HAN D P A P E R M A K I NG

N E W S L E T T E R

Number 72, October 2005

Newsletter Editor: Tom Bannister. Columnists: Sidney Berger, John Bordley, Susan Gosin, Helen Hiebert, Peter Hopkins, Elaine Koretsky, Winifred Radolan, Pamela Wood.

Hand Papermaking Newsletter is published

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Papermaking, and in spring and autumn it is

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The deadline for the next newsletter (January

2006) is November 7. Please direct all correspondence

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letters from our subscribers on any relevant topic.

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

organization. Staff: Tom Bannister, Executive

Director; Mina Takahashi, Magazine Editor.

Board of Directors: Martin Antonetti, Cathleen

A. Baker, Inge Bruggeman, Gail Deery, Amanda

Degener, Helen Hiebert, Peter Hopkins, Barbara

Lippman, David Marshall, John Risseeuw,

Lynn Sures, Marilyn Sward. Board of Advisors:

Timothy Barrett, Simon Blattner, Gregor R.

Campbell, Mindell Dubansky, Jane Farmer, Helen

C. Frederick, Elaine Koretsky, James Sitter, Claire

Van Vliet, James Yarnell. Co-founders: Amanda

Degener and Michael Durgin.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

As you know, the mid-south region of the U.S. is still taking count of the devastation

resulting from Hurricane Katrina. The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) is committed to

helping and to keeping you informed about the ways in which you can help.

To facilitate in this effort, we have created a Disaster Recovery Message Board on our

web site <www.craftemergency.org>. If you know a papermaker or other craft artist who

needs help and/or if you can offer help (financial support, supplies, equipment, a place to

stay or work, advice, encouraging words, etc.), please join in this discussion. CERF’s Disaster

Relief Fund, interest-free loan programs and staff are prepared to respond to professional

craft artists who have suffered significant losses. Please help us get the word out about the

availability of our assistance as well as our need for the community’s support at the time.

With warm regards,

Cornelia Carey, Executive Director

(802) 229-2306, <info@craftemergency.org>

Dear Readers,

Since Hand Papermaking has been so supportive of our friends at Tibetan Handicraft

Industry in Kathmandu (see Winter 1996 and Winter 2001 issues), I decided I ought to share

some bad news.

Samten Lama, Nimto Sherpa, and Nima Sherpa – the three owners of Tibetan Handicraft

Industry – have been very excited about property that they have purchased near Kopan

Monastery, on the outskirts of Kathmandu. They had begun construction of their own production

center, complete with childcare for workers’ children and eventually some housing.

Samten had been the primary person overseeing the construction.

On May 10th Samten was inspecting an issue on the new roof and fell to the recently

poured concrete floor below. He died shortly after this tragic accident. As is the Tibetan Buddhist

tradition, special pujas or prayer ceremonies were conducted each week for Samten in

Bodinath in Kathmandu. The final puja took place June 28th, on the 49th day following his death.

Needless to say the sudden loss of their partner has been very difficult for Nimto and

Nima. I know that they would appreciate hearing from their friends around the world...

Tibetan Handicraft Industry, P O Box 10527, Kathmandu, Nepal, <thi@wlink.com.np>.

Sincerely,

Jane M. Farmer, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Upcoming in the Winter 2005 Magazine: Focus on Handmade Paper Collections...

World survey of handmade paper collections which are accessible to researchers, including

collections of handmade paper specimens, watermarks, art made in and on handmade paper,

and objects utilizing handmade paper such as kites, paper filigree, early manuscripts and

bindings, wall coverings, and photographs ~ Peter Bower on cataloguing collections as a

‘forensic paper historian’ ~ Edward Saywell on the Fogg Museum works on paper collection

as a teaching tool ~ Sidney Berger on the development of international standards for

cataloging decorative papers ~ Madelyn Garrett on University of Utah’s digitized collection

of the Dard Hunter publications ~ Marilyn Sward interviews Audrey Niffenegger on her

book The Time Traveler’s Wife ~ Susan Gosin remembers artist Golda Lewis ~ David Marshall

reviews “Collaboration as a Medium: 25 Years of Pyramid-Atlantic” at Edison Place Gallery,

Washington, DC ~ Helen Hiebert reviews Buzz Spector’s recent exhibition at Alysia Duckler

Gallery, Portland, Oregon ~ Exhibitions in Brief

ALONG THE PAPER ROAD...

This regular feature offers paper musings from

Elaine Koretsky – renowned paper historian,

researcher, and traveler. In this installment,

Elaine describes early encounters with kudzu.

I am writing this article on a beautiful

sunny day in late July. Outside, my

garden of papermaking plants is thriving,

although I mourn the Daphne bholua (the

paper plant of Nepal), a veteran of 20 years,

which succumbed this past winter, perhaps

a victim of scale. I also lost one Edgeworthia

(mitsumata in Japanese), but the other three

are fine. The winged celtis (Celtis pteroceltis

tatarinowi), used in Anhui Province, China,

for the finest art and calligraphy paper, died

back in our harsh winter, but is growing out

again. My emphasis is on the cultivation of

plants that are traditionally used in hand

papermaking throughout the world, so I

am growing Broussonetia papyrifera (kozo in

Japan), rice, wheat, Agave sisalana, Musa textilis

(abaca), cotton, flax, bamboo and more.

Technically, any plant can be used in papermaking,

but right from the start, the early

papermakers 2,000 years ago discovered

what fibers were most successful in producing

paper. Two criteria were availability and

ease of preparing the fiber to form sheets.

When Donna Koretsky and I started

making paper in the early 1970s, we were

influenced by John Mason’s book “Papermaking

as an Artistic Craft.”1 And so we

started experimenting with what was growing

in our garden. We made a lot of fuzzy,

often brittle, but quite interesting papers

using begonia, iris, and nasturtium. Frequently

we had to forage in our neighbors’

gardens to collect enough raw material. Our

emphasis soon changed to the use of paper

as the basis of art forms, and we began to

use other materials that worked more easily

with what we were trying to accomplish.

However, I always maintained an

interest in exploring fibers and figuring out

how best to process them for papermaking.

A real challenge occurred in 1985, when a

neighbor called me to say that her gardener

had just cut down a huge kudzu vine that

had grown 30 feet up the side of her house.

She was very excited about the prospect of

my turning it into paper. I did not share her

enthusiasm because I had taught papermaking

a couple of summers previously at the

Arrowmont School of Crafts in Gatlinburg,

Tennessee, where kudzu was growing rampantly.

One class insisted on experimenting

with kudzu, so we tried it. I had no prior

experience or information about the plant,

except that it was considered a nuisance

throughout the south. The branches seemed

soft and pliable, and we treated it like an

herbaceous plant, rather than a woody one.

The group removed the leaves from the

branches, cut the branches into short pieces,

and boiled it with lye for a few hours. After

a thorough washing, they hand beat it for a

while (at that time the school did not have

a Hollander beater), then ran it through

a kitchen blender. We never were able to

make a pulp that would produce a cohesive

sheet of paper, although it could be used as

an additive to other pulps to give the sheets

a distinctive texture.

When I picked up the carload of

kudzu from my neighbor, she thoughtfully

presented me with The Book of Kudzu2. I

also looked up kudzu in one of my botany

books, and discovered that it belonged to the

Leguminosae family of plants, also known

as the pea family. Botanically, kudzu is

Pueraria, which has 15 species that are either

herbaceous or woody. The species found in

the south, which my friend was growing,

is Pueraria lobata, and is woody. The fiber,

therefore, is a bast fiber, found in the inner

bark, and must be removed from its woody

core. The Book of Kudzu deals mainly with

the cooking and healing properties of

kudzu, but there is one chapter on weaving

with kudzu, which mentions that weavers

in East Asia prized the kudzu fibers for

their strength, translucency, and radiant

luster. That sounded like I might be on the

right track to make some unusual papers. I

decided to follow the directions precisely to

extract the bast fiber.

I wrestled the kudzu out of my car

and stretched it all out in my back yard.

Following the book’s instructions, I stripped

the leaves from the 30-foot long branches

and wound each of them into a coil. Next, I

boiled the coils in a large pot of water for 20

minutes, until the outside of the branches

turned brown and started to separate from

the stalk. Now the coils were supposed to be

immersed in a nearby stream, secured with

a stone, and allowed to soak for 24 hours.

The idea is that the current of the stream

would remove some of the outer bark. Since

I don’t have a stream near by, I simply put

the coils into a pot of cold water and left it

for the following day. Meanwhile, I tried

to figure out how to handle the next step,

which involves fermenting the branches. A

one-foot deep hole must be dug and lined

with a four-inch layer of straw, followed by a

three-inch layer of green grass. The coils are

put in, and covered with another three-inch

layer of green grass, followed by four inches

of straw. Finally, the entire hole is covered

with reed or rice straw matting, and secured

by several rocks. After two days the covering

is lifted and the temperature checked. If it’s

above 104ºF, remove some of the covering;

if it’s below 95ºF, add more covering and

rocks. I definitely felt the need to improvise

this step.

We have a well-developed compost pile,

so I simply dug a hole in the compost, put

the kudzu coils in it, filled the hole with

more compost, and returned two days later.

I dug out the kudzu, but declined taking its

temperature. However, fermentation had

definitely occurred. Rather than now putting

the coils back into the nearby stream

that I didn’t have, I uncoiled the kudzu and

stretched it out on the grass. Using a garden

hose, I sprayed the whole thing vigorously,

and easily removed the entire outer covering

of the bast fiber. The last step sounded

bizarre, but I was determined to try it. I held

the base end of a kudzu branch in one hand

and with two fingers of the other hand I

managed to peel back a very thin layer that

surrounded the woody core. I kept pulling

back this entire concentric sheath, similar

to skinning a snake, until I reached the tip

of the kudzu branch. Amazingly, I now had

the bast fiber, which was shiny and translucent,

resembling a very thin, flexible plastic

tube, 30 feet long. The fiber was also very

strong, and I could not break it.

Since the rest of the directions dealt

with its preparation for weaving, I now

treated the fiber as I normally would for

papermaking. I coiled up the kudzu again

so it would fit into a large cooking pot, and

boiled it in a 25% lye solution. Periodically,

I tested the fiber. It easily could be pulled

apart lengthwise, but that was true even

before cooking. For papermaking purposes,

the test for bast fibers is that the fiber can

be pulled apart transversely. I cooked the

kudzu for several hours, and the fiber still

remained tough and unyielding. Next, I

drained the kudzu and rinsed it thoroughly.

The fiber still retained its shine and

translucency. I tried beating it with a mallet,

but that became an exercise in frustration.

Finally, I cut it all up into short pieces and

put it into my Hollander beater. The beater

made short work of the fiber, and within 15

minutes I had pulp.

Unfortunately, after all that work, there

was very little pulp. Another important

criterion of fiber selection is the percentage

of yield per weight of the plant material

used. In the case of kudzu, the yield was

low. With great anticipation I made as much

paper as possible, amounting to a dozen

sheets on my 8”x12” mould. The finished

sheets, however, displayed none of the shine

or translucency that the fiber had originally

shown. They were simply smooth, off-white

papers, not especially distinctive. However,

my neighbor was thrilled to receive a sheet

of this kudzu paper and believed she had

made an important contribution to my

papermaking research. Perhaps she did, because

my next newsletter article will explore

wood pulp.

october 2005 3

1 John Mason, Papermaking as an Artistic

Craft, publ. by Twelve by Eight Press, 1963.

2 William Shurtleff & Akiko Aoyagi, The

Book of Kudzu, publ. by Autumn Press,

1977.

BEGINNER TOPICS

Well-known author and teacher Helen Hiebert

offers helpful tips and guidance for newcomers

based on her popular books (see www.

enlightenedpapers.com). This is the second in a

two-part column on plant fibers. The first part

covered where to find fibrous plant materials.

We follow up with a guide to harvesting fiber.

In general, harvesting at the end of

growing season or during dormancy will

yield the most papermaking fiber, but there

are a few things to consider. You might

want to let the plant naturally decompose

in the field to make processing easier. For

example, herbaceous basts such as milkweed

and nettles (Urtica lyalli) will start

to decompose if left in the field over the

winter. Most fibers can be harvested during

more than one season. Paper made from

fiber harvested in the spring may look different

from paper made from the same fiber

harvested in the fall. Young nettles harvested

in the spring make a green paper, but

if they are harvested in the fall, the resulting

paper is brown. The age of the plant, soil,

environmental conditions such as air quality

and rainfall, and geographic location of the

plant will also affect the fiber quality and the

look of the sheet. Experiment with different

seasons and locations and keep records to

note ease of harvesting and paper results.

There are three main types of plant

fiber used in papermaking: bast fiber, leaf

fiber, and grass fiber. What follows is a

description and instructions for harvesting

each type. From other papermakers, books

on fibers, and my own experiments, I have

discovered papers made from many plants,

ranging from common items such as wheat

straw (Triticum aestivum) and hosta (Hosta

fortunei, a.k.a. plantain lily), to things I

would never think of using such as seaweed.

When collecting your first plant fibers for

papermaking, I would recommend starting

with a plant from one of the lists that is

widely known to produce paper. After you

become familiar with the processing, feel

free to go out on your own.

The fibrous, inner bark of trees or

shrubs is called the bast. The bast fiber is located

in the stem and branches between the

outer bark and the woody core. There are

three types of bast fiber: woody, herbaceous,

and petiole. Woody bast is found in shrubs

like blackberry, vines like kudzu (Pueraria lobata),

and trees such as paper mulberry and

willow (Salix spp.); herbaceous bast is found

in non-woody annuals and perennials such

as nettles and milkweed (Asclepias speciosa);

petiole bast is found in the leaf stalks and

stems of banana plants like manila hemp

(Musa textilis).

If you cut a shoot of a tree, shrub, or

vine and look at it in cross section, you will

find the bast fiber (inner bark) between the

outer black bark and the woody core. To collect

the bast fiber, choose shoots or branches

of trees that are one-half to one inch in

diameter. Smaller shoots will have less fiber

and larger might be tough to process. Cut

the shoots at a forty-five degree angle near

the base or just above a bud, leaving the

main plant intact so that it can continue to

grow. (The angle is important because it will

aid later in the stripping process. Where

you cut will affect how the plant continues

to grow.) Many papermakers harvest bast

fibers while they are pruning. Remember

that you are only using the inner bark for

papermaking, so you need a fair amount

of branches to produce a small amount of

paper. In order to have enough bast fiber

to make paper, you need to harvest at least

five or six branches that are approximately

five or six feet long. This will yield approximately

one pound of bast fiber, which will

produce about thirty sheets of paper that are

8-1/2” x 11”. Strip leaves and twigs from the

branches.

Herbaceous bast is collected in a similar

fashion to the bast of trees, by cutting the

stalks at an angle. Annuals like hollyhock

(Alcea rosea) and okra (Hibiscus esculentus)

can be pulled up by the roots. The roots,

leaves, and twigs should be removed.

The petiole of a plant is the leaf stem

that is connected to the stalk and supports

the blade of the leaf. In manila hemp

(abaca) plants, the leaf stalks are often many

feet in length and contain long strands of

bast fiber that are easily obtained once the

stalks are cut from the plant. Many banana

plants in the Musaceae family yield this

type of fiber, and they usually have fibrous

trunks as well. Petiole fiber tends to be very

tough and can require extensive processing.

Once you have collected enough plant

material, you will need to separate the bast

fiber from the woody core and outer bark.

In certain plants, the bast fiber can be easily

separated from the woody core after harvesting.

For example, gampi (Wikstroemia

retusa), one of the important papermaking

fibers in Japan, is harvested in the spring

when it is easy to peel. Willow and elm trees

(Ulmus americana and U. pumila) are also

easy to peel. With other plants you will need

to steam or ferment the stalks in order to

recover the bast fiber.

In most cases, substantial, elongated

leaves such as the leaves of iris (Iris spp.)

or yucca (Yucca filamentosa or Yucca elata)

plants are the best sources of leaf fiber for

papermaking. A general procedure I follow

when determining whether a leaf will yield

paper is to check its tear strength – the

harder it is to tear crosswise, the better the

paper will be.

The easiest leaves to process come

from plants like iris, gladiolus (Gladiolus),

and lilies, which can be cut right from the

plant and are ready to process directly into

paper pulp. These types of leaf fiber can be

collected in the spring or fall, producing a

green paper in the spring and a brown paper

in the fall. To harvest in the spring, cut

individual leaves near the base of the plant,

removing only the outer leaves The leaves at

the core should be left on the plant so that

it can continue to grow. You can also collect

the leaves in the fall when they drop from

the plant – a gentle tug will release the leaf

from the tuber underground, where the leaf

is connected to the plant.

Leaves from sword-like plants such as

sisal (Agave sisalana) and yucca have long,

stringy fibers inside that look like fishing

line. These fibers are difficult and time

consuming to process, and often require

specialized equipment. Harvest these leaves

as you would the others – removing only the

outermost leaves and cutting them near the

base. These leaves contain a large amount

of fleshy connective tissue that should be

removed immediately after harvesting by

decortication, retting, or cooking.

With any leaf fiber, you will need to

harvest at least one pound of dry fiber in

order to have enough leaves to make a small

amount of paper. The dry weight is tricky to

determine if you are collecting fresh leaves–

I usually collect three times more fiber than

I think I will need. One pound of dry leaf

fiber will yield approximately fifteen sheets

of 8-1/2” x 11” paper.

Grass fibers are among the shortest

papermaking fibers, but nevertheless they

still make interesting papers. You can find

them almost anywhere. Tall weeds and

wild grasses such as straws, rushes, swamp

grasses, and beach grasses are good sources

of papermaking fiber. You can even use corn

stalks and corn husks. Many grasses can be

harvested in any season and are relatively

simple to process. With grass fiber, one

pound of dry fiber will yield about ten small,

lightweight sheets of paper. Collect more

fiber than you think you will need to ensure

that you have enough. You can always dry

and store the rest for future processing.

The best papermaking grasses are

the ones that are the most difficult to tear.

When you find a good source, collect all but

the roots and remove the non-grassy parts

of the plant, like cattail spikes and wheat

fronds. Some grasses, such as bamboo

(Phyllostachys aurea) and sugarcane (Saccharum

officinarum), are extremely tough

and must be crushed or shredded. To crush

tough weeds, some papermakers use garden

shredders. You might consider renting one.

If you live in an area where sugar is processed,

you might be able to obtain leftover

crushed stalks, called bagasse, directly from

a manufacturer. Bagasse fiber is a good fiber

to mix with another fiber since it does not

hold together well on its own.

There is a fourth fiber category: seed

fiber. Cotton (Gossypium) is the most

common seed fiber, and it is one of the

most widely used raw materials for hand

papermaking in the United States. After

cotton has been ginned for textiles, weaker

fiber left on cotton seeds is collected for

papermaking during a second ginning. This

fiber is processed into rough sheets, called

cotton linters, which can be processed in a

blender or a Hollander beater. Paper also

can be made from cotton rags. Your old,

ratty blue jeans and 100% cotton t-shirts

(no synthetics) can make wonderful paper,

but doing so requires a lot of work. The rags

must be cut into tiny squares and beaten in

a Hollander beater.

There are many fine sources of papermaking

fibers that do not fall into any of the

above categories. A papermaker in Oregon

collects seaweed that washes up from the

ocean after storms and makes a beautifully

translucent, brown-flecked paper. A papermaker

in England uses the skins of fruits

like mango to produce lovely sheets.

If you do not want to collect your own

plant fibers, you can buy processed fibers

(like cotton linters) from a number of mailorder

papermaking supply companies (see

advertisements in this newsletter). Other

fibers such as abaca, Spanish flax, and

esparto grass (Stipa tenacissima) are also

available in semi-processed sheet form. You

can buy the three traditional Japanese bast

fibers: kozo, mitsumata, and gampi. Some

grass, leaf, and seed fibers such as wheat

straw (Triticum aestivum), raffia (Raphia

ruffia), and kapok from the Ceiba pentandra

tree, are available in their raw, unprocessed

form. Fibers like raffia and flax can also be

purchased at weaving supply shops. Sometimes

you can even find sisal, jute (Corchorus

capsularis), and other strong natural

fibers for sale at your local hardware store in

the form of string or rope.

Portions excerpted from Papermaking with Plants,

© 1998, by Helen Hiebert with permission from

Storey Publishing. <www.storey.com>.

TEACHING HAND PAPERMAKING

Based in Philadelphia, Winifred Radolan

operates an itinerant teaching papermill, and

has taught papermaking to thousands of adults

and children. In this article, Winnie takes us to

summer camp.

Most teachers would agree that a

major fringe benefit of the profession is a

summer’s break from the classroom –

time to rejuvenate, recharge creative energies,

travel, etc. And then there are those

among us who, as children, didn’t experience

summer camp, so we dedicate our

warmer summer days to the annual pursuit

of this adventure in its many forms. There

are both advantages and challenges packaged

with this special time of teaching,

where a more relaxed mindset is both a

blessing and a curse.

I’ve been a camp papermaking instructor

for many years at Perkins Center for

the Arts in Moorestown, New Jersey. My

summer wouldn’t feel complete without

being part of this enriching and well organized

event. This half-day, comprehensive

arts experience is offered to children aged

six through thirteen in a series of four

two-week sessions. Campers have the opportunity

to work with six different visual

and performing artists in this condensed

time. By the final Friday’s performance for

family and friends, it is amazing to watch

the competency achieved in performing

an African dance routine, Latin rhythm on

drums, or perhaps storytelling – with no

more than four to six hours of instruction

time. The teaching artists stand by and applaud

the results of each other’s work with

these children we’ve come to know for such

a short time. And we want desperately to be

one of the kids in each other’s classes!

Each camp session is given a theme

around which the various artists design

their activities. In ten years I can’t remember

a time in which I didn’t work the “Asia”

session and anger the “washi gods” by planning

Japanese papermaking in summer.

They have consistently responded by producing

the hottest weather of each year for

these particular two weeks! I should mention

here that we are either making paper

outside on the porch or in a non-air conditioned

room, where the fiber spoils quickly

and the neri (kids love the slimy part) often

wants to quit in the heat. Nevertheless,

although much more labor-intensive, its

always one of my favorite lessons. I request

a Tuesday/Thursday schedule, allowing me

to work with two of the four age groups for

1½ hours on each of four days. The children

learn a brief history of Japanese papermaking.

Then they noisily pound the fibers I

have cooked for them with wooden mallets

for thirty minutes. In that first session I

rotate the kids through making their first

sheet of washi too. Days two and three of

the four-day period are spent scooping kozo

from the vats with su-keta that I’ve made

from sushi mats sandwiched between artstretch

frames. We make lots of paper, then

press it and brush it out on boards to dry.

Over the years, projects completed on day

four have included kites, three-dimensional

sculptures, carp to celebrate Boy’s Day, and

books. This year we made toro-nagashi,

the paper lanterns that guide spirits home

after August’s Obon Festival. Often, making

washi is a camper’s first papermaking experience,

which I learn in successive years that

they have remembered in great detail. This

makes the increased work and extra-hot

weather all worth it for me!

The compressed teaching schedule

of these sessions teaches us how to adapt

projects, and just what we can actually

accomplish in the form of miracles (and

what we should never try again). I recall

the summer session in which our theme

was “Africa.” With Egyptian papyrus in

mind, I decided to cook up enough squash

to make the veggie version with sixty

campers in two weeks. If one is a Monday/

Wednesday/Friday artist in a session, one

sees thirty kids in three days to complete

a project, then starts over with thirty older

kids to do the same activity the following

week. I learned who in my neighborhood

subscribed to the daily newspaper and

had them contribute to my drying needs. I

discovered that old cotton/poly bed sheets

torn up worked just fine to lay the veggies

out on, instead of more scarce linen cloth.

I realized that overcooking the veggies

made them too mushy for little hands

to manipulate into overlapping designs.

I honed my storytelling skills to keep

the kids interested while, one at a time,

they checked the drying progress of their

papyrus. I found I could get thirty layers

of squash and newspaper into my portable

Arnold Grummer press. I learned that

if I changed the newspaper between the

thirty mini-masterpieces three times daily,

I actually had dry papyrus by Friday. We

mounted them onto kids’ handmade paper

and stamped hieroglyphics on with rubber

stamps. The kids and I loved the project but

I’ve never repeated it.

Some of the more challenging summer

camp situations have arisen as a result of a

poorly established system of counselors and

“in-training” staff. I’ve found that the strong

leadership of a mature counselor that stays

with his/her campers throughout a series of

activities during the sessions and participates

can really enhance the total experience

for all. Conversely, those who have become

counselors because they are a few years too

october 2005 5

old to actually be campers, just add extra

chaos. A more experienced counselor can

also be of invaluable help in managing the

handful of children whose mom’s have

decided to “take them off their meds” for

the summer!

I’ve learned over my years as an

“adult camper” to go with the flow of the

kids’ relaxed summer attitude. I’ve also

learned the importance of not scheduling

anything for two weeks after that last camp

session – except perhaps a serious date

with a beach chair, sun hat, and engrossing

novel. Right about now I can almost feel the

lap of salt water tickling my toes. After just

the right amount of summer camp fun, I’m

ready for some time off!

ON-LINE

Pamela S. Wood of Arizona makes one-of-akind

books from her handmade papers. She

explores the internet seeking out notable paperrelated

sites. In this installment, Pam takes a

virtual visit to Spain.

¡Vamos a Catalunya dentro espana!

Let’s go to Catalonia in Spain for some fun

in the sun and a great introduction to the

long tradition of Spanish handmade paper.

Museu Moli Paperer de Capellades is 35-40

miles southwest of Barcelona in the real

world; in the virtual world it is found at

<www.mmp-capellades.net>.

When the opening splash page appears

you have your choice of languages, then

the main page loads some photos and if

you click on the star/circle logo, up pops

the logo enlarged and in motion leading to

some snazzy graphics detailing The Watermark

Route, an educational program in the

works with other partner museums. OK,

dazzled, but now ready for substance, click

the bar along the bottom. Presentation leads

to general information including a map

showing just where in Spain the museum

is located. A click on Museum Objectives

opens policy and position statements guiding

the museum and its work. Museum

History gives a factual account of the mill

from its beginnings in the 18th century

until its opening in 1961 as a museum.

Now the best part. Click the title Virtual

Visit. Don’t be fooled, it looks so plain: a

line drawing cut-away of the museum. But

click your cursor on the lower level and up

comes another window beginning your

virtual tour. Scrolling from left to right you

enjoy the beginning stages of papermaking.

The blue arrow starts the movement and the

minus takes you back. When this finishes

click the blue plus sign and the next stages

of the papermaking process scroll in the

same fashion. Let’s join the tour of children

at the stairs and move forward. Part one

ends at the vat for pulling sheets. Part two

(use the plus sign) gets you the rest of the

papermaking process. The next floor moves

you through the gallery spaces furthering

your tour along. The third floor houses the

library and laboratories. The Ultima, last,

floor is the drying room and the theater, as

well as exhibit space and large presentation

spaces for group demonstrations.

What museum visit would be complete

without a stop at the museum shop by clicking

on the bottom bar. Vamos a comprar, let’s

go shopping! Once there, a cute little figure

with paper in hand walks toward the word

comprar. The actual shopping cart did not

work on my computer, lucky for my wallet.

Until next time. ¡Hasta proximo!

PAPER HISTORY

Peter Hopkins is a media relations consultant

specializing in environmentally responsible papermaking

and the history of papermaking. In

this issue, Peter describes a 19th-century fashion

rage and business boom: the paper collar.

The outbreak of the U.S. Civil War

began as a near disaster for many papermakers

in the Northeast, with the loss

of customers south of the Mason-Dixon

Line along with their accounts receivable.

Prospects were not good as papermakers

struggled through 1861 and 1862. But one

hardship imposed by the war turned out

to be an incredible boom for northern

papermakers.

The South was then, as now, where cotton

was grown and many textiles manufactured.

Cotton became a scarce commodity

in the north. Luckily, there were adequate

supplies of rags to make paper due to European

imports, but there was a great shortage

of the material with which to make clothes.

Boston businessman Andrew A. Evans

thought he had an answer to the material

shortage which was threatening the sartorial

needs of the gents in fashion-minded

Boston. In late 1862, he inquired of Zenas

Marshall Crane whether it might be possible

to manufacture a paper sturdy enough

to make shirt collars. Samples were sent,

experiments were conducted, and the two

men wrote back and forth until the correct

specifications were arrived at. The paper

was a marvel of strength and flexibility,

made in either two or three plys on cylinder

machines. In January of 1863, Evans began

ordering substantial quantities of paper, in

the area of 50,000 pounds, which Crane

& Company began selling at 50 cents per

pound. According to correspondence on

file in the Crane Museum of Papermaking,

collar paper must have been very difficult

to make. It had a tendency to break when

folded, weights tended to vary considerably

off spec, and it appears that the quality of

raw materials available was less than desired

at times. It wasn’t long before Crane had to

settle for 35 cents per pound, but throughout

the fashion life of the paper collar, the

enormous demand made customers literally

beg for almost anything they could get.

Evans had the jump on the market, but

he also created further demand once the

product was available. By March 1863, S.A.

Wood & Co. and F.A. Hawley, both of Boston,

were also in the market. And the collar

craze was already in its second generation.

Crane was asked to start making 100-pound

paper, as the 90-pound was not heavy

enough for stand-up collars, called Garrotes,

interestingly enough.

By mid-1863, Troy, New York, had

become a major collar-manufacturing center

(hence its name, The Collar City) and more

and more enterprises were created to serve

this market, including envelope-maker

Edward Chamberlain who wrote: “I shall get

up today the edge marker and something to

punch button holes and will advise you of

my progress.” By now, collar-makers were

ordering paper a ton or two at a time.

As manufacturers strove to distinguish

their product from that of their competitors,

a host of brand names began appearing,

as did different styles and colors. Crane

sold its collar papers under the Eureka and

Byron names. In 1863, a company in New

York won a patent to apply an enamel finish

to men’s collars, and according to Evans,

“has the field.” This may have been the first

entry in what has become known as “coated

papers.” Museum samples display a significant

gloss, even 130 years later. To compete

with the patented innovation, Evans wrote:

“The paper is A-1 quality as far as the

strength and quality is concerned. It makes

a tip-top collar. But I want more finish. Get

something on it that will not allow the dirt

to stick quite so readily.” Dirt wasn’t the only

problem encountered. So was perspiration.

Several customers clamored for a paper that

was perspiration-proof.

By the middle of 1863, nearly every

correspondence with Crane could be

characterized as a “howl” for paper. Crane’s

Red Mill could not keep people supplied fast

enough. From 1863 to 1869, more than 60

percent of Crane’s capacity was taken up

by collar paper alone. In 1865, Lindley

Murray Crane’s mill in Ballston Spa, New

York, began making paper to help out.

Customers were ordering cases of collar

paper by the score. Checks to Crane arrived

for as much as $7,000 to $8,000 per

month per customer.

In 1865, several customers asked for

the entire production of the Crane mills in

order to fulfill their needs. One reported

that he had standing orders for one million

collars, and could use enough paper

to make 250,000 collars per month. That

meant a ton of paper a day for several collar

companies. In 1864, the American Molded

Collar Company wanted an exclusive contract

for 26 tons per month. The mill ran

constantly, but in August 1864, had to take

some downtime for repairs. One customer

wrote to express his distress: “I want you

to make paper day and night when you are

back up.”

During the late 1860s, this craze

expanded both geographically north and

west, as well as in the products offered.

Manufacturers wanted paper for shirt cuffs,

“bosoms,” and even ladies’ collars. The

ladies took to the fad quite readily, but it

didn’t last long – no more than 18 months.

Paper collar mania lasted until about

1874. Whether it was the vagaries of fashion

or another factor, why it ended is unclear.

PAPER SCIENCE

John Bordley is F. B. Williams Professor and

Chair of the Chemistry department at Sewanee:

The University of the South. Here is his third

chapter on papermaking science describing

water and its special properties.

The second chapter, which appeared

in the April 2005 issue of this publication,

discussed the idea of the bonding that takes

place within a molecule. The covalent, or

intramolecular, bonds are quite strong and

involve the sharing of electrons between two

atoms. Sometimes these bonds are referred

to as chemical bonds. The formula for

water, H2O, tells us that each water molecule

contains two hydrogen atoms and one

oxygen atom but not what atom is bonded

to what atom. A more instructive formula

would be HOH, emphasizing that each H

is bonded to the one, central O atom. Thus

there are two identical covalent bonds. Since

the oxygen atom has eight protons in its

nucleus and the H atom has just one proton,

the pair of electrons shared between an

O and H atom is pulled toward the O atom.

This causes the O end of the water molecule

to carry a slight negative charge and the side

with the two H atoms

to carry a slight positive

charge, viz.

where the δ represents

a small charge.

As mentioned in Chapter 2, when there

is unequal sharing of electron pair(s) in a

covalently bonded molecule, a charge separation

has occurred within the molecule,

and the molecule is said to be polar. Water is

probably the most famous polar molecule!

What happens when there are many

water molecules in a container? The polar

water molecules align themselves so that

the negative end of one water molecule is

near the positive end of another water molecule.

This alignment takes place in three

dimensions, and each water molecule is

attracted to four other water molecules. The

attractions that then take place between the

neighboring water

molecules are

referred to as intermolecular

bonding.

In the diagram to

the right, the solid

lines represent

the intramolecular

bonds; the dashed lines represent the

intermolecular bonds. These intermolecular

bonds are sometimes called physical bonds;

they are only about 1-10% as strong as the

chemical or intramolecular bonds.

There are several kinds of intermolecular

bonds, but those between water

molecules involve the attraction of a H atom

in one water molecule to the O atom on

another water molecule, are the strongest of

the physical bonds, and are given the special

name hydrogen bonds. These bonds are

strong enough to give unusual properties to

water. For example, the boiling point of water

is much higher than would be predicted

by looking at a series of compounds similar

to water. Since the molecules are attracted to

each other in the liquid phase, it takes much

more energy than expected to separate the

molecules from each other so that they can

then go into the vapor phase. The more

energy that must be supplied, the higher the

boiling point. In the solid phase, the hydrogen

bonds help create a rigid but very open

structure. As solid water (ice!) melts, some

of the hydrogen bonds break, and the liquid

water molecules move into the holes that

were in the solid structure. The result is that

liquid water from 0°C to about 4°C is more

dense than the ice. Above 4°C, the liquid

water becomes, more typically, less dense

than the solid water. If water did not have

this strange property, we would not have life

on the earth as we know it. Water would

freeze, the more dense solid would sink, and

lakes would freeze from the bottom up. But

because of water’s unusual densities as solid

and liquid, the ice goes to the surface of the

lake, and lakes freeze from the top down.

Except in very shallow water bodies, fish can

stay alive in the lower pockets of liquid.

Next time: a look at other molecules

that share some similarities with water.

PROFILES IN PAPER

Susan Gosin co-founded Dieu Donné Press

& Paper in 1976. She regularly lectures and

teaches papermaking, and has compiled

a significant collection of interviews with

noted personalities in the hand papermaking

community.

This past summer, I helped Ruth Lingen

develop custom pulp for a new Chuck

Close project being produced in Amagansett,

New York. As we worked side by side

in the studio, we shared stories about our

remarkable teacher Walter Hamady and our

fellow alumni and colleague, Joe Wilfer, a

pioneering papermaker who died ten years

ago. During the course of the summer

as Chuck and other artists (such as Alan

Shields, Linda Benglis, Paul Wong, and

Dick Soloman, Joe’s former employer at

Pace Prints) stopped by, we traded more

hilarious stories of making art and having a

ball with the late Joe Wilfer. It became clear

that this was the perfect opportunity to piece

together Joe’s story and share it with other

hand papermakers.

I noted in my last column that my perspective

on the revival of hand papermaking

is influenced by my graduate school days at

The University of Wisconsin, Madison, in

the late 1970s. Papermaking and printmaking

students were transformed by the synergy

of teachers like Walter Hamady, Warrington

Colescott, and Bill Weege, to name

just a few in the art department. As one of

Walter’s early students in the late 1960s, Joe

Wilfer lead the group of art students who

emerged from Madison charged with the

revolutionary zeal rampant in printmaking

and papermaking at that time.

Joe became a fixture in the art world

of Madison, a supporter of art and artists

alike. As Paul Wong remembers, “Joe

was exceptionally generous, especially to

young, unknown artists.” With his people

skills and technical mastery of all forms of

printmaking, he was a born collaborator.

Soon after he was introduced to papermaking

in Walter’s book class in 1969 he passed

on his new passion where he worked at

the Madison Art Center by setting up a

papermill and organizing some of the first

exhibits of handmade paper art. As part of

his Master’s Degree exhibition, he produced

custom paper for selected artists such as

Ed Ruscha and Richard Artschwager, then

displayed their work alongside his own.

A fervent convert to papermaking,

Joe delved deep into the history of papermaking

by visiting mills in Europe and

researching the commercial industry in the

United States. His passion for papermaking

became an integral part of his life as his

daughter Kate remembers, “For our family

vacations we used to visit papermills!” By

1974 when he established The Upper U.S.

Papermill outside of Madison he brought

this knowledge to professional artists willing

to experiment with him using paper

pulp as an art medium. Alan Shields, one of

the first artists to work with Joe, was urged

to think “out of the box” of the standard

white paper rectangle of traditional printmaking.

Joe and Alan developed a model

working partnership, “I was the idea guy

and Joe was the facilitator, then as with all

real collaborations, our roles flip-flopped

even though as the artist I always took the

lead. For Joe, nothing was impossible; as he

said, the impossible just took a little longer.”

Eager to connect with other hand

papermakers and aware of a growing movement

in the United States, Joe organized

The First Conference of Hand Papermakers

in 1975 at The Paper Chemistry Institute in

Appleton, Wisconsin. It was a pivotal event

for all 45 of us attending and a chance for

many colleagues such as the Clarks and the

Koretskys to meet. Joe not only introduced

us to each other, he also introduced us to

the Dard Hunter Collection, at that time

housed in Appleton, Wisconsin. Following

the conference he established the first organization

of contemporary hand papermakers

called The Friends of Paper, a precursor

to The Friends of Dard Hunter.

During the few short years while he

worked his way up from janitor to Director

of The Madison Art Center he also

developed educational programs, mounted

exhibits, established his own papermill,

collaborated professionally with artists,

conducted papermaking research, and

completed graduate school. It is little

wonder that by the time he moved to New

York City and Maine to become the Director

of The Skowhegan School of Painting and

Sculpture at age 37, he was legendary. Yet

his triumphal entry into the professional art

world of NYC was short lived. His entrepreneurial

style, embracing enthusiasm, and

outspoken candor put him at odds in this

administrative role and within a year he had

left the Skowhegan School.

Looking for a studio where he could

work with artists, Joe accepted my invitation

to collaborate at Dieu Donné in 1980. Joe’s

approach to collaboration reinforced our

own while his energy, persistence, and desire

to experiment were appreciated assets,

not liabilities. With Joe’s help we initiated

many collaborations and began a long association

with Chuck Close. Within a year

Joe’s total absorption with Chuck’s paper

editions necessitated moving production

out of Dieu Donné into a studio dedicated

to his work. A year later while Joe continued

to work on the Close editions at Austin Productions

on Long Island, he also found the

opportunity to design and build papermaking

equipment. However, this endeavor was

abandoned when he began to work full time

at Pace Editions first as the Publications Director,

then in 1985 as the Director of Pace’s

printmaking and papermaking studio, The

Spring Street Workshop.

For the next decade until his death

Joe flourished as a master collaborator

creating art in both handmade paper and

almost every form of printmaking. Multiple

projects with veterans such as Alan Shields

and initiates such as Donald Baechler

afforded Joe the opportunity to stretch his

papermaking skills and help these artists

make some of their most distinctive work.

The landmark paper collaborations that Joe

did with Chuck Close revealed a range of

expression and subtlety that redefined

hand papermaking.

Though these achievements justify

honoring Joe as an important pioneer in

the revival of hand papermaking, for those

who knew him, there are other reasons

why we remember him so well. Those

of us attending his memorial services

in Wisconsin and in New York City

were overwhelmed by the outpouring of

hundreds of friends who came to share their

“Joe stories.” The man who became the first

male cheerleader of his high school and

who never failed to spread good cheer for

the rest of his life stole our hearts by giving

so much of his own. As Bill Weege said,

“To be with Joe was to be at the party, a party

with an open invitation.” And that’s just

what his memorial service was at the corner

bar he owned with friends not far from The

Spring Street Workshop.

For those interested in learning more

about Joe Wilfer, I highly recommend a

catalogue from a show organized by Ruth

Lingen and Diane Fine, “The Joe Wilfer

Show: Collaborations in Paper and Printmaking,”

The Plattsburgh Art Museum,

State University of New York, 1998. Portions

were reprinted in the Summer 1998

issue of Hand Papermaking magazine.

DECORATED PAPER

Hand Papermaking is pleased to welcome

another new columnist. Sidney Berger, a

professor at Simmons College in Boston, has

been collecting and researching decorated paper

for over thirty years. In this first installment,

Sid introduces ways of thinking about

decorated paper.

In my work on a thesaurus of terminology

of decorated paper (see the forthcoming

issue of Hand Papermaking magazine), I

have been challenged by some of the folks

on our committee to clarify just what that

term means. What is “decorated paper”?

I will connect all this to handmade

paper in a while, but before leaping into the

creation of a wordlist, we did need a good

definition of just what we were making a list

of. The background: libraries and archives

throughout Europe want to catalog their

paper collections, and they all want to use

the same terms for the same phenomena

so that their catalogs would be universally

searchable. A cataloger or scholar looking at

a catalog in Germany with the term “French

snail marbled paper” wants to know that it

is the same pattern as “Dutch curl marbled

paper.” So the catalogs in other libraries

should all use the preferred term, with a

cross-reference to the non-preferred term.

After hours of discussion, slowed down

a bit by the difficulty of the language barrier

(my German was not quite up to the discussion,

and people from Belgium, Holland,

and Poland had the same problem since

both of the two-day meetings were conducted

in German), we figured out that there is

a difference between “decorated paper” and

“decorative paper,” the position that a few of

the German marblers took strongly.

Decorated paper starts out plain and

gets decorated, as the word indicates. Decorative

paper is paper that has decoration on

it, and that serves artistic functions. So a

marbled sheet may be decorative, but it is

decorated in that it didn’t start out that way.

Several on the committee said that if we

were compiling terminology of decorated

paper, then much handmade paper, lace

papers, and watermarked papers did not

qualify since the decoration was created in

the formation of the sheet; it was not added

onto the sheet after its manufacture.

The position I took, and which was

supported by most people around the table

(there were almost 20 people who convened

in Leipzig for both meetings) was that the

idea was to create a tool that we could all

use to catalog our collections. If the collections

included lace papers and watermarked

sheets, then these terms needed to be in the

thesaurus. The sense of this was acknowledged,

and we changed the title of the thesaurus

to include the phrase “Decorated and

Decorative.” This satisfied all of us and the

work on compiling the list could proceed.

As for handmade paper, we all

know the many ways it can be decorated.

However, a sub-topic arose in the meeting

that engaged us for a while. Someone said

that since handmade paper is beautiful

merely in its manufacture – the human

touch, and so forth – and since it has

characteristics that machine made paper

does not have, it is inherently decorative,

even if it is merely a sheet of white,

unadorned paper. This is a philosophical

issue that it might be profitable for

readers of Hand Papermaking to express

their opinions on.

In an aesthetic way, I agree completely.

Even the earliest handmade sheets I formed

more than 30 years ago had a loveliness in

their crudeness, in the three-dimensional

texture produced from the old army blanket

that sacrificed itself to become my first felts,

and in the rather pretty, wild deckles that

formed. I remember showing these plain

white papers to people who remarked on

their beauty. Beauty! There was something

absolutely decorative about this paper.

What do you think?

In my next column I will pick up on

this discussion. Just what is decorative

about handmade paper? And how many

ways can handmade paper be made

decorative in the papermaking process

itself? That is a question really worth my

asking for help on. I know about lace

papers, inclusions, embeddings, coloration,

watermarks, poured pulp, and shaped

deckles that produce shaped sheets. What

else produces decoration in the actual handmaking

process? What techniques can be

combined to add decoration for the final

product? And so forth. I look forward to

hearing from you at <sid@simmons.edu>.

Listings for specific workshops and other

events in the following categories are

offered free of charge on a space-available

basis. The deadline for the January

Newsletter is November 7. Contact each

facility directly for additional information

or a full schedule.

Teachers: Tell your students about Hand

Papermaking! Brochures and handouts

can be mailed to you or your institution.

Email <info@handpapermaking.org>.

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

Amagansett Applied Arts, 11 Indian Wells

Hwy., PO Box 1336, Amagansett, NY 11930,

(631) 267-2787, <www.a3arts.org>. Papermaking

classes taught by Susan Gosin on

the eastern end of Long Island.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Box

567, Gatlinburg, TN 37738, (865) 436-5860,

<www.arrowmont.org>. Classes and workshops

in a variety of disciplines, including

papermaking.

The Banff Centre, Box 1020, Banff, Alberta,

T1L 1H5, Canada, <www.banffcentre.ca>,

(800) 565-9989 or (403) 762-6180. Contact

<wendy_tokaryk@banffcentre.ca> to make

paper in the Canadian Rockies!

Brookfield Craft Center, 286 Whisconier

Road, Brookfield, CT 06804, (203) 775-

4526, <brkfldcrft@aol.com>, <www.brookfieldcraftcenter.

org>. A wide variety of craft

workshops at a colonial vintage campus 75

miles north of New York City.

John C. Campbell Folk School, Route 1, Box

14A, Brasstown, NC 28902, (704) 837-2775,

<www.folkschool.org>. Classes in papermaking

and other crafts in the mountains of

western North Carolina.

Paper Bead Jewelry & Paper Boxes, October

28-30, with Judy Anderson. Create colorful,

one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry from paper.

Fiber Fun, October 30-November 5, with

Martine Caillon House. Experiment with

techniques such as silk paper, “rag making”

(using loose fibers), stamping, beadwork,

embroidery, photo transfers, fabric beads,

creating textures with Tyvek paper, etc.

Papermaking to Books – Pulp to Pages, November

6-12, with Rajeania Snider. Experience

the creation of books – from producing

paper pages and making decorative covers,

to binding and creating journals, albums,

and portfolios.

Holiday Cards-Individual Masterpieces,

December 4-10, with Margaret Estes. Get in

the holiday spirit while creating cards that

are individual works of art to share with

family and friends.

Papercutting: Old and New, March 19-25,

with Barbara Stoop. Explore the tradition

of “papierklip,” making beautiful papercuttings

using small, curved scissors and many

different papers.

Carriage House Paper, 8 Evans Road,

Brookline, MA 02445, (617) 232-1636,

<paperroad@aol.com>.

Carriage House Paper, 79 Guernsey St.,

Brooklyn, NY 11222, (800) 669-8781,

<www.carriagehousepaper.com>.

Center for Book Arts, 28 West 27th Street,

New York, NY 10001, (212) 481-0295,

<www.centerforbookarts.org>. Dozens of

book and paper workshops offered.

Columbia College Chicago Center for

Book and Paper Arts, 1104 S. Wabash,

Chicago, IL 60604, (312) 344-6630, <www.

bookandpaper.org>. Classes in papermaking

and book arts.

Papermaking for Parent & Child, October

8, with Jamie Thome. Join together kids

and papermaking and you have nothing

but rewarding, messy, incredible (wet and

smelly) fun.

Blind Embossing, October 18 & 25, with

Nancy Vachon. Using found objects and

stencils, work with wet pulp and smooth

papers to produce a collection of papers you

can use for book covers, picture frames,

cards, boxes and more!

Cheap Papermaking Day, October 29, with

Ami Trosley. In one action packed day,

introduce yourself to the basics of papermaking:

sheet forming, couching, pressing

and drying.

Dieu Donné Papermill, 433 Broome Street,

New York, NY 10013-2622, (212) 226-0573,

<www.dieudonne.org>. Beginning and

advanced papermaking classes for adults

and children.

Feather River Art Camp, 484 Lake Park

Ave., PMB Box 186, Oakland, CA 94610,

(510) 601-1619. Art camp for adults in the

Sierra foothills near Quincy, California.

Great River Arts Institute, PO Box 48, 33

Bridge St., Bellows Falls, VT 05101, (802)

463-3330, <www.greatriverarts.org>.

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, PO

Box 518, Deer Isle, ME 04627, (207) 348-

2306, <www.haystack-mtn.org>. Workshops

in various disciplines, including papermaking

and book arts.

Historic RittenhouseTown, 206 Lincoln

Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19144, (215) 843-

2228, <www.rittenhousetown.org>. Summer

workshop series on hand papermaking

and other paper arts topics at the site of

America’s first paper mill.

La Font du Ciel, La Chambary, Charrus,

F-07230 Saint André Lachamp, France,

<pfpfrerick@aol.com>, <www.frerick.de>.

Papermaking workshops at the east foothills

of the Cevennes taught by Helmut Frerick.

Magnolia Editions, 2527 Magnolia St.,

Oakland, CA 94607, (510) 839-5268, <www.

magnoliapaper.com>. Workshops in papermaking,

printmaking, and book arts.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts, 1011

Washington Avenue South, Suite 100, Minneapolis,

MN 55415, (612) 215-2520, <www.

mnbookarts.org>. Classes at the Open Book

center for book and literary arts.

Autumn Papermaking, October 8, with Jenea

Rewertz. Capture the shapes and changing

colors of autumn through papermaking.

Preschool Papermaking, October 27, with

Ellen Ferrari. Spend and hour with your

preschooler making paper.

Thanksgiving Paper Dinner, November 13,

with Ellen Ferrari. Celebrate the colors and

aromas of Thanksgiving dinner by “cooking”

up some paper.

Paper Circle, PO Box 117, Nelsonville,

OH 45764, (740) 753-3374,

<papercircle@frognet.net>.

The Papertrail, 135 Lexington Court, Unit 4,

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2J 4R1, (800)

421-6826, <www.papertrail.ca>. Classes in

papermaking, marbling, and related arts.

PapierWespe (PaperWasp), Aegidigasse

3/Hof, 1060 Wien, Austria, (0676) 77-

33-153, <papierwespe@chello.at>, <www.

papierwespe.at>. Workshops in English

and German taught by paper specialists in

downtown Vienna.

Vegetable Papyrus, October 7-9, with Tanja

Boukal. Visit the Viennese main market to

purchase a selection of fruit and vegetables

for making colorful, transparent sheets,

lampshades, and bowls.

Peninsula Art School, Box 304, Fish Creek,

WI 54212, (920) 868-3455 <www.peninsulaartschool.

com>. Classes in papermaking

and other crafts for all ages, held in Door

County, Wisconsin.

Penland School, Penland, NC 28765,

(828) 765-2359, <www.penland.org>. A

full program of craft workshops, including

papermaking and book arts.

Peters Valley Craft Center, 19 Kuhn Road,

Layton, NJ 07851, (973) 948-5200, <www.

pvcrafts.org>. Workshops in a variety of

craft, including papermaking.

Pyramid Atlantic, 8230 Georgia Avenue,

Silver Spring, MD 20912, (301) 608-9101,

<www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org>. Workshops

in papermaking, printmaking, and

book arts.

Introduction to Papermaking, October 8

with Amanda Degener. Learn the basics

using both Western and Eastern fibers and

traditions.

Suminagashi Marbling, October 15 or 22,

with Jake Benson. Create marbled papers of

your own after a short, historical lecture.

Photo Imagery on your own Handmade Paper,

November 4-5, with Amanda Degener. Make

sized handmade paper, then create cyanotypes

and kallitypes the following day.

Dimensional Paper, November 3,

10, 17, December 1, with Amanda

Degener. Develop your sculptural skills,

understanding of materials, hands-on

knowledge, and conceptual appreciation.

Pulp Painting, December 3-4, with Ellen

Hill. Pull base sheets and explore various

techniques and materials for creating pulp

painted imagery.

Robert C. Williams American Museum of

Papermaking, 500 10th Street NW, Atlanta,

GA 30332, (404) 894-7840, <www.ipst.

edu/amp>.

MASKerade Family Workshop, October 15,

with Fran Rottenberg. Create and decorate

original and colorful masks.

Basics of Japanese Papermaking, January 21,

with Ashley Ott. Try the Eastern techniques.

Pulp Painting, March 25, with Beck Whitehead.

Create original works of art with pulp.

Make Your Own Stationery, May 6. Make

beautiful envelopes, note cards, and letters

to share with your family and friends.

San Francisco Center for the Book, 300 De

Haro, San Francisco, CA 94103, (415) 565-

0545, <www.sfcb.org>. Book arts classes and

events year-round.

Pastepapers, December 16, with Leigh

McLellan. Create colorful, vibrant patterns

by covering paper with paste and then

drawing, stamping, combing, or pulling in

the paste.

Seastone Papers, PO Box 331, West Tisbury,

Martha’s Vineyard, MA 02575, (508)

693-5786, <www.seastonepapers.com>.

Workshops in papermaking and book arts

taught by Sandy Bernat.

Sievers School of Fiber Arts, PO Box 100,

Washington Island, WI 54246, (920) 847-

2264, <sievers@itol.com>, <www.sieversschool.

com>. Summer workshops on an

island in Lake Michigan.

Handmade Paper Lampshades, September

30 - October 2, with Michelle Workowski.

Make your own custom lampshade, choosing

from a variety of handmade papers, and

various barks and fibers to trim it.

Snow Farm, The New England Craft

Program, 5 Clary Road, Williamsburg, MA

01096, (413) 268-3101, <www.snowfarm.

org>. Study in a pastoral setting near the

five-college communities of Amherst and

Northampton.

Southwest School of Art & Craft, 300

Augusta, San Antonio, TX 78205, (210) 224-

1848, fax (210) 224-9337, <www.swschool.

org>. Classes and workshops including

papermaking, book arts, and printmaking.

Creating Lampshades with Watermarked

Paper, October 5-12, with Linda Draper. Explore

the translucent quality of paper, create

simple watermarks, and apply wet paper to

shade forms.

Botanical Paper, October 15-16, with Jo Etta

Jupe. Do something with those plants you’ve

trimmed in your backyard.

Stone and Paper Art Center, L.L.C., 2020

Woodrow Street, Mandeville, LA 70448,

(504) 674-9232, fax (504) 674-9227.

Nagashasuki with Mary-Elaine C. Bernard,

selected Saturdays. Learn this Eastern

method of making paper and incorporate

local plant fibers.

Valley Ridge Art Studio, 115 S. Franklin

St., #303, Madison, WI 53703, (608) 250-

5028, <www.valleyridgeartstudio.com>.

Workshops in papermaking, bookmaking,

photography, writing, etc.

West Dean College, Chichester, West

Sussex, U.K., (0)1243 811301, <short.

course@westdean.org.uk>, <www.westdean.

org.uk>.

Sculpture & Paper, February 27-March 2,

2006, with Susan Cutts. Process fibre into

pulp, then sheets, which will be used, wet,

to create a small shoe sculpture on the first

day and a larger torso on the second, without

the use of glue or stitching.

Wisconsin Center for Paper Arts, 811 Williamson,

Madison, WI 53703, (608) 284-

8394, <wcpaperarts@hotmail.com>.

Women’s Studio Workshop, PO Box 489,

Rosendale, NY 12472, (914) 658-9133,

<http://wsworkshop.org>. Summer Arts

Institute includes workshops in papermaking,

printmaking, book arts, photography,

and other media.

CONFERENCES & SPECIAL EVENTS

The Friends of Dard Hunter will meet

in Salt Lake City, Utah, October 20-23,

2005. The Friends meet annually to enjoy

speakers, presentations, tours of local

paper and book arts facilities, a trade show,

auction, and banquet. Some scholarships

will be available to those with financial

need. The 2006 meeting will take place

October 19-21 in Chillicothe, Ohio. For

more information write to the Friends of

Dard Hunter, PO Box 773, Lake Oswego, OR

97034, or call (503) 699-8653 or visit

<www.friendsofdardhunter.org>.

The Geelong Forum is an annual event

held near Melbourne, Australia, sponsored

by The Australian Forum for Textile Arts

(TAFTA). Accommodation and meal

programs are available, and participants

may sell handmade items at the Heathen

Bazaar. Among the many classes offered

is Japanese Sheet Forming and Translucent

Paper Casting with Oriental Fibre taught

by Catherine Nash. The 2005 gathering

is September 25 through October 1. For

details, contact tafta@iinet.net.au or visit

< www.ggcreations.com.au/tafta/ >.

Shangri-La, Dieu Donné Papermill’s annual

benefit, will feature live and silent auctions

of over 100 artworks on handmade

paper. The event will take place on Thursday,

October 20th at the Grand Harmony

Restaurant, 98 Mott Street, New York City.

Tickets are $110 for an individual ticket and

$800 for a table of ten tickets. Please call

Erin O’Rourke at (212) 226-0573 ext. 326 to

reserve your tickets.

Hand Papermaking will present a lecture at

the Hudson Opera House in Hudson, New

York, Saturday, November 5 at 2:00pm. Editor

Mina Takahashi will speak about global

papermaking traditions and give a preview

of the upcoming issue of Hand Papermaking

magazine focused on handmade paper

collections around the world. Sculptor Linda

Cross and painter Ken Polinskie, two artists

recently featured in Hand Papermaking

publications, will also make presentations

on their work in handmade paper. In addition,

there will be a preview showing of

Hand Papermaking’s upcoming portfolio,

The Art of Pulp Painting. Afterwards, stay for

the opening reception of Ken Polinskie’s

30-year pulp painting retrospective down

the street at Modo Gallery.

IAPMA, the International Association of

Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists, will

hold its 2006 Congress in Austria, about 40

minutes east of Salzburg, August 3-8. Enjoy

workshops, demonstrations, and presentations

in a historic papermaking town near

the Austrian Lake District. Non-members

welcome. For information, contact Helene

Tschacher at <helene@tschacher.de>.

EXHIBITS & COMPETITIONS

Life is Life! features paper objects by Annica

Stiernlof at the Dalarnas Museum, Falun,

Sweden, through January 5, 2006. For details

contact <annica.stiernlof@telia.com>.

Paper in Particular annually showcases

art which incorporates paper as a primary

element. Prints, drawings, photographs,

digital images, paintings, sculpture, etc., are

all eligible. Art must have been produced

within the past five years. The juror for this

year’s exhibit is noted painter and printmaker

Kevin Mullins of Wichita State University.

The deadline is November 14. Show

opens February 6 at Columbia College, 1001

Rogers St., Columbia MO 65216. Call (573)

875-7517 for further information.

Plane & Form is an exhibit of contemporary

handmade paper, December 3 through February

25, at Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

Juried by Mary Hark and Jeff Rathermel, the

show contrasts two- and three-dimensional

works. The opening reception is December

3 at 6:00pm. Contact MCBA at (612) 215-

2520 or <www.mnbookarts.org>.

Handmade paper works by Ione Citrin will

be on display in Southern California during

November at Roberts Art Gallery/Santa

Monica High School, 601 Pico Blvd. A101,

Santa Monica; November through January

at Spiritual Living Center, 340 N. Mobil

Ave., Camarillo; December and January

at Exhibit Up, 13011 Newport Ave., #206,

Tustin. E-mail <icitrin@aol.com> or visit

<www.artbyione.com> for further details.

The 3rd National Collegiate Handmade

Paper Art Exhibition will open January

12, 2006, at the American Museum of

Papermaking, 500 10th Street NW, Atlanta,

GA 30332, (404) 894-7840, <www.

ipst.edu/amp>. Juried by Barbara Korbel,

Frank Paluch, and Marilyn Sward, this third

national survey exhibit showcases the finest

works being made in paper by college, university

and art school students from across

the USA.

In the summer of 2006, the sixth Holland

Paper Biennial will take place at the Rijswijk

Museum and the CODA / Apeldoorns

Museum. The Holland Paper Biennial

2006 has no special theme but will show

paper art in pure and varied ways. For more

information about the Holland Paper Biennial,

visit these websites: <www.hollandpapierbiennale.

nl>, <www.museumryswyk.

nl> or <www.coda-apeldoorn.nl> or write

to: Museum Rijswijk, Holland Paper Biennial

2006, Herenstraat 67, NL-2282 BR,

Rijswijk, The Netherlands.

Pyramid Atlantic presents Fibers of Memory,

mixed media on handmade paper by Gibby

Waitzkin, until November 3. Pyramid Atlantic’s

National Members’ Juried Exhibit will be

up November 8 through December 23. And

Collaboration as a Medium: 25 Years of Pyramid

Atlantic opens January 10 at Maryland

Art Place in Baltimore. Details from Pyramid

Atlantic, 8230 Georgia Avenue, Silver

Spring, MD 20912, (301) 608-9101, or visit

<www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org>.

From Hand to Machine: The Evolution of

Papermaking and Handcrafted Books - The

Legacy of Dard Hunter will run concurrently

until December 22 at The Robert C. Williams

American Museum of Papermaking,

500 10th Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30332,

(404) 894-7840, <www.ipst.edu/amp>.

Dard Hunter and the Arts & Crafts Movement

is on display through November 4 in

the Special Collections Gallery, 5th Floor,

Marriott Library, University of Utah. The

Rare Books Division of the library holds

the complete collection of Dard Hunter’s

monumental works. For further details go

to <www.lib.utah.edu/rare> or call (801)

585-9191.

A solo exhibit featuring works of handmade

paper by Buzz Spector, Redux: Drawings

and Word Works 1975-2005, continues

until October 15 at Zolla-Leberman Gallery,

325 West Huron Street, Chicago,

IL 60610, (312) 944-1990, <www.

zollaliebermangallery.com>.

Happy Medium, featuring art on paper

by Ken Polinskie, is on view November 5

through December 31 at Modo Gallery, 506

Warren Street in Hudson, New York. The

opening and artist reception takes place Saturday,

November 5, 5:00-8:00pm. The solo

exhibition will survey landmark art on paper

from the last thirty years and introduce a

recent body of work that is a culmination of

the hand papermaking techniques and compelling

subject matter that have preoccupied

the artist for three decades. Contact (518)

828-5090, <Nicole@modogallery.com>,

or <www.modogallery.com> for further

information.

october 2005 11

TRAVEL

Kathy Clements and Marilyn Sward will

lead an excursion exploring The Crafts,

Textiles & Handmade Paper of India, January

11-25, 2006. After visits to Old Delhi,

the Taj Mahal, and Jaipur, the group goes

to Sanganer, home of a handmade paper

industry where an astonishing 25,000

sheets per day are made. For further information

call Four Corners Travel of Evanston,

Illinois, at (847) 869-3366, or e-mail

<kathy@4cornerstravel.com>.

A papermaking retreat in Hawaii is being

offered by Marilyn Wold, February 5-11,

2006. Gourmet food, accommodations,

a week of papermaking with local fibers,

evening luau, and local transportation is

included. Reach Marilyn Wold at (541) 296-

2317 or <washi@localnet.com>.

OPPORTUNITIES

Fellowship Grants at Women’s Studio

Workshop are designed to provide concentrated

work time in the printmaking,

silkscreen, hand papermaking, photography,

letterpress, and clay studios. Fellowships are

awarded through a jury process. Recipients

pay $200 per week, approximately one-fifth

the actual cost. To apply, send an application

form, resume, 6-10 slides, a letter of interest,

and SASE to WSW, Box 489, Rosendale,

NY 12472. The deadline for Spring fellowships

(March - June) is November 1.

Artists experienced in papermaking are

invited to apply for the opportunity to spend

up to three months working in the Paper

Studio at the Southwest School of Art &

Craft. Artists are expected to provide their

own transportation and materials. Housing

may be available, but is not guaranteed. Collaborations

will be considered. For further

information contact SSAC, 300 Augusta,

San Antonio, TX 78205, (210) 224-1848,

<www.swschool.org>.

The Creative Residencies program in Media

& Visual Arts at The Banff Centre, Alberta,

Canada, provides studio facilities and support

for artists working in a broad range of

media, including photography, sculpture,

print media and papermaking, ceramics,

painting, performance, architecture, new

media, television, video, curatorial and

critical studies, and textiles. Visit <www.

banffcentre.ca> or call (800) 565-9989 or

(403) 762-6180.

PUBLICATIONS

There is still time to purchase Hand

Papermaking’s latest portfolio, The Art of

Pulp Painting, at a special pre-publication

price of $395. Extended for one month until

November 1, this discounted price includes

the juried collection of eighteen pulp paintings

in a custom-made clamshell box, plus

a handbound booklet containing statements

from each artist and a commissioned essay

by the esteemed Jane Glaubinger, Curator of

Prints at The Cleveland Museum of Art. The

edition is limited to 150. View the complete

prospectus at <www.handpapermaking.org>

or call (800) 821-6604 or (301) 220-2393.

Floating World Editions is pleased to announce

the reprinting of Timothy Barrett’s

essential but previously hard-to-find book

on the craft of Japanese papermaking.

Please order from your local or on-line

bookseller, or visit <floatingworldeditions.

com>. Japanese Papermaking: Traditions,

Tools, Techniques sheds light on every facet

of a time-honored craft and offers complete

instructions on how to produce Japanesestyle

papers in the West. A substantial appendix

on utilizing local fibers by Winifred

Lutz, a bibliography and a glossary further

supplement the text.

Dyes from American Native Plants: A

Practical Guide, by Lynne Richards and

Ronald J. Tyrl, has recently been published

by Timber Press. The core of the book is

an exhaustive reference to the hundreds of

colors that can be obtained from 158 commonly

encountered North American plant

species. 155 color photos and over 300 color

chips round out the volume. Ask at your

bookstore (ISBN 0-88192-668-X) or visit

<timberpress.com>.

CORRECTION

We regret that there were factual errors in a

review of Winifred Lutz’s exhibition in the

Summer 2005 (Vol. 20, No. 1) issue of the

magazine. The visit of Timothy Barrett to

Yale introduced Lutz to the creative possibilities

of Japanese papermaking, not European.

In addition, Lutz spent three months

in Japan and Korea, not one month.

MISCELLANEOUS

Skin MD Elite is now being marketed as

a completely new category of product that

looks like a lotion but acts very differently

on the skin. It is a shielding lotion that,

instead of artificially adding moisture to

the skin, is designed to create a protective

barrier that helps keep harmful chemicals

out and keeps natural moisture in. More

information on Skin MD Elite is at <www.

skin-md-elite.com> or call (800) 540-4790.

Podcast interviews conducted by Steve

Miller with Cindy Bowden, Mina Takahashi,

Ann Marie Kennedy, and others in the

handmade paper community, can be heard

at <http://bookarts.ua.edu>.

The beater at Minnesota Center for Book

Arts is available for rental at $35 per hour.

Papermaking equipment rents at $20 per

hour. To reserve your time call MCBA at

(612) 215-2520.

Hand Papermaking sells an attractive

clamshell box to hold back issues of the

magazine in style. Our friends at Campbell-

Logan Bindery in Minneapolis, makers of

the original Hand Papermaking storage

clamshell, are again providing these

beautiful and practical boxes – each one

holds approximately twenty-five magazines.

To place an order, send $75 postpaid in the

U.S., plus $10 postage outside the U.S.,

to Hand Papermaking, PO Box 77027,

Washington, DC 20013. Or call (800) 821-

6604 or (301) 220-2393.

The Society of Marbling is an international

organization dedicated to the promotion

and preservation of the art of marbling. For

information, contact Marie Palowoda, 2605

W. 19th Street Road, Greeley, CO 80634,

<marie-p@despammed.com>. Also available

is the International Directory of Marblers

and Resource Guide featuring 313 listings.

Hand Papermaking continues to offer its

fifth in a series of distinctive portfolios of

handmade papers. Available since 2001,

this juried collection features seventeen

watermarked sheets, each in a protective

folder, described in a handbound booklet,

and enclosed in a custom-made clamshell

box. The edition is limited to 150 and the

price is $265 plus $15 US postage, or $30

for postage outside the US. Call (800)

821-6604 or (301) 220-2394 to order or to

request a prospectus. Copies also remain

from Hand Papermaking’s third portfolio

featuring Nepalese paper, priced at $195.

Hand Papermaking is pleased to offer

Selected Paper Artists, 2004, featuring

62 images of contemporary artwork by 19

paper artists juried from the Hand Papermaking

Artist Registry. Two versions of

this collection are on sale now: purchase a

set of slides for $200 plus $10 postage, or

purchase a CD-ROM for $35 postpaid. Both

include a 48-page booklet including image

descriptions and artist statements, plus

an introduction and history of the project.

Juried from over 500 current slides, this

generous sampling of stunning imagery

demonstrates a wide variety of techniques.

These inspiring images make an excellent

classroom presentation. They are the perfect

solution for educators, publicists, scholars,

and curators looking for unique talent. They

present a helpful overview for newcomers.

They are an inspiration to anyone interested

in handmade paper art. To place an order

send $210 for the set of slides or $35 for

the CD-ROM to Hand Papermaking, PO

Box 77027, Washington, DC 20013. Or call

(800) 821-6604 or (301) 220-2393. Additional

information about Hand Papermaking’s

Artist Registry can be found at <www.

handpapermaking.org>.

Denmark has a new Paper Museum in

Silkeborg: The Bikuben Paper Museum.

Located in the old production halls for handmade

paper at the Silkeborg Paper Factory,

the museum’s focus is handmade paper.

There are exhibitions about the Danish

Paper Industry, Danish Paper, watermarks,

and the Silkeborg Paper Factory, where

the paper for the Danish banknotes was

produced by hand from 1910 to 1958. For

more information contact Bøttebygninngen,

Musik- og Teaterhuset, Smedebakken 1, DK

8600 Silkeborg, telephone +45 8685 4564,

<www.papirmuseet.dk>.

SPECIAL THANKS

Hand Papermaking would like to thank

the following people who have made direct

contributions to our organization.

As a non-profit organization, we rely on the

support of our subscribers and contributors to

continue operating. All donations are greatly

appreciated and are tax deductible. Call or

write for more information on giving levels

and premiums.

Patrons: David B. Marshall Jr. Underwriters:

Abby Leigh, Charles E. Morgan. Sponsors:

Cathleen A. Baker, Simon Blattner,

Jane Farmer, Bobbie Lippman. Donors:

Grimanesa Amoros, Martin Antonetti,

Terry Boone, Kathy Crump, Karla Elling,

Helen Frederick, Lori B. Goodman, Susan

Gosin, Patricia Grass, Ingrid Rose Co.

Ltd., Chuck Izui of Aiko’s Art Materials,

Lois James, Rick Johnson, Lynn Kidder,

Joyce Kierejczyk, David Kimball, Elaine

Koretsky, Mary Lou Manor, Jesse Munn,

Peter Newland & Robyn Johnson, Nancy

Norton Tomasko, Lise Poulsen, Dianne

L. Reeves, John L. Risseeuw, Kimberly

Schenck, Richard H. Schimmelpfeng,

Agnes Schlenke, Marilyn Sward, Claire Van

Vliet. Supporters: Shirah Miriam (Mimi)

Aumann, Lore Burger, Carla A. Castellani,

Chery Cratty, Joanne R. Davis, Amanda

Degener, Martha Duran, Walter Feldman,

Jean Freeburg, Helen Hiebert, Peter

Hopkins, Lou Kaufman, Kristin Kavanagh,

Patricia L. O’Neal, Michelle Samour, Mary

C. Schlosser, Thomas G. Siciliano, Robbin

Ami Silverberg, Peter Sowiski, Lynn Sures,

Carla J. Tenret, Pamela S. Wood.

And Hand Papermaking is especially grateful

to the Fifth Floor Foundation for its

generous grant in support of the magazine.

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