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

N E W S L E T T E R

Number 73, January 2006

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

four times per year. In summer and winter

it is distributed with the magazine, Hand

Papermaking, and in spring and autumn it is

mailed separately. The newsletter is available

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information, or a list of back issue contents and

availability, call, fax, write, or e-mail:

Hand Papermaking, Inc.

PO Box 77027

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The deadline for the next newsletter (April 2006)

is February 15. Please direct all correspondence to

the address above. We encourage letters from our

subscribers on any relevant topic. We also solicit

comments on articles in Hand Papermaking

magazine, questions or remarks for newsletter

columnists, and news of special events or activities.

Classified ads are 75 cents per word with no

minimum. Rates for display ads are available

upon request.

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

organization. Staff: Tom Bannister, Executive

Director; Mina Takahashi, Magazine Editor.

Board of Directors: Cathleen A. Baker, Inge

Bruggeman, Gail Deery, Helen Hiebert, Peter

Hopkins, Barbara Lippman, David Marshall,

Margaret Prentice, John Risseeuw, Marilyn

Sward, Beck Whitehead. 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 Subscribers,

Most of you have subscribed to Hand Papermaking magazine and newsletter for quite

some time; your loyalty is a tribute we value above all else. Many of you were even with

us back in the early days of 1986 when our first issues were published. You recall the first

newsletters and how the magazine improved when advertising moved over to the newsletter.

You remember our first color covers in the 1990s, and our full-color magazine celebrating

15 years in the Summer of 2001. In that issue, Michael Durgin used the opportunity to look

back, honoring our short yet rich history. As we gear up to celebrate our 20th year in 2006,

Mina Takahashi and I are looking to the future, uplifted by a theme of Paper in Flight.

By the time you read this, Mina will be in Japan to work with a group of contemporary

kite artists, and here in Maryland Hand Papermaking is commissioning artist Lesley Dill to

create a ten-foot art kite to grace our Summer 2006 magazine (and just wait until you see the

tip-in we have planned for you!). Lesley Dill’s kite, as well as the Japanese kites, and another

kite featured in the magazine by artist Byron Kim, will all be unveiled in late October during

a festive afternoon event in Baltimore to honor Hand Papermaking’s 20th anniversary. Stay

tuned for more details.

While special events are always exciting, our mainstay programs are no less so. Many

of you have been eager to know the theme of our next portfolio, number eight in the series,

and here it is: Calligraphy and Handmade Paper. Rather than quotations or poetry, we are

encouraging calligraphers to focus on the inherent artistry and meaning of an individual

letterform, ideogram, short word, or acronym. Most importantly, we are asking that the calligraphy

interact creatively with the handmade paper it resides on or in. We are hoping for

some extraordinary collaboration between papermakers and calligraphers. The entry deadline

is October 1, 2006. More details are on page 10 or view the complete call for entries online.

As you know, each of our seven portfolios focuses on a different aspect of handmade

paper. Previous portfolios featured decorated papers, letterpress printing, papers from Nepal,

photography, watermarks, printmaking, and pulp painting. You may not know that our

portfolios are available as traveling exhibits. If you are aware of possible venues please contact

me. We are always eager to share the unique artwork produced for our portfolios

with a broader audience.

And how about that stunning Winter 2005 magazine cover! The exceptional detail is

the result of a printing technology called stochastic screening. The process requires sophisticated

software on a high-end computer,

but the result is extremely high resolution

and near-photographic quality. As always,

we welcome your comments as we strive to

continually improve our publications.

Thank you again for your devotion

to Hand Papermaking in the past, and

thank you in advance for the support that

will keep us soaring upward in 2006 and

years to come.

Tom Bannister

ALONG THE PAPER ROAD...

This regular feature offers paper musings from

Elaine Koretsky – renowned paper historian,

researcher, and traveler. In this issue, Elaine

ponders the evolution of wood pulp papers.

After my experience with kudzu, as

related in the previous issue of Hand Papermaking

Newsletter, where I described the

cumbersome removal of the thin layer of

bast fiber from its woody core, my thoughts

turned to the subject of wood itself as a

paper pulp. In the 18th century, European

papermakers were very eager to find new

materials to augment or replace the linen

rags that were used predominantly in their

work. The French scientist Réaumur is

often cited as the person who first called

attention, in 1719, to the possibility of using

wood pulp in papermaking, based on his

observation of wasps building a paper-like

nest. Réaumur himself never tried out his

theory, deliberately leaving it to others.

Throughout the 18th century

various other materials were suggested

as substitutes for rags, such as asbestos,

seaweed, swamp moss, broom, leaves,

bark, and even caterpillar cods1. Significant

experiments, particularly with wood pulp

and straw, were carried on by Jacob Schäffer,

Mathias Koops, and others, culminating

with the granting of a patent to Koops for

making wood and straw paper2. Schäffer

was credited extensively for his work with all

sorts of plant fibers and he published books

about his experiments, including sample

papers. However, he added a percentage

of rag pulp to all his papers, while Koops

definitely used both straw and wood alone,

with no additives.

For me, the curious thing is that

those people seeking alternative materials

for rags did not pay sufficient attention

to the paper that was being produced

in Asia. They certainly recognized that

paper had been invented in China many

centuries previously. Koops even writes3 that

according to travelers’ accounts, the Chinese

and Japanese use lye to help convert plants

and the bark of trees into paper, but he

states that the methods of preparing the lye

and further processing of the fibers were

not determined. No mention is made of

bamboo, but it is not as common a plant in

Europe as in Asia.

In my own research I have visited so

many different villages in Asia that use

bamboo, that I became interested in the

history of bamboo in Chinese papermaking.

Originally, before the invention of

paper, strips of bamboo wood were used as

a material on which to write, a practice that

essentially disappeared by the 4th century,

displaced by paper.

From the sources that I consulted4,

it seems that the earliest paper made in

China, probably 2200 years ago, was

made from hemp, believed to be old rags

and fish nets. Subsequently, when Cai

Lun announced the making of paper in

105 A.D., he used the inner bark of paper

mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera, called

gou in Chinese). From the 3rd to the 6th

century, other bast fibers came into use,

notably white mulberry (Morus alba, which

is primarily used to feed silkworms), rattan,

ramie, and wisteria. By this time paper

was of increasing importance, and more

bast fibers were used, such as daphne

and hibiscus, along with combinations of

various herbaceous plants.

However, it was not until the 9th

century that Chinese papermakers figured

out how to prepare bamboo for paper pulp.

But the early bamboo papers were weak

and brittle, and it took three more centuries

until the techniques of pulping bamboo

were perfected5. The main reason for this

is that it is far more difficult to break down

bamboo for papermaking, in contrast to

the bast fibers. The explanation for this

lies in the nature of the plant. Botanically,

bamboo is considered a grass, in the family

of plants named Gramineae, to which also

belong rice, corn, wheat, oats, and hundreds

of other genera, dividing further into at

least 4,500 species. But unlike its relatives,

bamboo is a tree-grass. A very important

book about bamboo was written by Dr

Floyd Alonzo McClure6. While teaching at

Lingnan University in Canton, he spent 20

years in China, roughly 1921 through 1940,

studying and classifying the bamboos, and

was internationally recognized as the leading

botanist in that field. On the flyleaf of

his book is written:

Tree-grass –

unique in the plant kingdom

Symbol of uprightness,

chivalry and devotion

Inspiration of poets,

artists and philosophers

Writing material of the ancients;

The stylus of contemporaries

Food, shelter and

clothing of the people

Industrial substance

of a thousand uses

Redeemer of waste places –

protector of the soil

Dr. McClure emphasized that the great

majority of bamboos is woody, although

some others can be classified as herbaceous.

It took a thousand years for the Chinese

papermakers to discover a way to break

down the wood to produce paper. In the

past 25 years I have documented more than

two dozen villages where bamboo paper is

made. In processing bamboo, one feature

common to all the villages is the practice of

soaking the bamboo in slaked lime for periods

of time from a few days to three years or

more, usually followed by boiling or steaming.

The most extreme case is in Burma,

where bamboo is left in its lime bath for up

to five years. The variations in time seem

to depend upon the type of bamboo used,

the other steps in its preparation, and the

ultimate use of the paper. For instance, at

the villages in Fuyang County, China, where

bamboo is soaked for just a few days, it is

also soaked for a day in a pool containing

four parts water and one part human urine.

The papermakers declared that this helped

to soften the fiber. The age and type of

bamboo used also differs among the papermaking

areas. Most villages are very specific

that only young bamboo, less than three

months in age, can be used. A few others,

for instance, Guang Rong in Guandong

Province, use any kind of bamboo and actually

prefer older ones. Of course my own observations

of traditional papermaking have

occurred only since 1982 and may reflect

developments in methods of papermaking.

Nevertheless, most of the procedures I have

witnessed in pulp preparation are corroborated

by the writings of Sung Ying-Hsing in

1634 A.D.7

By the 10th century the Chinese also

began using rice and wheat straw in papermaking.

I have witnessed the making of

straw papers both in China and in Burma,

and realized that the processing is very similar

to that of producing bamboo wood pulp.

The straw is soaked in slaked lime for a

period of time, generally

a shorter period than in

the case of bamboo. Then

it is washed thoroughly,

and beaten by whatever

method of beating is used

in that particular place,

i.e., foot-operated

stamper, grinding wheel

operated by animal

power, water power, or

mechanical beating.

My copy of Matthias

Koops’ book indicates that

this edition is printed on

both straw and re-cycled

white paper, with an

appendix printed solely

on wood pulp paper. It is

not possible to distinguish the straw paper

from the re-cycled sheets, but the wood pulp

sheets are very distinctive. Although the

book is now more than 200 years old, all the

sheets are in fine condition. In 1801 Koops

set up a mill for the manufacture of straw

paper, and produced considerable paper, but

the mill failed within two years. In his book

Koops does not describe how he pulped the

straw and wood, but I discovered that he

must have simply made the pulp by beating.

An auction brochure of 1804 describing

the sale of his mill property shows that mechanical

beaters (the Hollander beater was

invented in 1680) were used8. No mention

was made of vats for lime soaking, cooking

units, or anything else that might be useful

in breaking down the straw.

Subsequently, others began to experiment

further with wood pulp and devised

machines to grind wood into pulp. The

earliest papers made commercially from

this wood pulp contained varying amounts

of rag, but eventually paper was made

entirely from ground wood. This paper

was intended for newsprint, and it proved

satisfactory for that purpose. For other uses,

ground wood pulp was unsatisfactory, as it

contained lignin, a substance that caused

the paper to turn brown and brittle when

exposed to sunlight. By the 1850s, inventors

finally discovered that lignin could be

removed by cooking the wood chips with

caustic alkali in a closed boiler, which the

Chinese and other Asians had already

been doing for centuries. A few years after

this alkaline process of wood pulping was

invented, other scientists developed the

sulphite process, an acid method, which the

pulp and paper industry heartily endorsed.

Now papermakers could utilize a readily

produced and relatively inexpensive material

as an alternative to rag pulp. Wood pulp

paper was used for newsprint, wrappings,

sanitary purposes, books, and all sorts of

ephemera. A new problem soon developed,

although it was not readily recognized for

many years. As early as 1910, Arthur D.

Little, Official Chemist for the American Paper

and Pulp Association9, had warned that

no paper intended for permanent records

should contain ground wood, acid, sulphur,

soluble chlorides, or more than a moderate

amount of ash. In 1920 Edwin Sutermeister10

added the danger of alum in regard to

the permanency of paper, since alum forms

an acid in the presence of water. Alum was

commonly used in the sizing of paper and

to aid in the retention of dyes.

Despite the dire warnings of Drs. Little

and Sutermeister, paper mills continued

to make acidic papers. Finally, when books

and important documents that were printed

or written on paper made from the 1890s

to the 1970s began to deteriorate, a large

outcry from libraries and paper conservators

compelled the paper scientists to investigate

the problems and seek solutions. By the

1980s, alkaline papermaking methods were

rapidly being adopted. Actually, the industry

discovered that they could save money by

using alternative techniques, along with

producing wood pulp papers that were

archival in nature. Meanwhile, the hand

papermakers in the small, remote villages of

China, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other Asian

countries continue their traditional ways,

still producing wonderful paper from bast

fibers, grasses, and the wood of bamboo –

paper that lasts centuries. Papermakers are

welcome to inspect my collection of over

200 different handmade papers from those

countries at the Museum of International

Papermaking at the Carriage House Studio

in Brookline, Massachusetts. Some of these

remarkable papers were collected by Dr.

McClure in China eighty years ago, and

survived storage in a Washington D.C.

garage, enduring thirty years of Washington’s

unpredictable weather.

In summary, I conclude that wood

pulp papers, originally conceived in China

nearly twelve centuries ago, can certainly

withstand the tests of time. As long as the

wood pulp is properly prepared, the papers

can hold their own alongside those made

from old rags.

1 Papermaking, by Dard Hunter, 1st ed.,

Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1943

2 Historical Account of the Substances etc, by

Matthias Koops, 2nd ed., Jaques and Co.,

London, 1801.

3 Koops, ibid., pgs. 236-7

4 History of Chinese Science & Technology, by

Pan Jixing, Science Press, Beijing, 1998

5 Science and Civilisation in China, by Joseph

Needham, Vol. 5, Part I, Paper and Printing,

by Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin, Cambridge University

Press, 1985

6 The Bamboos, by F.A. McClure, first publ.

By Harvard University Press, 1966

7 T’ien Kung K’ai Wu, by Sung Ying-Hsing,

China, 1634. There are several published

translations of this work, but I have used

a literal unpublished translation that was

arranged by Dr. MClure.

8 Hunter, ibid.

9 The Basis of Quality in Paper, by Arthur D.

Little, publ. Boston, 1910

10 Chemistry of Pulp and Papermaking, by Edwin

Sutermeister, first publ. By John Wiley

& Sons, New York, 1920

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). Here she offers

instruction for making pseudo-papyrus, from

vegetables or tamale wraps.

Egyptian papyrus is made by overlapping

pieces of the stalk of the papyrus

plant and pounding or pressing the pieces

together. A similar technique can be used

to make vegetable papyrus using common

household vegetables or corn husks. These

are not true papers, since the fibers are not

beaten to a pulp and made into sheets of

paper on a mesh surface.

Vegetable papyrus is made by cooking

sliced veggies until they are tender, and then

pressing them, which can reveal intricate

and beautiful patterns in the resulting papyrus.

You will need a strong press for this

project, preferably a hydraulic press.

Use vegetables that are firm when

raw but soften when cooked, like zucchini,

peppers, onions, beets, carrots, parsnips,

squash, and turnips. You can try cutting

them in rounds, lengthwise, or even grating

them. Use a sharp knife to cut the slices so

that they are 1/8” – 1/4” thick. The pressing

will make them paper thin, so don’t worry

about cutting them too thick. Remove carrot

tops, apple stems, and other inappropriate

parts if desired.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop

the sliced vegetables into the water. Cook

the rounds until they are soft to the prick

of a fork. Softer vegetables (zucchini or

squash) will need only a couple of minutes,

but firmer ones (carrots or beets) may

require up to 10 minutes. When done,

remove the rounds from the water with a

slotted spoon or strain them. You can use

a vegetable steamer to cook the vegetables,

particularly if you want to keep track of

certain pieces since they will stay put rather

than floating around in a pot of water.

Don’t use good felts for this project –

some vegetables (like beets) stain. Arrange

the vegetable rounds on your felt or other

couching material, making sure they overlap

by at least a quarter inch. Place a second

felt on top. Since the vegetables are still

quite thick, either press the sheets individually

or stack several felts between the layers.

Press the sheets.

Remove the sheets from the press and

transfer them to dry sheets of interfacing. I

recommend placing them between sheets of

interfacing and drying them in a stack dryer

or a press – vegetable papyrus tends to be

sticky and difficult to remove from blotters

or boards when dry. If you air dry vegetable

papyrus, it will shrink, resulting in wavy

potato chip-like pieces.

Tamale Papyrus is a type of pseudopapyrus

which resembles the traditional

papyrus in look. Materials required are

one package of tamale wraps (available in

grocery stores), wheat paste, glue brush,

interfacing, and newspaper.

Purchase a package of tamale wraps

or collect the husks of several ears of corn.

Trim the pointed tops off of the corn husks

or tamales. Soak tamales or husks in water

for a couple of hours. Heat 1-1/2 gallons of

water in a non-reactive pot (stainless steel,

glass, or enamel) and add one cup of soda

ash just prior to boiling. Add the wet tamales

and simmer for 30 minutes. This quick,

harsh cook will make the corn translucent

and soft. Rinse the tamales gently by dunking

them in buckets of clean water – the

tamales are fragile at this point, so handle

them carefully. Keep the tamales in clean

water as you work.

To make the papyrus, take a few tamale

pieces and pat them dry in between sheets

of newspaper. Lay the tamales on a dry piece

of interfacing – notice that one side of the

tamale has ridges and the other is smooth.

Place the side with the ridges towards the

interfacing, and the smooth side is up. Lay

five or six pieces next to each other, so that

they just touch each other.

Brush wheat paste onto the layer of

tamales. Place another layer of tamales

perpendicular to the first, this time with

smooth the side down (smooth side

touching smooth side). Place a layer of

newspaper and then another sheet of dry

interfacing and continue to build a stack of

up to five sheets.

Place your tamale papyrus in a press or

under the weight of some books, a bucket of

water, etc., and keep them under pressure

until dry. Interleave with newspaper to wick

away moisture as the sheets dry and change

newspapers daily. It will take a couple of

days for the sheets to dry. You can also dry

these between blotters in a drying system.

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 installment Winnie uses

papermaking to heighten awareness of marine

conservation.

In an article I wrote for Bull & Branch

back in 2002 I described a new adventure

that I was embarking upon with my itinerant

papermaking and Ecological Research

and Development Group, an organization

dedicated to the preservation of the world’s

four remaining horseshoe crab species. At

the time that article was written it described

a small pilot program in which I visited

three schools in New Jersey to introduce

students to the history, science, and conservation

issues surrounding this ancient

species, the North Atlantic Horseshoe Crab.

Truly amazing creatures, horseshoe

crabs have been around for 350 million

years. Our neighbor species, Limulus

polyphemus, visit the beaches of the North

Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida and

the Yucatan Peninsula every spring and

summer to mate. In the spring their laying

of millions of eggs is timed precisely to

help feed red knots, ruddy turnstones,

and other migratory birds traveling from

Central and South America to their Arctic

mating grounds. Not only are horseshoe

crabs an integral part of the food web, but

humans rely on them for several reasons.

From scientific research done on their ten

“eyes” we know more about the way we see.

The chitin that forms their shells is used

for suture material and burn dressings

that promote quicker healing. Watermen

use horseshoe crabs as bait for catching

conch and eel (part of the reason there are

declining population issues). And perhaps

the way in which these remarkable creatures

touch the most lives derives from their blue

copper-based blood and its ability to clot

around endotoxins (the chemical poisons

that some bacteria make). Pharmaceutical

companies worldwide use their blood to

produce the LAL Test which checks the

purity of all injectable medicines, blood

donations and many medical supplies.

In response to a several year decline

in the horseshoe crab population, artist/

conservationist Glenn Gauvry founded

Ecological Research and Development

Group or ERDG for the sole purpose of

stabilizing and preserving the population

of Limulus polyphemus and its three Asian

relative species. There are several facets to

ERDG’s conservation approach, all based on

empowering individuals and communities

to make a difference in the way we share

the earth with these ancient mariners. I am

involved with the development of both the

educational outreach program, Horseshoe

Crab Conservation and the Arts, and the

annual Poems, Tales and Images Anthology

and Exhibit.

During a half-day classroom visit of

outreach that includes history, science,

video and papermaking, I acquaint students

that range in age from K – 12 grades with

my favorite marine invertebrate. While I am

introducing this amazing creature, I am also

seeking to inspire curiosity and compassion

in young people for its plight and place of

value in our world. My visits are designed

to be a catalyst for student participation

in ERDG’s annual arts anthology and

exhibition, “Poems, Tales and Images.”

Students are encouraged to tap into their

emotions and celebrate

the wondrous horseshoe

crab with their

language/visual arts

expressions, and

submit them to

ERDG for possible inclusion in this

annual exhibition. The classroom program

has grown from those three initial visits

to almost 40 classes scattered throughout

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware

in 2005.

I am often asked about the connection

between horseshoe crabs and papermaking.

The heart of the matter is that I connect

them through my passion with each. I find

that dipping into a vat of paper pulp, first to

make a base sheet, then to embellish it with

stenciled pulp “horseshoe crabs and waves”

is a catalytic experience for the students. It

furthers their excitement concerning what

they’ve learned about horseshoe crabs and

I’d like to think perhaps inspires their later

artistic contributions to the Poems, Tales

and Images program.

The Poems, Tales and Images Anthology

and Exhibition has also burgeoned.

This past year ERDG received hundreds

of pre-school through high school aged

students’ language and visual arts creations

to be juried. Twenty-six works were selected,

representing students from five different

states, including California, where there

are no horseshoe crabs! The word and the

works are “getting out there” as a result of

ERDG’s award winning web site, <www.

horseshoecrab.org>. All past years’ “Poems,

Tales and Images” anthologies are posted on

the site…be sure to visit it!

ERDG strives to elevate horseshoe

crabs to the level of being the subject inspiring

artistic creations because the world

tends to pay attention to the voices of artists.

As mentioned, the voices and visions of our

student artists receive wide cyber-audiences

through the web site. In addition, this year

their work was reproduced in beautiful 18”

x 24” glossy posters that have traveled to

exhibitions in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New

Jersey, North Carolina, and they will end

the year in Florida…how exciting for these

young artists!

The 2005 Poems, Tales and Images

anthology will be the last edition that will be

on my handmade, hand bound paper. I am

in the process of producing 1500 sheets of

hemp with bamboo inclusion paper. Each

will be hand-fed through my tired ink jet

printer to receive the images of the twentysix

artists. I will print and hand-bind sixty

copies of the anthology to be presented to

the artists, their teachers, and our funders.

Because the project has increased so much

in size, it is now appropriate to move to a

commercially printed anthology, allowing

me more time for classroom visits.

As the program grows, we look

forward to inspiring new generations

of student artists to share their

voices in celebration of our

wondrous horseshoe crab friends!

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 column, Pam renews our

acquaintance with Dard Hunter.

There is a saying: “When the student is

willing, the teacher appears.” That sentiment

crossed my mind as I began this article.

I can’t tell you how many times I flew

past this web site never stopping to take a

closer look. But master Dard has much to

teach us about papermaking and life, no

matter your skill level. When you have more

than a moment, spend time with <www.

dardhunter.com> and be ready for inspiration

and enlightenment.

Anyone remotely interested in

handmade paper will no doubt run into the

Dover edition of Papermaking: The History

and Technique of an Ancient Craft by

Dard Hunter. This site is about the man

himself, and his life’s work and passion.

The opening page

presents a portrait of

Mr. Hunter alongside,

oddly enough, a photo

of a piece of furniture.

For now, click on the

portrait. Up pops a

neatly designed page

which is the true portal of this site. Small

photos of historic items illustrate the

introductory text. (For a fun romp through

Dard’s pre-paper life click on “Phil the

Wizard.”) Further down in the text we see

that “books” is highlighted, taking us to a

page illustrating several of his better known

book designs. But hidden behind this page

(“more book designs”) is a very cool quiltlike

grid of 144 designs. It takes a minute

to load, but once it does, you can run your

cursor over it and pop up all the different

cover details – a super feature. The same

can be done with pottery and furniture.

Now that opening photo of furniture begins

to make more sense. Before you leave this

section of the site, be sure to travel with

Dard to Vienna and London.

Let’s move on to Papermaking by

way of the navigation pane to the left of

the page. Read about Mr. Hunter’s 1913

waterwheel mill in New York, inspired and

equipped from London contacts. As the only

mill making handmade paper at the time

in America, its success was ensured if not

for the unpredictable supply of water. But

dry periods at the mill gave Hunter time

to experiment with watermarks, refine his

techniques, and complete the world’s first

one man book in 1916 before selling the

mill and moving to Mountain House in

Chillicothe, Ohio. There he concentrated

on writing, and from that stately home

traveled the world extensively documenting

traditional papermaking methods. The

photo of Dard’s grandson in action at the vat

reminds me that he will be hosting the 25th

anniversary Friends of Dard Hunter conference

in Chillicothe this October. Talk about

bringing a slice of history to life. I can’t wait!

Other main navigation bars give you access

to more about Dard’s life at Mountain

House, Mountain House Press and Library,

etc. All of this adds up to a great surf, aided

by good web design and easy-loading files.

Explore the depth of this site when time

permits. If you only have the time to stop

by quickly, then I highly recommend some

shopping! Go back to the entrance page and

that curious furniture photo, click on it, and

enter Dard Hunter Studios, where great

surprises await anyone interested in the

American Arts & Crafts movement which

Dard Hunter helped to shape.

PAPER HISTORY

Peter Hopkins is a media relations consultant

specializing in environmentally responsible

papermaking and the history of paper making.

In this issue Peter spotlights Cyrus Field, an

entrepreneur who helped shape 19th century

America, beginning with handmade paper.

In 1818, a young preacher named David

Field was called from Connecticut to serve

a small parish in the Western Massachusetts

town of Stockbridge. David settled

into the Glendale section of the town and a

year later, Cyrus W. Field was born. Cyrus

attended local schools and was invited to

attend Williams College, as his brothers had

done, but was not as inclined toward formal

education. And so, at the age of 16, with

$8 in his pocket given to him by his father,

Cyrus set off for New York City to join

another young Stockbridge man at the firm

of A.T. Stewart, one of the leading dry goods

stores in the city.

Cyrus took immediately to the world

of commerce. In two short years, he had

worked up to senior clerk and was well respected

in New York retail circles. But Cyrus

was restless, a theme that was to permeate

his life, and began searching for more

promising opportunities.

He had to look no further than his

older brother who had both purchased a

paper mill in Lee, Massachusetts, from the

Laflin family and had married one of their

daughters. George Phelps, a local tinware

manufacturer, also joined the enterprise.

So, in 1838, Cyrus joined Phelps & Field as

a bookkeeper and general assistant. Shortly

thereafter, his skills as a salesman were recognized

and Cyrus went on the road to sell

paper. During his excursions around New

England and New York City, Cyrus got to

know most of the major paper distributors

as well as competing papermakers. Never

one to pass up opportunities, Cyrus began

providing services to other papermakers

during his travels, locating supplies of rags

and chemicals.

During his travels with Phelps & Field,

Cyrus came to know the paper wholesaler

E. Root & Co., described as a second-rate

house with whom the more prominent papermakers

did no business. He was offered

a junior partnership with the firm which,

unbeknownst to Cyrus, was falling on hard

times. In six months the business failed,

and Cyrus took on the responsibility for all

its debts. He reopened the firm as Cyrus

Field & Co. and immediately hired Wells

Laflin, a nephew of Zenas Marshall Crane.

Cyrus immediately began to supply rags,

chemicals, and other items to the Cranes

as well as becoming a distributor of their

papers. His first transaction with the Cranes

was in 1842 for $42.79 worth of rags. Three

years later, typical transactions would be in

the thousands of dollars.

Cyrus was always looking for ways

to better his competition and cement his

relationship with the Cranes. In 1845, Cyrus

recognized that colored papers were about

to become the rage, and offered to buy all

that Crane could produce, providing them

with specific instructions as to weights,

sizes, and colors. Sales increased more than

50 percent in the first three months of

1846, finishing the year with total income

of $350,000.

At about the same time, Cyrus saw

another opportunity to partner with the

Cranes, convincing them that he could

sell as much banknote paper as they could

make, while taking a 20 percent commission.

In 1852, as the company continued to

prosper, Cyrus suggested two new products

to the Cranes, both of which have stood

the company in good stead for more than

150 years: boxed stationery and envelopes.

Cyrus’ estimation of their popularity was

immediately apparent, as in 1854, sales

topped the $1 million mark. One would

guess that the Crane family was quite

pleased with the young entrepreneur in

New York. But, as had happened in the past,

Cyrus became restless and another passion

would overtake that for paper.

During a dinner at the Astor House in

New York in 1854, Cyrus was introduced to

an electrical engineer and chief operator of

the Montreal Telegraph Co., who regaled

Cyrus with stories of a telegraph cable laid

a few years earlier across the English Channel,

as well as plans to link New York City

with Newfoundland in Canada. Cyrus was

hooked. If that length of cable was about

6 hand papermaking newsletter

one-third the distance to Ireland, he wondered,

why not keep going all the way across

the Atlantic?

Cyrus began looking for investors for

his venture and, with years of sales experience

under his belt, was successful in putting

together a well-heeled team.

The first cable-laying effort, between

Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, was a

miserable failure, with an obstinate ship’s

captain cutting the cable. This first effort

resulted in a loss of about $350,000, but

imaginations in the United States and

Europe were peaked. In 1856, Cyrus was

successful in completing the connection

between Newfoundland and New York,

and set out to stretch a cable across the

Atlantic. The first try, one of many, was in

1857. After laying about $500,000 worth of

cable, it snapped in mid-ocean. Other efforts

were undertaken in 1858, but cable ships

encountered the worst storm in the history

of the Atlantic. Late that year, Cyrus was

successful in laying the cable and on August

13, the first message came to New York from

the Queen of England. A few days later, the

cable went dead.

It wasn’t until 1866 that Cyrus would

be successful in his quest to link the two

continents. He had staked several personal

fortunes and those of many investors, but

it had paid off handsomely for Cyrus, who

became one of the wealthiest men in New

York. But with his cable complete, Cyrus

once again became restless, this time taking

on the future of the Manhattan Elevated

Railway. Its failure would mark his own.

By the time of his death in Stockbridge in

1892, Cyrus was worth less than the original

$8 he had left with. But he left an indelible

mark on the world.

PAPER SCIENCE

John Bordley is F. B. Williams Professor

and Chair of the Chemistry department

at Sewanee: The University of the South.

Having described the qualities of water in

the last issue, John moves on to other

molecules that share similarities with water.

There are two approaches to the topic

of the chemistry involved in papermaking:

top-down and bottom-up. This series of

articles is taking the bottom-up approach:

charged species (chapter 1) → intermolecular

and intramolecular bonding (chapter

2) → water (chapter 3) → alcohols (this

chapter) → polyhydroxy aldehydes and

ketones → glucose → cellulose → additives

to cellulose.

Alcohols are compounds that are very

similar to water in that they also have the

"-OH" group that water has. To make the

transition to alcohols, the formula given last

time for water, H-O-H, could be written as

R-O-H, where R could still be a hydrogen

atom, H, but could also be CH3, C2H5, etc.

[The methyl group, CH3, results when one

H atom is removed from methane, CH4;

the ethyl group, C2H5, results when one H

atom is removed from ethane, C2H6.] Thus

methanol has the formula CH3OH, and ethanol

is C2H5OH. As the normal formula for

water, H2O, only gives the combining ratio

of H and O atoms and not any hint that the

structure is actually H-O-H, these formulas

for the simple alcohols

are misleading. A twodimensional

representation

of the actual

bonding in ethanol

is given to the right,

Figure 1.

Just as the O ‘end’

of the water molecule

pulls bonded electrons to itself and creates

a slightly negative charge, δ-, the O atom

in the alcohols also is slightly negative. The

methyl and ethyl groups in the alcohols

carry a slight positive charge, δ+. Therefore,

since water molecules are attracted to other

water molecules through intermolecular

hydrogen bonding, then methanol also

forms hydrogen bonds with other methanol

molecules and ethanol forms hydrogen

bonds with other ethanol molecules. Properties

that are related to this aggregation of

like molecules manifest themselves in the

alcohols. The boiling points (the temperature

needed to first separate the molecules

from each other so that they can then go

into the gas phase) of methanol and ethanol

are higher than other non-polar molecules

that contain C, O, and H and have about the

same mass. As Frank and Ernest point out,

there are more polarized compounds than

one might have thought (the cartoon is used

with permission of Bob Thaves).

More interesting is the fact that

alcohols can form hydrogen bonds with

water or other alcohols. Thus methanol

and water are miscible (soluble) in all

proportions as the polar methanol and water

molecules are attracted to each other and

form hydrogen bonds. The same is true for

ethanol. Ethanol has such an attraction for

water that one should never drink 100%

(200-proof) ethanol. The pure ethanol will

pull water molecules out of body tissues and

cause dehydration.

In alcohols that contain just one -OH

group, as the number of C atoms increases

to three (propanol),

on to 10 (decanol),

and even higher,

the overall polarity

becomes less

pronounced. The

CH side, the 'organic'

side, is non-polar.

The alcohols become less and less soluble

in water as the R group becomes larger

and non-polar. At the same time, they do

become soluble in non-polar solvents.

It is possible to have more than one

-OH group in an alcohol molecule. Ethylene

glycol, glycol, dihydroxyethane, and 1,2-

ethandiol are all names for the alcohol

molecule with two C atoms, each bonded

to one -OH group, viz. Figure 2. Glycerin,

glycerol, and 1,2,3-

propanetriol are

all names for the

alcohol with three

C atoms, each

bonded to one

-OH group, viz.

Figure 3. As the

number of -OH

groups increases the

number of places for hydrogen bonding to

take place increases. The molecules become

attached to each other much more tightly,

and, as expected, boiling points rise. If you

swirl flasks containing, respectively, ethanol,

glycol, and glycerol, you will notice that the

‘swirlability’ (ease of swirling) decreases.

This is yet another manifestation of the

effect of hydrogen bonding.

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. Here she highlights the career of

Winifred Lutz.

As I mentioned in my last profile of

the late Joe Wilfer, The First Conference of

Hand Papermakers, which he organized

in 1975, was an historic event when early

pioneers in the revival of hand papermaking

converged and coalesced into a movement.

One of the conference attendees was Winifred

Lutz. Winifred has been recognized by

her peers for her excellence in many aspects

of hand papermaking. Her ground breaking

research in developing moulds and specialized

pulps for casting was even included in

the first issue of Hand Papermaking magazine

but few are aware of the full scope of

her influence as an artist, innovator, teacher,

and activist. Though we both attended that

pivotal conference, it wasn’t until one of her

Yale students introduced us in 1978 that I

became aware of her influence as a teacher

and the scope of her unique approach to

hand papermaking.

As with so many “lifers” in hand

papermaking, Winifred’s interest and

commitment to papermaking began at an

early point of life, when she was researching

a science project in high school. Concerned

about the volume of trees being cut down

for paper, she researched paper recycling.

Armed with a copy of Dard Hunter’s

Papermaking: History and Technique of

an Ancient Craft and some rudimentary

industrial research, she began a series of

experiments at home to try to discover a

method of recycling vegetable garbage.

Her experiments included making paper

out of pineapple tops and banana peels.

Though the outcome of these experiments

was not conclusive and the paper crude, it

launched a life long interest in discovering

how plant fibers can be used to make paper

and make art.

During her undergraduate years at the

Cleveland Institute of Art in Ohio, Winifred

found little opportunity to continue her papermaking

experiments focusing instead on

her work in ceramics, sculpture, and printmaking.

After graduation she traveled to

Paris with the help of a travel grant to study

viscosity printing at the world-renowned

studio of William Stanley Hayter, Atelier 17.

Following her studies with Hayter, she traveled

to Italy and Egypt before returning to

the United States to continue graduate studies

in sculpture at The Cranbrook Academy

of Art in Michigan.

She was fortunate to attend Cranbrook

in the late sixties when Laurence Barker

was chair of the printmaking department.

Just three years before Winifred arrived,

Barker had assembled a papermaking

studio at Cranbrook after a brief tutorial

with Douglass Howell inspired him

to include papermaking as part of the

printmaking curriculum. It was during the

seven year period from 1963 to 1970 that

Barker helped nurture a new generation of

American hand papermakers by passing

on his knowledge to students who later

became the teachers and leaders of the hand

papermaking movement. In the context of

the 1960s printmaking revolution sweeping

the country in both schools and professional

studios, Cranbrook was unique as the only

university and printmaking studio with

papermaking facilities. In that light it is

not surprising that the Cranbrook graduate

department produced influential teachers

and hand papermakers such as Winifred

as well as Walter Hamady, Aris Koutroulis,

John Koller, and from Cranbrook’s High

School, Tim Barrett. Though Cranbrook

was a formative stepping stone for their

careers, these early pioneers did not know

each other until later in their professional

lives. And for Winifred, a sculpture major,

access to the papermill was limited because

it was in the printmaking department.

Nonetheless, she made her own custom

paper for her prints often stenciling some of

the image with colored pulp, which, at the

time, was nothing short of revolutionary.

Upon graduation, Winifred accepted a

teaching job at St. Aquinas College in Grand

Rapids, Michigan, where she built the

sculpture, ceramic, and printmaking studios

and installed a hand papermill for the

undergraduate program. It was at this time

that she first began to experiment in depth

with three dimensional molds and specialized

pulps for paper casting. In 1976, the

then chair of Sculpture at Yale University,

David Von Schlegell, was a guest lecturer at

Aquinas. Impressed by Winifred’s sculpture

and by the work of her students, he invited

her to apply to teach in the sculpture department

at Yale. Winifred was selected for the

position and moved to New Haven bringing

the hand papermaking equipment she’d

assembled in Michigan with her.

Winifred’s classes at Yale did not

include teaching hand papermaking but

the graduate printmaking students were so

determined to learn papermaking from her

that they put out a search for equipment,

writing more than a hundred letters to find

used equipment. The result was that a local

company donated a second-hand Valley lab

beater, which Winifred repaired. She then

worked with the students to build a press,

helped them fabricate moulds, find felts,

and put together a working papermaking

studio in an unoccupied basement room at

the Yale School of Art. Though she never

actually got paid for these papermaking

classes, she introduced her students to

the craft and encouraged them to explore

the art making potential which lay latent

in the process.

She also introduced them to Tim Barrett

who had recently returned from his

studies in Japan and visited Yale in 1978 as

a guest speaker. The following year Winifred

was awarded a travel grant to go to Japan

and Korea to study these traditions herself.

In 1979 she traveled to both countries with

Asao Shimura, a Japanese colleague who

shared her interest in the revival of hand papermaking.

She also researched and visited

Japanese gardens. This trip was instrumental

in exposing Winifred to a wide range of

hand papermaking traditions and Japanese

garden design, which would inform her

future practice in both fields of endeavor.

The complimentary partnership between

nature and art beautifully realized in these

traditions reinforced aspects of Winifred’s

own aesthetic, so that she has been able to

draw continually from these sources for her

own art.

It is an indication of the excellence of

her teaching as well as an indication of the

promise that papermaking held in the visual

arts that hand papermaking attracted the interest

of a tenacious group of students at an

ivy school with a pedigreed art department.

During this period at Yale, from 1976 to

1982, students also benefited from Winifred’s

intense investigation of the sculptural

possibilities of cast paper as she assimilated

her Korean and Japanese experience

into her western mastery of the craft. Tim

Barrett included some of Winifred’s fiber

research that came out of this period in an

appendix to his seminal book on Japanese

papermaking. It was also during this period

that she established her reputation, through

group and solo exhibitions, as an artist who

exemplified both bold originality and sly

subtlety in her use of scale and materials.

Elaine Koretsky also recognized

the quality and originality of Winifred’s

research and invited Winifred to share it

with other papermakers and artists at The

International Conference of Hand Papermakers

in Boston in 1980 and again at

A Gathering of Papermakers at Carriage

House in 1985. These talks and essays were

published by Carriage House and contain

invaluable information about paper casting

using western and Asian techniques.

In 1982 she accepted a faculty

position in sculpture at the Tyler School

of Art in Philadelphia. Since there were

no other instructors on staff to teach hand

papermaking at Yale, Winifred purchased

the equipment and took it with her to her

studio in Pennsylvania. The past two dozen

years have offered Winifred the opportunity

to fulfill much of the promise that was

so clear to those of us who met her in

the 1970s. Though she no longer teaches

papermaking in her sculpture and public art

classes, she has continued to make art with

cast paper as a primary component

and has collaborated at Dieu Donné on

both her large scale installations that use

cast pulp as well as individual pieces of

paper sculpture. Besides these provocative

pieces of ethereal translucent flax, linen,

or abaca, the focus of her work has been

on site integrated public art and site

integrated sculpture installations. Whether

on the macro or micro scale, Winifred’s art

embodies her appreciation of what nature

reveals to us every day if we will just take

the time to look.

For an eloquent and vivid description

of some of Winifred Lutz’s art please refer

to the 1999 essay by Janet Koplos reprinted

in Hand Papermaking magazine in the

Summer 2001 issue.

DECORATED PAPER

Sidney Berger, a professor at Simmons College

in Boston, has been collecting and researching

decorated paper for over thirty years. In this

second installment, Sid contemplates what it is

that makes handmade paper beautiful.

In my last column I touched on the

notion that handmade paper is, in itself,

decorative, even if it has not been decorated.

To reiterate: Paper that starts off blank

and then gets decoration put onto it is

“decorated.” It is also decorative. But not

all decorative paper is decorated. This is

the distinction raised in Germany by the

committee that is creating a thesaurus of

terminology on papers; the thesaurus is to

be used to help many repositories to catalog

their collections.

As a printer, I try to use only handmade

papers in my books. When I show the books

to people, I always hear them say, “What

beautiful paper.” The paper has beauty,

not even considering the text printed on it.

Many terms are used to describe the qualities

of paper: strength, stiffness, pliability,

feel, rattle, sheen, texture, and so forth. I

have even seen paper that was scented in

its formation; beauty need not be visual or

tactile. The rattle is auditory; the aroma is

olfactory. (Holbrook Jackson, in his Anatomy

of Bibliomania, talks of bibliophages, people

who eat books. So for him, I guess, there is

even a “beauty” in the taste of the materials.)

What is it, then, about handmade paper

that yields beauty – that can be called “decorative”?

To begin with, handmade papers

stand out distinctly from machine-made

sheets. This may not seem like much, but

when we are exposed to reams upon reams

of flat, ugly, uniform papers every day of our

lives, anything that is different in sensual

ways stands out. There is a lack of humanity,

a mindless mechanization, in most commercial

papers. They lack spirit, intelligence

(no matter how much science went into

their production), life. The fact that handmade

sheets vary in noticeable, sensible

ways (that is, ways that can be sensed) gives

them, rightly, a human spirit. People have

been speaking for nearly 50 years, in the

era of the resurgence of hand papermaking,

of the sense of the human touch that these

papers possess.

Decoration (I should say, “most decoration”)

pleases the user, the observer. This

quality of pleasure makes one think, cognizantly

or not, that a decorated object reaches

out to give us satisfaction, contentment, or

happiness. This may be overstating the case

for paper, but I feel a sense of quality in the

handmade object. I know that machines

can make many things better than people

can. But the fact that someone has taken

the time and effort to make something by

hand, and from good materials, makes me

appreciate it more than I do a thing made by

an impersonal machine.

I belabor the point. Let’s move on

to other things that yield beauty in the

handmade sheet. There are many ways of

producing decorative elements in papermaking.

Readers of Hand Papermaking

needn’t be told of poured pulp, the addition

of inclusions of various kinds, the use of

molds into which the paper can be cast or

embossed papers (the Winter 2005 issue

of Hand Papermaking has a picture of a

piece of paper I cast in a potter’s mold and

also one of a piece of paper embossed over

leaves and flowers), the shaping of the sheet

(with modified deckles), or the embedding

of all kinds of stuff. (Note, that “stuff” is

actually a papermaking term which means

pulp fully beaten and ready for the vat.)

The papermaker’s aim is to produce a

product that is beautiful in many ways,

even if one of the ways is only in its contrast

to commercial papers. We have a piece of

Zimbabwean elephant dung paper in our

collection. Is it beautiful? Is it decorative?

Compared to your regular 8 ½” x 11” bond

paper from a commercial mill, yes. The

paper from Zimbabwe had a texture, a look,

a color, a feel, a presence lacking in the commercial

paper. There is even something “poetic”

or wonderfully imaginative in this kind

or recycling: let the elephant save you the

cost of a Hollander. And RooPoo paper from

Tasmania lets the kangaroo do the same.

Maybe this is going too far. The point

is that decoration consists in things that

draw our attention, give us pleasure in some

way; things that feel good, look good, and

even sound good. All this can come from

handmade papers.

I would love to hear from readers about

their ideas on this subject. In what ways do

you find decoration in handmade papers?

Contact me 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 April Newsletter is February 15. 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., Amagansett, NY 11930, (631) 267-

2787, <www.a3arts.org>. Papermaking

classes 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.

Handmade Paper and the Stitch, March

12-18, with Claudia Lee. Use stitching to

apply color, texture, pattern, and text, plus

structure and form, to both handmade and

commercial papers.

Color, Paper, Action, July 30-August 5, with

Lynn Sures. Try painting with paper pulp

for a liberating, spontaneous, and exciting

experience, both artistically and athletically!

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> for registration

info.

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.

Papermaking Meets Pulp Painting, March

25-26, with Shannon Brock. Use high

shrinkage, unbleached flax along with nylon

stocking armatures to form small sculptural

objects that will then be painted with pulp.

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.

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.

It Came from the East – Oriental

Papermaking, April 30-May 5, with Rajeania

Snider. Take a papermaking tour of the

mysterious East from Nepal to Japan and

China to Egypt.

Make Your Paper and Marble It!, May 21-26,

with Monita Mahoney. Make handmade

papers in colors galore, then add the magic

of marbling.

Papermaking – Western Style, July 2-7, with

Claudia Lee. Cook plants, recycle paper, and

process purchased fibers, then add color

with pigment and natural dyes; next, learn

to sheetform, laminate, emboss, and layer.

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,

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.

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.

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.

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.

Introduction to MCBA’s Paper Studios, February

23, with Jeff Rathermel. Learn to operate

the beater, hydraulic press and dryer.

Traditional Marbling, March 5, with Steve

Pittelkow. Learn to prepare the bath, mix

paint, make tools, and create beautiful

decorative paper.

Japanese Papermaking and Decoration, May

2, 9, 16 & 23, with Jana Pullman. After

forming many sheets, explore a variety of

decorative techniques such as dragon paper,

marbling, and fold-and-dye.

Paper Circle, PO Box 117, Nelsonville, OH

45764, (740) 753-3374, <papercircle@

frognet.net>. Upcoming classes include the

following; call for specific dates and times.

From Plants to Paper, with Sara Gilfert

and Andrea Anderson. Focus on the basic

process of making paper from plants and

vegetables.

Origami and Beyond, with sculptor Yasue

Sakaoka. Learn the basics of origami then

go beyond the form to create new designs.

Pulp Bowls, with Amy Lipka. Make colorful

and sturdy bowls at home using recycled

pulp.

Wet Collage, with Peg Rhein. Learn the

basics of embossing, relief, and wet collage

on handmade sheets.

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.

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>.

Introduction to Papermaking, January 21,

with Amanda Degener. Cover the basics of

papermaking using both Eastern and Western

fibers and traditions.

Sampler: Paper, Print & Book, January 22,

with Amanda Degener & Ellen Hill. Make

handmade paper, explore monoprint and

relief printing, and produce small experimental

books.

Western Marbling, February 18, with Susan

Fried. Experiment with color and form using

of a variety of papers.

Pulp Painting with a Purpose, March 4-5, with

Ken Polinskie. Discover how pigmented

pulp painting can conform to your own personal

vision in an articulate and specific way

without losing the element of surprise.

Go Fly A Kite: Large Scale Papermaking/

Watermarking/Kite Making, March 11, with

Amanda Degener & Bridget O’Malley.

Spend a couple of Saturdays working

together at Pyramid to make handmade

kites and then have the option to fly your

creation in the Smithsonian Kite Festival.

Eastern Sheet Forming: Exploring the

Possibilities, April 1-2, Michelle Samour.

Learn traditional Eastern sheet forming

techniques using primarily kozo and gampi,

and also work with some garden fibers such

as iris and corn.

Translucent Casting in Handmade Paper,

April 15-16, with Amanda Degener. Using

techniques developed by Winifred Lutz,

make strong, translucent sculptures with

and without an armature.

Mask Making & Pulp Painting, May 6 & 13,

with Amanda Degener and Steve Prince.

Apply multicolored pulp to plaster molds

and add mixed media finishes.

Robert C. Williams American Museum of

Papermaking, 500 10th Street NW, Atlanta,

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

edu/amp>.

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.

Suminagashi Marbling, March 31, with Mary

Beaton. Learn the traditional Japanese techniques

and have an opportunity to play with

experimental materials and tools.

Antiqued and Weathered Papers, April 21,

with Dayle Doroshow. Create a selection of

papers with a unique, timeworn look.

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.

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.

Surface Design for Western Papermaking,

March 18-19, with Bridget O’Malley. Make

basic handmade sheets then treat the surface

with such items as walnut dye, indigo,

crackle, mica, gold and silver leaf, and more.

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.

10 hand papermaking newsletter

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,

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.

EVENTS

Ambar Past and two shaman/papermakers

from Taller Lenateros will visit the

Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, New

Mexico, July 11-16. There will be a number

of programs and talks presented, centering

on Mayan and Pre-Columbian writing and

books, as well as contemporary Mexican

book and paper. For further information

e-mail <tleech@mnm.state.nm.us> or call

(505) 476-5096.

The Friends of Dard Hunter will meet

in Chillicothe, Ohio, October 19-21. The

Friends meet annually to enjoy speakers,

presentations, tours of local paper and

book arts facilities, a trade show, auction,

and banquet. This meeting celebrates the

group’s 25th anniversary. Some scholarships

will be available to those with financial

need. 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>.

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 further

information, contact Helene Tschacher at

<helene@tschacher.de>.

EXHIBITS

Minnesota Center for Book Arts is pleased

to announce the exhibition Plane & Form:

Contemporary Handmade Paper, on view

through February 25. Curated by MCBA’s

Artistic Director Jeff Rathermel, the show

offers visitors the opportunity to experience

the versatility of handmade paper. Emphasis

is placed on contemporary applications of

a traditional medium in this show, where

installation, sculpture, pulp painting and

assemblage are displayed. A gallery talk is

scheduled on Tuesday evening, January 17.

Local paper artists Marjorie Alexander, Erica

Rasmussen, and Bridget O’Malley will discuss

their work as well as the role of handmade

paper in contemporary art. MCBA is

located at 1011 Washington Avenue South

in Minneapolis. Call (612) 215-2520 or visit

<www.mnbookarts.org>

Beck Whitehead: New and Recent Works is

on display March 23 through June 16 at the

Robert C. Williams American Museum of

Papermaking, 500 10th Street NW, Atlanta,

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

edu/amp>. This exhibit of recent works

spotlights the artist’s innovative approach to

pulp painting and handmade paper.

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. The juror for this year’s exhibit

is noted painter and printmaker Kevin

Mullins of Wichita State University. Show

opens February 6 at Columbia College, 1001

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

875-7517 for further information.

Handmade paper works by Ione Citrin

will be on display in Southern California

through January at Spiritual Living Center,

340 N. Mobil Ave., Camarillo; and 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,

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.

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>.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

The eighth portfolio in Hand Papermaking’s

ongoing series will feature calligraphy on

handmade paper. We envision a collection

that features single characters, or small

groups of characters, including non-roman

alphabets. Hand lettering is encouraged but

we also will allow printing and imaging processes

which include relief, intaglio, litho,

silkscreen, and digital as well as editioning

techniques in hand papermaking such as

watermarks, stenciled pulp, and other wetstage

techniques. Whatever the method, the

jury will look for entries that demonstrate

the equal importance of calligraphic image

and well-made paper. We welcome entries

from individual artists as well as collaborations

between papermakers and calligraphers.

Jurors and invited artists are Timothy

Barrett, Thomas Ingmire, Nancy Ruth

Leavitt, and Katie MacGregor. The commissioned

essay will be written by Rose Folsom,

editor of Letter Arts Review. Each selected

participant will be asked to produce 150

finished pieces, 10”x8”, plus two proofs for

the archive and exhibitions. Entries are due

to Hand Papermaking no later than October

1, 2006. Selected artists must send in their

full edition of 150+2 by May 1, 2007. View

the complete call for entries at <www.

handpapermaking.org> or call (800) 821-

6604 to have a copy mailed.

TRAVEL

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>.

january 2006 11

Explore the wonders of Mexican bark paper

with a trip to visit the Otomi Indians of

San Pablito. The Mexican Bark Paper and

Book Workshop will be held in both San

Pablito and Pozos, Mexico. Tentative dates

are in late April or early May, 2006. E-mail

Carol Tyroler at <ctyroler@netzero.net> for

more information or call (505) 466-4465.

Check out where the bookmaking workshop

will be held at Pozos by viewing <www.

colectivadepozos.com>.

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>.

PUBLICATIONS

The History of Papermaking in the Philippines,

letterpress printed and handbound by

Peter and Donna Thomas on paper that they

made, is the culmination of almost twenty

years of work. The book presents information

gathered with the help and encouragement

of numerous scholars and colleagues.

The text includes discussions of the Philippine

precursors to paper, including wooden

scrolls and bark cloth. It contains a survey of

the first printed books made in the Philippines

and the paper they were printed on.

It documents research to discover when the

first sheet of paper was made in the Philippines.

It describes a number of the indigenous

papermaking fibers and focuses on

the importance of abaca fiber and its uses.

The History of Papermaking in the Philippines

ends with a chronological history of both

commercial and hand papermaking in the

Philippines up to the year 2000. The type is

hand set; the book is 50 pages, 10 3/4 by 13

5/8 inches, in an edition of 75 copies. Eleven

samples of paper handmade by Filipinos

from Philippine plants are sewn in. For a

prospectus e-mail <Peteranddonna@cruzio.

com> or call (831) 475-1455.

Elspeth Lamb’s Papermaking for

Printmakers is due to be published in

April (ISBN 0-7136-6587-4). The 144-page

paperback with 100 illustrations points

the way for printmakers wanting absolute

control over their print. The book features

a range of papers from around the world,

including a special section on Japanese

papermaking. For further information see

<www.acblack.com>.

Tim Barrett’s Japanese Papermaking: Traditions,

Tools and Techniques has recently

been reprinted by Floating World Editions

in an affordable paperback edition. And, as

a special fundraising effort to support the

University of Iowa Center for the Book, 100

signed and numbered copies have been

specially bound by Larry Yerkes with blue

leather spine, blue Japanese-made batik

paper over boards, and two tipped in paper

samples made by Barrett and co-workers.

Visit <www.uiowa.edu/~ctrbook/> to see

the book. Contact the UI Center for the

Book to purchase copies of either the special

binding edition or the regular trade edition

by calling (319) 335-0447 or via e-mail at

<center-for-the-book@uiowa.edu>.

MISCELLANEOUS

Hand Papermaking congratulates our

colleague Terry Belanger who was recently

named a fellow by the John D. and

Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This

distinction, which provides $500,000 in

no-strings-attached support over a fiveyear

period, is popularly referred to as the

“MacArthur genius award.” In his capacity

as founder and director of Rare Book

School (currently located at the University

of Virginia in Charlottesville), Belanger

promotes the study and preservation of the

book. In a press statement Belanger noted,

“I am simply one of the noisier members

of a large group of people who have worked

for a very long time to help ensure that the

future is not deprived of the past.” He continued,

“Rare Book School is beginning its

first capital fund drive, and the MacArthur

grant will make an enormous difference in

our ability to increase our endowment and

ensure the permanence of the school and

its collections.” Rare Book School’s teaching

collection of paper specimens is featured

in the Winter issue of Hand Papermaking

magazine which looks at important handmade

paper collections around the world.

The Dieu Donné Board of Directors and

staff have embarked on a capital campaign,

the Fund for the Mill, to raise $1 million.

This Fund for the Mill will secure the transition

from their current 5,000 square foot

space in the SoHo district of New York City

to a new facility by July, 2006. Your gift to

the Fund for the Mill will ensure enriched

programs for artists, and help maintain

Dieu Donné Papermill as a unique cultural

and educational resource. To contribute by

check: Dieu Donné Papermill, 433 Broome

Street, New York, NY 10013. To contribute

by credit card visit <www.JustGive.org> to

make a safe and secure credit card gift to

Dieu Donné.

In January paper artist Lynn Sures will be

sent by the US State Department to be an

“American Artist Abroad” in Colombo, Sri

Lanka, for cultural exchange. Two of her

large pulp paintings are on exhibit in the

Ambassador’s residence. She will meet with

Sri Lankan artists, visit papermills, lecture,

and teach.

Homestead Mill and Studio has introduced

Deckle2-Go, a papermaking tool for

teachers, artists, and students. According

to the website, this polycarbonate mould

and deckle combined with a deckle box is

virtually maintenance free, easy to use, and

durable. Papermaking lessons, handmade

paper examples, resources, and ideas are

provided on an interactive CD included

with the 3-part unit. For more information

about Deckle2-Go call (513) 315-3929,

e-mail <msa@cinci.rr.com> or visit <www.

deckle2go.com>.

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 is pleased to announce

the availability of 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>.

12 hand papermaking newsletter

CLASSIFIEDS

Classifieds in the Hand Papermaking

Newsletter cost 75 cents per word, with no

minimum. Payment is due in advance of

publication.

Wanted: Papermaking equipment and

studio supplies. I need it all: beater, felts,

moulds, deckles vats, and maybe even

a press. I am setting up my studio and

starting with nothing. Please contact Jodi

Larson at <jolee1054@hotmail.com> or call

(302)764-4563.

R.P.M. Studio is forced to relocate; small

hand papermaking mill is seeking space

and artists. David Russell is working towards

a new chapter in his life of paper art.

Looking for 2-4 people desiring wet hands

to create jointly the sweetest career anyone

can dream of when its hot. Please write, call,

e-mail or even draw with questions. David

A. Russell, R.P.T. Studio, 621 River Street,

4th Floor, Troy, NY 12180, (518) 273-3460,

<drussell5@mac.com>.

The DyeWorks: Your source for Natural Dye

Extracts and Earth Oxides. Excellent Prices.

<www.thedyeworks.com> (303) 530-4777

Agro World Bio-Fibers of Kakinada, Andhra

Pradesh, India can supply in bulk Banana

Fiber which is free from dirt and pith at a

very competitive price on monthly basis.

Will send sample. Reply to Shabbir at

<srl_core@yahoo.com>.

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:

Anonymous, 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, Ellen Mears

Kennedy, 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.

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