of daily life. Artists maychoose to work in any one or more of ourstudios: intaglio, letterpress, papermaking,screenprinting, darkroom photography,
or ceramics. Applications due May 15th,11:59pm EST. Visit https://wsworkshop.org/residencies/studio-workspace-residency/ formore information. The Art-in-Ed WorkspaceResidency (AIE) is for artists interested inworking with local school students whilecreating their own work in WSW’s sup-portive and immersive environment. This
is an opportunity for artists with a range ofteaching experience, from seasoned teachersand professors, to those with minimal expe-rience and an interest in gaining skills andknowledge. Visit https://wsworkshop.org/residencies/art-in-ed-workspace-residency/for more information. The Parent ResidencyGrant is a four-week residency for an artistwith at least one dependent child under theage of 18. Artists may choose to work in anyof our studio disciplines: intaglio, letterpress,papermaking, screenprinting, photography,or ceramics. Visit https://wsworkshop.org/residencies/parent-residency-grant/for moreinformation.
EVENTS
Through Iowa Center for the Book, join
Eric Ensley and Emily Martin, co-curators
of "Making the Book, Past and Present,"
for a behind-the-scenes look at their MainLibrary Gallery exhibition Thursday, April11th, 12:00pm to 1:00pm CT. Find out howthey decided which Special Collections &Archives materials to share with visitors,discover more about some of the curators'favorite items, and learn why it is so impor-tant to show modern book art in conversa-tion with historic books. Registration isrequired to attend this free virtual event.
Go to https://uicb.uiowa.edu/event/136211/0for more information on this event.
We want to promote your projects!If you have any news, upcomingevents, or open opportunities letus know at newsletter@hand-papermaking.org
april 2023 • 11
special thanks to our donors
benefactors: Joan Hall, Mark Tomasko, BeckWhitehead
patrons: Tom Balbo, Lisa Cirando, Sid Berger &Michèle Cloonan, Sue Gosin, Darin Murphy,Erik Saarmaa, Michelle Samour, Kenneth Tyler
underwriters: Yousef Ahmed, John Cirando,Vijay Dhawan, Lois & Gordon James, IngridRose
sponsors: Eric Avery, Tom & Lore Burger, KerriCushman, Susan Mackin Dolan, Devie Dragone,Michael Durgin, Michael Fallon, Jane Farmer,Kim Grummer, Helen Hiebert, Robyn Johnson &Peter Newland, Debora Mayer, Marcia Morse,Robert Specker, H. Paul Sullivan, Mina Takahashi,Aviva Weiner, Kathy Wosika
donors: May Babcock, Alisa Banks, TomBannister, Sarah Louise Brayer, Ann Cicale,Jeffrey Cooper, Amanda Degener, John Dietel,Karla & Jim Elling, David Engle, Jerry Exline,Helen Frederick, Lori Goodman, RichardHaynes, Margaret Heineman, Shireen Holman,Kyoko Ibe, Jamie Kamph, Enid Keyser, JuneLinowitz, Julie McLaughlin, Sharon Morris,Jeannine Mulan, Anela Oh, Elaine Nishizu,Nancy Pike, Alta Price, Joy Purcell, ReneeRogers, Annabelle Shrieve, Thomas Siciliano,Kathleen Stevenson, Bernie Vinzani, AprilVollmer, Paul Wong
supporters: Marlene Adler, John Babcock,Timothy Barrett, Kathryn Clark, Nancy Cohen,Marian Dirda, Iris Dozer, Tatiana Ginsberg,Mabel Grummer, Guild of Papermakers, LisaHaque, Robert Hauser, Viviane Ivanova,Kristin Kavanagh, Susan Kanowith-Klein, DavidKimball, Steve Kostell, Lea Basile-Lazarus,Aimee Lee, Winifred Lutz, MP Marion, EdwinMartin, Lynne Mattot, Ann McKeown, TimMoore & Pati Scobey, Catherine Nash, NancyPobanz, Melissa Potter, Brian Queen, DianneReeves, Carolyn Riley, Michele Rothenberger,Pamela Wood
friends: Jack Becker, Anne Beckett, Lee Cooper,Elizabeth Curren, Dorothy Field, Lucia Harrison,Margaret Miller, Deborah Sternberg-Service,Don Widmer
in-kind donations: Janet De Boer, John Gerard,Dard Hunter III, Microsoft Corporate Citizen-ship, Steve Miller
contributors to our 2022 auction fundrais-ing event: Jeff Abshear, Jane Ingram Allen,Rhiannon Alpers, Maxine Apke, ArnoldGrummers’ Papermaking, Howard Aronson,Mary Ashton, John Babcock, May Babcock,Tom Balbo, Hannah O’Hare Bennett, JennaBonistalli, Cave Paper, Colin Browne, IngridButler, Jazmine Catasús, Lisa Cirando, KathrynClark, Dan Colvin, Kerri Cushman, AmandaDegener, Katharine Delamater, Ilze Dilane,Kathy Dement, Susan Mackin Dolan, DaleEmmart, Tatiana Ginsberg, Green BananaPaper, Helen Frederick, Joan Hall, HelenHiebert, Frances Hunter, Nancy Jacobi, LoisJames, David Kimball, Genevieve Lapp,Aimee Lee, Claudia Lee/Liberty Paper, ThomasLeech, Robert Mannino, Lee McDonald,Marcia Morse, Henry Obeng, Jill Odegaard,Radha Pandey, the Paper Circle, Tedi Permadi,
Andrea Peterson, Kelsey Pike, Alta Price,Victoria Rabal, Jackie Radford, MargaretRhein, Amy Richard, Laura Merrick Roe,Virginia Sarsfield/Handmade Paper Gallery,Jillian Sico, Robbin Ami Silverberg, PeterSowiski, Lynn Sures, Peter & DonnaThomas, Judy Tobie, Twinrocker Paper, GibbyWaitzkin, Michelle Wilson, Paul Wong,Kathy Wosika
AND THANKS TOO TO OUR SPONSORS
Arnold Grummer’s, the Papertrail Hand-made Paper & Book Arts, Penland School ofCraft, The Robert C. Williams PapermakingMuseum, Carriage House Papers, and DieuDonné.