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

N E W S L E T T E R

Number 77, January 2007

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

Hand Papermaking Newsletter is published

four times per year. In summer and winter it is

distributed with the journal Hand Papermaking,

and in spring and autumn it is mailed separately.

Annual subscriptions include both publications:

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of back issue contents and availability, contact:

Hand Papermaking, Inc.

PO Box 1070, Beltsville, MD 20704-1070

Phone: (800) 821-6604 or (301) 220-2393

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The deadline for the next newsletter (April 2007)

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;

display ad rates 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 Readers,

As we come down to earth after an amazing twentieth anniversary, I want to

express appreciation to all who made it such a memorable year. Because of generous donors,

enthusiastic volunteers, and committed staff, Hand Papermaking’s Paper-In-Flight

events were greatly successful, unprecedented in the organization’s history. We commissioned

well-known artist Lesley Dill, published a special color issue, offered classes,

hosted demos and exhibitions, attracted some 200 aficionados to a handmade paper kite

symposium, and feasted with 80 friends at a benefit dinner topped off by a spectacular

hot-air balloon performance by Helen Hiebert. Most importantly, inspired by board

member Bobbie Lippman, we used this anniversary year to secure our long-term future

by establishing the Hand Papermaking Endowment Fund. These are accomplishments

of which we can all be proud.

As the new chair of Hand Papermaking’s board of directors I also want to acknowledge

the debt of gratitude we owe to retiring chair Marilyn Sward. Her twelve years of

dedicated service on the board helped the organization maintain a solid foundation

while it reached new heights. Marilyn ably guided our growth and continually pressed

for increasing levels of excellence. I will endeavor to match that record during my tenure,

and ask for your continued support as we press forward into Hand Papermaking’s

third decade. Cheers!

Sincerely,

John Risseeuw

Dear Hand Papermaking,

It is with great sadness that I must announce to your readers that Phoebe Jane

Easton passed away at her home in Westlake Village, California, during the early

morning of Saturday, November 11, 2006. Phoebe was well known to the bookbinding

and decorative paper community for her many years of devotion and patronage of the

“floating art” of marbling as an independent scholar. Her gentle enthusiasm for the art

will be missed.

In 2004, Phoebe published a brief account of what prompted her passion for the

topic. “On a rainy spring day while I was admiring my collection of fore-edge paintings,

something caught my eye, something that I never before had paid attention to: the

marbled end papers of the books. The beautiful papers differed greatly from volume

to volume, and I had no idea how they were accomplished. When the rain slackened, I

hurried to the library, certain that I would quickly find an answer. The library staff was

of little help. I asked my husband, and to my astonishment, he did not know either. It is

well to remember that this was 1968.”

Inspired to learn more, Phoebe visited the Los Angeles County Public Library, but

found little information on current practice of the art. This motivated her to travel across

the US and abroad visiting many leading institutions as well as living masters to learn

more. Her first publication was modest but significant. In 1972, she published a short

article in Volume 8 of Coranto: Journal of the Friends of the Libraries, University of Southern

California. Entitled “Suminagashi: the Japanese Way with Marbled Paper,” it provided

the very first exposure to the tradition of

marbled paper production in East Asia for

many western readers.

Over a decade later, the late Muir

Dawson published a limited edition of

Phoebe’s book Marbling: A History and a

Bibliography at his bookshop in Los Angeles

in 1983. Her work contained original

examples of historical and contemporary

marbled papers from around the world

and is now widely regarded as a major

contribution to the field of marbling and

decorative papers in general.

Phoebe Jane Easton’s efforts greatly

enhanced our understanding of decorative

papers and fostered an international

network of practicing artists. Before her

passing, she gave permission to have a

revised version of her bibliography publicly

mounted on the Society of Marbling web

site at <www.marbling.org>. Volunteers

are needed to help edit entries. Anyone

interested in helping with this effort should

contact me at <Jake@marbling.org>.

Sincerely,

Jake Benson

ALONG THE PAPER ROAD...

This regular feature offers paper musings from

Elaine Koretsky – renowned paper historian,

researcher, and traveler. In this article, Elaine

relates some of the adventure surrounding her

final Silk Road paper research.

In the spring of 2006 I decided upon

another expedition to China, to further

explore the dynamic Tibetan culture that I

had found in 2003. In my previous article

(October 2006 Newsletter) I described our

wonderful experiences in eastern Tibet,

mentioning that we looked forward to return

for an unhurried trip that allowed time

for deeper exploration.

Coincidentally, while I was planning

this trip, I received a very official notice

that the Research Institute of the Culture

and History of the People’s Government of

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region would

host “The International Seminar for China

Xinjiang Loulanlogy in September 2006.”

The organizer was Mr. Tilak Ibrayim, Head

of the Office of Consultants for the Xinjiang

Research Institute. He was soliciting

cultural and art experts or scholars to join in

the seminar, and send him a thesis for consideration.

A group of 150 persons would

be selected from the papers submitted. The

program sounded very interesting. In 1993

I had discovered and documented two hand

papermakers in the oasis city of Hotan,

resulting in my film “The Last Papermakers

Along the Ancient Silk Road,” but I thought

my investigations might not be complete.

The main problem was that Xinjiang

Province is largely inhabited by Uygurs,

who are ethnically and culturally completely

separate from the Han Chinese

who dominate China. The Uygurs are

Muslim and have their own language, both

spoken and written. Unfortunately, our

1993 guide throughout the desert cities

was Han Chinese, although our driver was

Uygur. When we first met the guide, Jonas,

I asked him if he was fluent in the Uygur

language. He assured me that of course he

was, having been born in Urumqi, Capital

of Xinjiang Province. This turned out

to be totally false – he could neither read

nor speak the Uygur language, which has

similar roots as modern Turkish. The only

way he could translate Uygur was to ask his

driver to translate Uygur into Chinese, and

then Jonas could reply to us in English. The

three-way translation was dreadful, resulting

in totally unsatisfactory experiences at the

museums in Turfan and Urumqi. Another

important part of my research is scouring

the marketplaces everywhere and asking the

vendors many questions, and Jonas proved

impossible. Fortunately in Hotan I located

a superb Uygur guide, and thus found my

two papermakers, Mrs. Razyihan and Mr.

Masum Ahon, whom I documented on film.

The solicitation from Tilak Ibrayim

seemed fortuitous. I wrote up a thesis about

my search and documentation of traditional

hand papermaking in Hotan. When

I learned that Mr. Ibrayim had accepted my

thesis, I arranged our trip to China to include

the Xinjiang segment. Unfortunately,

the seminar was cancelled, but we decided

that it might be worthwhile for my research

to re-visit this province.

We departed Boston for the first part

of our trip on August 30, 2006, bound for

Sichuan Province, arriving in Chengdu,

China, on September 2. Our favorite guide

and friend, Wu Zeng Ou, was on hand to

meet us, and we enjoyed twelve fascinating

days of total immersion in Tibetan culture.

The major reason for the return visit

to the Himalayas was to verify my ideas

about the spread of papermaking from

China to the rest of the world. I had recently

completed a new film, “Papermaking on

the Roof of the World.” It contained visual

documentation of Tibetan papermaking

throughout the Himalayas, including Tibet,

Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim, and the Yunnan and

Sichuan Provinces of China. In the film, I

quoted the writing of Dr. Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin,

that according to Chinese documents...

“A new trade route from China to Tibet and

Tibet to Nepal opened for the first time in

+650 A.D., as a result of the marriage of the

Tibetan king to a Nepalese princess in 639

and to a Chinese princess in 641. In 650

the Tibetan king asked the Chinese court

to send him silkworms for breeding, and

craftsmen for making wine, mills, paper,

and ink.” Apparently the Chinese emperor

sent papermakers who formed sheets by

pouring pulp onto a cloth-covered framework

floating in water. When the frame was

removed from the water, the sheet of paper

was left attached, and the frame was put in

the sun to dry. This was the sole sheet forming

technique we observed not only in the

Himalayan areas, but also further south, in

the adjoining Buddhist areas of Myanmar,

Thailand, and Laos.

The idea of a return to Xinjiang Province

meshed with this trip to eastern Tibet,

because the process of papermaking that

I observed in Hotan in 1993 was identical

to that of the Himalayan areas. Since the

religion of the Uygurs is Muslim, and their

writing employs Arabic characters, it was

somewhat surprising to see that their papermaking

method was quite different from

that of the Arabs. When I began reviewing

the history of the Uygurs, I found they had

lived in this area as early as 300 B.C., along

with Tibetans, Mongols, Hui, and others. By

the 3rd century A.D., these peoples began

to adopt the Buddhist religion. It was later,

in the 9th century A.D. that the Muslim religion

took over as the dominant religion of

the Uygurs, who then were settled primarily

in Xinjiang Province. Insofar as papermaking

is involved, I could see that it was logical

for Uygurs in Hotan to use Tibetan papermaking

techniques if indeed papermaking

began there in the sixth century. It was not

until the 8th century that papermaking

spread to Samarkand and other Muslim

areas; and the sheet forming that they

learned from the Chinese was the method

of dipping a mould with a detachable screen

into a vat of pulp.

I had many opportunities to examine

Tibetan manuscripts closely and I actually

own a collection of them. On this new trip

to Xinjiang Province I hoped to examine the

early papers made in that province, carefully

inspecting them by transmitted light to

ascertain the type of sheet formation that

was used.

We finished our spectacular journey

through Sichuan Province on September 15

and flew to Urumqi. The plan was to meet

with a Uygur-speaking guide who would

organize our trip and act as a translator.

When our plane landed, we found Tilak

Ibrayim, with his official Lincoln Continental

vehicle, complete with a chauffeur, along

with our new guide, waiting for us at the

airport. We arrived at the designated hotel,

piled out of the car with our entire luggage,

and I walked up to the front desk to sign in.

To our astonishment, the clerk informed

us that we had no reservation and the hotel

was fully booked. Our guide had neglected

to make the booking. Tilak made some calls,

located another hotel, and we drove across

the city to that one. The hotel was fine. I

only hoped that this incident was not a foreshadowing

of future occurrences.

That evening we walked to a nearby

restaurant for a pre-arranged dinner. Other

people had been invited, and I was introduced

to the group as an important paper

historian from the United States. It was

stated that I had documented traditional

Uygur papermaking in Hotan in a widely

shown film that announced this papermaking

to the whole world. The guests included

Tilak and others in Xinjiang research. The

food was excellent, but no one had anything

to offer to my paper research.

On the way back to the hotel our guide

discussed vague plans for the next few

days, namely talks with important people

and museum visits, with travel along the

Silk Road to Turpan, Korla, Kuqa, Kashgar,

Hotan, and back to Urumqi. He mentioned

a sister-in-law who was a travel agent. She

was arranging a car and driver for us, and

making hotel reservations in the towns we

would visit.

The following day we went to the Xinjiang

Provincial Museum, now housed in a

splendid new building and featuring 3,000

to 4,000 year-old mummies, quite different

from 1993. I had a mixed experience.

A large group of young people was touring

the museum, and I was immediately invited

to lecture on traditional Uygur papermaking.

The group

was fascinated to

hear about this

aspect of their

culture, and asked

many questions.

Meanwhile, I was

looking forward

to closely examining the museum’s old

manuscripts that I remembered from 1993.

But our guide had not made a prior request

and special permission was necessary to

see them. The day before we left for the

U.S., permission was given. We returned to

the museum and a Mr. Abdukayum Khoja

showed us some fragments of documents

related to paper history in Xinjiang. Every

piece was permanently glued to a piece of

cardboard. It was not possible to examine

them by transmitted light. Finally, Mr.

Khoja proudly brought out a 19th century

Persian Koran, declaring that here was a

book written on Hotan paper. I examined

it closely and promptly announced that the

paper was clearly made in Persia or another

Arab country, as shown by the unmistakable

screen pattern in the paper when held up

to light. Also, the surface of each sheet was

highly burnished, typical of Arabic paper.

As we traveled through the oasis cities

we visited various museums. But my guide

still had not made any advance appointments,

and I was treated as an ordinary

tourist, viewing all the exhibits enclosed in

glass cases. I had no special access to the

collections of paper stored in the archives.

Therefore, I was never able to examine any

manuscript, paper, or book by transmitted

light, in order to further confirm my

opinion that papermaking had spread from

Tibet to Xinjiang. Fortunately, my own prior

research of ancient Chinese documents

had been very productive. I always arranged

beforehand at museums or libraries to meet

with the proper person. I was considered a

research scholar, and permitted to personally

examine ancient manuscripts and

photograph them. For instance: at the Bibliotheque

Nationale

in Paris, France, I

inspected ancient

Chinese documents

found in the

Dunhaung caves in

Western China; at

the Archaeological

Museum in Lanzhou, China, I thoroughly

examined and photographed the 2,200 yearold

papers found buried in Gansu Province;

at the Shaanxi Provincial Museum in Xi’an,

China, the director allowed me to photograph

the earliest paper fragments found in

Chang’an.

Besides examining ancient paper, I

hoped to document traditional Uygur hand

papermaking. On September 21 we began

the long drive to Hotan, where I had filmed

the two papermakers in 1993. Our guide

had told me several times that there were

many other Uygur papermakers in the area,

not only in Hotan but also in the adjoining

districts of Karakesh and Lop. It became evident,

however, that our guide did not comprehend

the distances between oases. Our

driver did a fine job, but the travel from one

oasis city to another was so poorly planned

that on three occasions he was forced to

drive half the night to reach our destination.

The trip to Hotan was particularly bizarre.

At 11:30 p.m. our guide announced that we

were very close to the home of a papermaker,

and we should stop there. When

the driver finally located the proper house,

what happened was surreal. The street was

pitch black – no light anywhere. I got out

of the car, stumbled through bushes, and

finally reached the dilapidated house of the

papermaker. The first room I entered had

no roof, but it led into a second room that

did have a roof. I couldn’t believe the apparition

I saw was a real person. In the gloom of

an oil lamp, there stood a very elderly man

with a long white beard, wearing pajamas,

standing next to his bed. Apparently, he had

just been awakened. This was the papermaker

Tho Tue Baki. The whole thing was a

pitiful sight. Despite the late hour, he spoke

with the guide and showed him a bundle of

handmade paper. I was told that we would

be visiting him and other papermakers he

knew the next day. Then we left, arriving in

Hotan at 1:00 a.m. There were a number of

other weird incidents that occurred during

the entire journey – very funny incidents,

not pathetic, like the encounter with Mr.

Baki. But those stories would require an

entire chapter on the paper road.

In the morning we outlined the day’s

activities. We wanted to visit the home of

Mrs. Razyihan, who was the papermaking

star of our film “The Last Papermakers

Along the Ancient Silk Road.” I knew that

Mrs. Razyihan had died, but our guide said

that her daughter was now the papermaker

and so I hoped to film her work. We also

wished to see the Hotan Museum, spend

some time at the Old Bazaar, and see other

papermaking in the area.

Now I discovered that our guide

actually had no idea where the papermakers

lived or worked. He only had a friend who

apparently knew where to find any of these

people. But the friend had gone to a wedding

an hour drive away. By asking many questions,

our driver eventually found the elegantly

furnished house where the wedding was

taking place. The friend was there, but did

not want to leave the wedding immediately.

We had to stay for the wedding dinner, a

sumptuous meal, but by the time we got

back to Hotan, half the day was gone. Razyihan’s

daughter was at home and remembered

us from 1993. We expressed condolences on

the loss of her mother, and gave her a copy

of our film. But there was no papermaking

to document. The daughter had stopped

making paper and all her equipment had

been given to the Shanghai Museum.

So where were all the papermakers that

the guide had promised we would meet?

To be continued in the April 2007 issue.

1 Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilisation

in China, Vol. 5, Part I: Paper and Printing

by Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin, publ. by Cambridge

University Press, Great Britain, 1985.

BEGINNER TOPICS

Well-known author and teacher Helen Hiebert

offers helpful tips and guidance for newcomers.

Here she introduces paper casting with sand.

I was first introduced to the idea

of using sand as a casting medium at

the 2000 Paper & Book Intensive held

in Oxbow, Michigan. I was teaching a

workshop, and one of my perks was getting

to take a workshop during the second half

of the session with Amanda Degener, who

has worked sculpturally with paper in many

ways. (Amanda was introduced to this

idea by Winifred Lutz, an innovative paper

sculptor in her own right, when she studied

with her at Yale. Although Amanda didn’t

actually demonstrate the technique (she

showed slides of work created using it), I

was intrigued.

Here’s the basic idea: First, you cast

an object in paper as you normally would,

by tamping paper pulp or sheets of paper

over or into a relief form. Next, you pour

heated sand over the top of the object, which

provides weight, keeping the object in

contact with the paper. The sand also wicks

moisture from the paper. This technique is

ideal for high shrinkage pulps (like abaca,

flax, and hemp) which would pop off of the

mold if not weighted down by the sand.

In the summer of 2005, I attended

the International Association of Hand

Papermaker’s Congress in Banff, Canada,

and was reminded about sand when I saw

a video produced by Italian paper artist Roberto

Mannino. His video showed footage of

using a metal tray on top of a printmaking

hot plate to heat sand. And here’s his really

ingenious idea. He took pressed, still wet

sheets of paper to the beach and used the

plentiful hot sand heated by mother nature

to cast his forms. Through his experiments,

Mannino has noticed that darker sands

(containing iron) heat up faster and hold

heat longer than sands containing pumice

(which are lighter in color and weight).

Now for some how-to details. When

choosing the item to cast, pick a rigid form

made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plaster –

basically anything you would normally cast

paper onto or into. As with any mold, you

need to be aware of undercuts, and you may

need to apply a barrier, like a release agent,

to prevent the paper from sticking to the

mold. When setting up to cast, choose a flatbottomed

heat-proof glass, enamel, or metal

tray or pan to set your object to be cast in (the

heat of the sand can melt plastic – I speak

from experience!). Make sure that it is deep

enough to hold your object and the sand

which will be poured on top of it. You might

need more sand than you’d think, to provide

enough weight and so that you can continually

change the sand until the paper is dry.

When you cast with sand directly on

high shrinkage pulps, you don’t tend to

see the texture of the sand on the paper.

However, some sand might stick to the

sheets, particularly if you have lots of little

crevices, and you might get some discoloration

on the paper. If this is a concern, you

should put something, like a thin layer of

toilet paper or a piece of thin cotton (like a

bedsheet), between the paper and sand.

When casting the paper or pulp, apply

it to the form as you normally would. Heat

your sand on a heat-proof tray, pot, or pan

on a hot table or stove, in the oven or in a

microwave. After you have all of your paper

on the mold, use a heat-proof cup or scoop

(along with heat-proof gloves, if necessary)

to pour the hot sand over the object. The

sand closest to the paper will get the wettest

and it will also cool off, so repeatedly changing

the sand is necessary and will speed up

the drying time. You will need to experiment

with how much sand you need to apply

enough weight, too, so that the paper doesn’t

shrink from the mold as it dries. Another tactic

Mannino uses is to place a metal grating

or tray with holes in it on top of the object

covered with sand to add weight and prevent

the paper from warping. Once the paper is

dry, you can remove it from the mold.

I’d love to hear about your innovative

papermaking techniques, if you’d like me

to consider them for my column. In the

meantime, I’ll be trying out some sand

casting at the beach.

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 sensitize students to conservation

issues with the help of colleague Betsy Miraglia.

It was an early, if not quite bright start

last Thursday morning as I pulled into the

parking lot of Haverford High School at

6:50 am. For once I had arrived even before

the teacher, had plenty of time to unload my

papermaking and horseshoe crab paraphernalia,

and had several parking places

from which to choose! And on this balmy

November day the first Horseshoe Crab

Conservation and the Arts classroom visit

for the 2007 season commenced.

For the past three years fellow Guild of

Papermakers charter member Betsy Miraglia

has generously funded my classroom

visits to Mark Wangberg’s art students at

Haverford High School. Mark is an extraordinary

book artist and educator whose students’

works have been selected to appear

in Ecological Research and Development’s

juried “Poems, Tales and Images” anthologies

since 2004.

Now entering its fifth year, the

Horseshoe Crab Conservation and the Arts

in-school program is my contribution to

ERDG, the only non-profit organization

dedicated to the preservation of the

world’s four remaining horseshoe crab

species. During the course of a half day

visit with students who range in age from

pre-K through high school, I introduce

the history, physiology, and conservation

issues surrounding this ancient marine

invertebrate. I present ERDG’s belief that

by elevating horseshoe crab’s to the subject

matter of artistic expressions we can go

far towards bringing species awareness

to humankind. I challenge students to

become environmental stewards through

sharing their visual and language art

works created in celebration of this ancient

mariner. ERDG sponsors an annual juried

arts competition in which selected works

become part of an internationally traveling

art exhibition, are published in the “Poems,

Tales and Images” anthology, and become a

permanent part of the web gallery on <www.

horseshoecrab.org>.

To culminate the classroom visit I give

students the opportunity to participate in

my art form of choice – hand papermaking.

Everyone learns to form their base sheet

of paper from whatever plant

fiber mixture I might have with

me. Then students have the

opportunity to apply colored veil

layers of pulp using horseshoe

crab stencils and other environmentally

related images. The

handmade paper experience is my

gift to the students for their participation

in the program. When I’ve gone,

the classroom teacher guides these young

people in creating and submitting works

of language and/or visual art for ERDG’s

annual juried Horseshoe Crab in the Arts

competition.

On this particular Thursday, Mark

had arranged for his art students to have

an extended visit with horseshoe crabs and

paper – from 7:30 am until about noon!

Because a few

of the students

were in class

for last season’s

papermaking

lesson, Betsy

agreed to show

her methods of

working with

handmade paper

this time, which

differ from mine. So I brought lots of base

sheet pulp and veil colors, and after my

horseshoe crab lesson I sat back and gave

her the floor!

Betsy floated a 24” x 24” pouring

mould in a large tray which contained a

low level of water and a drain. She lined the

mould with fine mesh, then began filling

it by hand with casting consistency pulp to

about one-half inch depth. After covering

the smoothed out pulp with another layer of

mesh, she fitted a 24” x 24” piece of insulation

board into the mould over the pulp

and applied downward pressure. She also

opened the tray drain over a bucket, releasing

the water. After the insulation boardapplied

pressure had pressed out enough

water, everything was inverted and the

mould and layer of mesh was removed, giving

her a large stable base sheet upon which

to work. She explained that this method has

given her a way to make really large sheets

that are easier for her to move around her

studio and manipulate. (The insulation

board becomes a support that holds the

paperworks in progress.) Betsy also showed

examples of her method of printing on her

paper using collograph plates.

The students all began forming small

square base sheets using Betsy’s pour/cast

method. They transferred their new sheets

onto plexiglas and then began dipping into

the finely beaten, colored vats of veil pulp

with stencils and screens, collecting shapes

and patterns to couch on top of their base

sheets. Additional linear patterns were

created by applying colored pulp by pipette.

All work was sponge pressed and allowed to

dry adhered to the plexi overnight. The time

passed quickly and before noon almost

every student had completed

at least four squares. The morning

ended up being a wonderfully

exciting collaboration between the

students, Betsy, Mark, and me. I

look forward to seeing what these

talented young people will submit

to this year’s arts competition!

ON-LINE

Pamela Wood of Arizona makes one-of-a-kind

books from her handmade papers. She explores

the internet seeking out notable paper-related

sites. In this issue we visit a lovely French-

Canadian mill.

My latest site takes us to Quebec in

Canada: <www.papeteriesaintgilles.com>.

It’s amazing the myriad ways papermaking

gets interpreted on the web. This site has

a fantastic opening splash page, a real

gem: water slowly drains beneath a mould

and deckle freshly pulled from the vat. To

me, it sums up what papermaking is all

about by engaging our senses. The only

thing missing here is the sound of water.

Unfortunately, this opening is the best part

of the web site. The rest falls a bit short.

After clicking on English or Français, a

slide show sequence shows the bucolic mill

building in all seasons; a nice welcome to

the Papeterie Saint-Gilles. Clicking History

on the left, we get a brief statement of the

1965 founding of this paper studio. Click

on Presentation for a series of enlargeable

photos: studio, gallery, boutique, etc.

Next take a look at Processing. I

love learning and as an avid web surfer,

I continue to find all sorts of examples of

virtual papermaking instruction. This area

of the site has the

greatest potential, yet

in this case it is the

weakest. The stylized

drawings have a

certain appeal but are

difficult to decipher,

and the process

descriptions are really too basic. It is such a

shame, since everything was going so well

up to this point.

More effort went into the Products

page. By the look of the image sequence,

the paperwork is very handsome and of

excellent quality. Seems this paper studio

is famous for flower petal paper. You get a

glimpse of it on all the backgrounds. The

final page is for contact information with

maps and other details to make planning

your visit easy. It would be a great visit to

include on the way to or from Quebec City

or Montreal.

PAPER HISTORY

Cathleen A. Baker, PhD, is Senior Paper

Conservator at the University of Michigan

Libraries. She has written books about Dard

Hunter and John DePol, and is proprietor of

The Legacy Press, specializing in the printing,

paper and book arts. A Samuel H. Kress

Conservation Publication Fellow, she is writing

a book on nineteenth-century American paper

and papermaking. This final installment of

her three-part article offers analyses of the

Whatman Papers used for Audubon’s

The Birds of America (London, 1826-1838).

Fiber content, gelatin, alum, rosin,

and pH tests were carried out on paper

samples from all four of the plate volumes

of the Syracuse University’s set. While the

results of these tests indicate that the paper

is acidic, qualitative criteria indicate that the

presence of harmful chemicals in the paper

and relatively low pH values do not describe

the actual condition of the paper.

Fiber content: Fiber samples were examined

using a polarizing light microscope.

They were also stained with the Herzberg

and “C” stains, and all the samples tested

positive for “rag.” The papers were composed

primarily of flax fibers (linen rags)

with a small percentage of cotton. The flax

fibers are relatively short with cut ends,

very well beaten and fibrillated. The cotton

fibers, by comparison, are longer and displayed

few of the effects of beating.

Gelatin: Using the Biuret test, which

tests for proteins, gelatin was found in the

larger samples tested; when only a few fibers

scraped from the surfaces were tested,

the results were negative. To check whether

this negative result was due to an absence

of gelatin in the samples or to the insufficient

quantity of sample, similar amounts

of fibers were scraped from the surfaces of

samples that tested positive; these also gave

negative results. Despite the fact that the

sample size interferes with test results, it

is probable that gelatin is present in all the

samples. It is also possible to state that the

gelatin is on the surfaces of the paper and

not in the interior. The reagents used on

paper that does not have any gelatin leave

the fibers blue, while fibers with gelatin

turn violet. It was easy to see under magnification

that in most of the samples tested,

the surfaces turned violet while the interior

fibers remained blue.

Alum: The reagent used to test for

aluminum ions was aluminon. In every

paper sampled except the very small ones,

this test was positive. The common source

for aluminum ions in paper is papermakers’

alum (hydrated aluminum sulfate). Alum,

which was added to the gelatin, served

two purposes. First, it was a preservative,

and its use was essential when the easily

spoiled gelatin was made in large quantities

and then stored, even for short periods.

Secondly, it hardened the gelatin size. That

is, when alum was combined with gelatin,

gelatin-alum size imparted to the paper

more water resistance than gelatin alone

in the same concentration. However, it is

incorrect to assume that, if alum is found

in paper, then gelatin must also be present.

Alum is also found if the paper was alumrosin

sized, see below, and it was also used

to clean the water used for papermaking by

acting as a flocculating agent to precipitate

debris out of the water. Unfortunately,

free alum converts to sulfuric acid in aged

papers. Undoubtedly, its common use in

papermaking accounts for most of the

acidic nature of paper, which can lead to a

certain amount of degradation and overall

discoloration. It should be noted, however,

that when alum is present in relatively small

concentrations, its acidic nature appears

to be neutralized by the pH buffering

characteristics of the gelatin.

Rosin: Using the Raspail test, the presence

of rosin was negative or inconclusive.

Alum-rosin sizing is an internal size, also

called “engine size” because it was added to

the beater. Although discovered in 1807, it

was not in common used in Europe until

1835, and then primarily for machine-made

papers. Saponified rosin was added to the

pulp in the beater, and alum acted as a mordant

to precipitate it onto the fibers. When

the paper traveled over the dryer cylinders,

the rosin was melted onto the fibers making

the sheet more water resistant, as well as

internally stronger. The bad reputation of

alum-rosin sizing is based on the pH of the

pulp solution in the beater, which could

be very acidic, pH 2–3. It is probable that,

because the Whatman papers were made by

hand, they were not alum-rosin sized.

pH: To determine the acidity of various

sheets, pH tests were carried out on nine

paper samples, using a flat-tipped glass

electrode and a calibrated pH meter. The

results follow (JW = J Whatman;

JWTM = J Whatman / Turkey Mill):

Plate Countermark, date pH

40 JWTM, 1832 3.87

63 JWTM, 1832 3.99

100 JWTM, 1833 4.40

108 JWTM, 1833 3.84

159 JW, 1833 3.95

182 JW, 1833 3.95

186 JW, 1834 4.57

title page, Vol. I JWTM, 1838 4.34

title page, Vol. II JWTM, n.d. 4.14

The pH values for these nine samples,

ranging from 3.84 to 4.57, are relatively low –

pH 7 is neutral – and indicate that the

papers are indeed acidic. However, these pH

values do not seem to have much bearing

on the degree of deterioration each sheet

exhibits in terms of visual appearance, feel,

and physical damage. One might expect

such acidic papers to be brittle enough to

crumble or break with handling and that

they would discolor to various shades of

brown. However, with the exception of eight

J Whatman / Turkey Mill / 1837 papers in

the Volume IV, which are a light-brown

color, the remaining sheets, which have

both countermarks, range from off-white to

a cream color. Even the discolored J Whatman

/ Turkey Mill / 1837 papers are flexible

and cannot be described as brittle. In terms

of physical damage, for example, Plate 108

(pH 3.84) has two small edge tears, and

on the verso, there is minor offset staining

from the next plate. By comparison, Plate

186 (pH 4.57) has one small edge tear; on

the recto, there is a small area of brown,

spot staining; and on the verso, there is

some heavy offset staining from the next

plate. In these examples, the degree of offset

staining seems to depend more on the

quantity of oxidized oil-based printing ink

on the succeeding plate rather than on the

pH of the effected paper.

Even though The Birds of America

papers are acidic and contain alum, most do

not exhibit serious deterioration. Probably

due largely to the buffering qualities of gelatin

sizing, these well-processed, handmade

papers have the capacity to combat acidity

arising from internal and external sources –

air pollution, high humidity and temperature

levels – that would have degraded

inferior papers.

References: Browning, B. L., Analysis of Paper

(2d ed., 1977); Graff, John, A Color Atlas

for Fiber Identification (1940).

PAPER SCIENCE

John Bordley is F. B. Williams Professor and

Chair of the Chemistry department at Sewanee:

The University of the South. Here John covers

acids and bases.

This series of articles will conclude

with several articles on additives. However,

before additives are discussed, there needs

to be a discussion about acids and bases.

Indeed, a very common additive is a base

such as sodium carbonate.

In the 1880s, Svante Arrhenius worked

with water solutions and ions and is the

person given credit for associating acids

with the presence of hydrogen ions, H+, and

bases with hydroxide ions, OH–. Thus an

Arrhenius acid is a substance that produces

H+ ions, and an Arrhenius base is a substance

that produces OH– ions. Hydrogen

ions tend to attract water molecules to form

what are called hydronium ions:

H+ + H2O (l) → H2OH+ (l) = H3O+ (l) = H3O+ (aq)

Sometimes the H3O+ (aq) species is written

as H+ (aq). This shorthand version has the

advantage of being a little easier to write.

It is extremely important to understand

that any water solution always has some

hydronium ions present, i.e., there is some

concentration of hydronium ions, [H3O+].

(The square brackets, [ ], indicate concentration,

usually in the units of moles per

liter, with moles being a quantity.) Likewise

there are always some hydroxide ions,

OH–, present in any water solution. There

is indeed a continuum of concentrations of

hydroxide and hydronium ions, [OH–] and

[H3O+]. When the hydronium ion concentration

increases/decreases, the hydroxide ion

concentration decreases/increases.

A mathematical way of presenting this

idea of a continuum of values of the [OH–]

and [H3O+] is that when the concentrations

are multiplied by each other, the result is

equal to 1.0 x 10-14 at 25°C:

[OH–] x [H3O+] = 1.0 x 10-14 at 25°C

According to this equation, if the hydronium

ion concentration increases, the

hydroxide ion concentration must decrease,

and not just by any amount, but proportionately.

Notice, too, that neither concentration

can equal zero. The concentration of one

species might be very small, but it can never

be zero. For example, if [H3O+] = 1.0 x 10-1,

[OH–] must equal 1.0 x 10-13.

A neutral solution is one that is neither

acidic nor basic. That means that [OH–] =

[H3O+], and since their product must be 1.0

x 10-14 at 25°C, then [OH–] = [H3O+] = 1.0 x

10-7. To avoid working with powers of 10

(and the powers are negative to make things

worse!), pH is defined to be the negative

logarithm of the hydronium ion concentration.

Using this definition of pH, the pH of

a neutral solution at 25°C is 7.0.

An acidic solution is one that has a

hydronium ion concentration, [H3O+], > 1.0

x 10-7, for example 1.0 x 10-5, or 1.0 x 10-2.

It follows that the pH of an acidic solution

must be < 7.0, i.e., 5.0 or 2.0 in the two

examples just given. It also follows that the

hydroxide ion concentration, [OH–], of an

acidic solution must be < 1.0 x 10-7. For the

two examples [OH–] would be 1.0 x 10-9 and

1.0 x 10-12, respectively.

A basic solution is one that has a

hydronium ion concentration, [H3O+], < 1.0

x 10-7, (or said another way, the hydroxide

ion concentration, [OH–], > 1.0 x 10-7), for

example [H3O+] = 1.0 x 10-8, or 1.0 x 10-10. It

follows that the pH of a basic solution must

be > 7.0, i.e., 8.0 or 10.0 in the two new

examples just given. The corresponding

concentrations of hydroxide ion would be

1.0 x 10-6 and 1.0 x 10-4.

In 1923, Johannes Brønsted and

Thomas Lowry independently developed

a more general set of definitions. In their

model, the hydrogen ion, H+, is the ‘unit of

exchange’; it is transferred from one chemical

species to another. It is read as “aitchplus”,

and thus we speak of “an aitch-plus

ion”. A Brønsted-Lowry acid is an H+ donor;

a Brønsted-Lowry base is an H+ acceptor.

An important concept when discussing

Brønsted-Lowry acids and bases is conjugate

acid/base pairs. The word conjugate is

derived from the Latin conjugare which

means joined together, especially in a pair.

A conjugate acid and its corresponding

conjugate base (the conjugate acid/base

pair) differ only by one H+, the unit of

exchange in Brønsted-Lowry acids and

bases; the form with the H+ is of course the

conjugate acid and the form without the H+

is the conjugate base.

To show that a solution of sodium carbonate

(washing soda) is basic, we would write:

Na2CO3 (s) + H2O (l) → 2 Na+ (aq) + CO3

2– (aq)

and then

CO3

2– (aq) + H2O (l) → HCO3

– (aq) + OH– (aq)

The first equation shows that the ionic

compound of sodium ions and carbonate

ions dissolves in water to form aquated

sodium and carbonate ions, i.e., the ions

are surrounded by the water molecules. The

second equation shows that the carbonate

ion accepts an H+ ion from the water

to become a hydrogen carbonate (usually

called bicarbonate) ion; the water, having

lost the H+ ion becomes an OH– ion. Of the

two reactants, the carbonate ion is the base

and the water is the acid. The conjugate acid

of the carbonate ion is the bicarbonate ion,

HCO3

–, and thus the carbonate ion and bicarbonate

ion are a conjugate base/acid pair.

Water and the hydroxide ion are the other

conjugate acid/base pair. In each conjugate

pair the conjugate acid and conjugate base

differ only by the H+ ion which was supplied

by the water molecule to the carbonate ion.

When fibers are cooked in base, or if

some acid is otherwise present (more on

that next time), the above equation becomes:

CO3

2– (aq) + H3O+ (l) → HCO3

– (aq) + HOH (i.e., H2O)

In this equation, the hydronium ion, rather

than the water, is the acid. Its conjugate base

is water. The role of the carbonate is the

same. Sodium carbonate, washing soda, is

recommended as a base in papermaking (in

cooking or as a reserve), as it is much safer

to work with than sodium hydroxide (lye).

And if a milder basic solution will work

for you, baking soda, sodium bicarbonate,

NaHCO3, is even safer and easier to work with:

HCO3

– (aq) + H3O+ (l) → H2CO3 (aq) + HOH (i.e., H2O)

In this equation, the bicarbonate ion, rather

than the carbonate ion, is the base. Its

conjugate acid is H2CO3. The role of the

hydronium ion is the same.

Next time: how the acid gets into the

paper and how acid can destroy paper. Then

on to other additives.

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. In this issue Sue introduces us to

Garner Tullis.

When Joe Wilfer organized The First

Hand Papermaking Conference in 1975 at

the Paper Chemistry Institute in Appleton,

Wisconsin, most of the attendees were

relatively new to hand papermaking and

few, except the Clarks of Twinrocker, had

chosen it as their profession. However, by

1975, attendee Garner Tullis had spent more

than a dozen years experimenting with

handmade paper and using it as an element

in his print collaborations. His reputation

for boldness and controversy preceded him

and he did not disappoint us. He challenged

fellow papermakers with work and words

to embrace the opportunities for innovation

in the ancient craft that he had discovered

himself years before.

As a student at the University of

Pennsylvania in the early 1960s, he had

been introduced to the embossed prints of

Norwegian printmaker Rolf Nesh and was

encouraged by his teacher, the sculptor David

Smith, to think more ambitiously about

his prints the way an artist would think

about his sculpture or painting. At Smith’s

urging, Tullis began to research paper and

after a visit to Scott Paper Company in

1962, Tullis began to make his own thick,

oversized sheets of paper. Breaking from

traditional printmaking, he printed imagery

on these hefty sheets using a flat bed press

rather than a press with a roller.

It is interesting to note that in 1963

while Tullis was in Philadelphia learning

how to cast large sheets with commercial

pulp for his own deeply embossed prints,

Ken Tyler was in Los Angeles working

with domestic and international paper

companies to develop new, large scale print

papers for his mixed media collaborations

and Laurence Barker was establishing the

first university hand papermill at Cranbrook

Academy in Michigan. The next decade

proved to be a critical period in the revival

of hand papermaking as all three of these

artists made unique contributions to the

revolution in fine printmaking and the

reinvention of hand papermaking in the

United States.

While Tyler and Barker’s curiosity

about papermaking grew out of their

interest in printmaking, Tullis’s background

as a sculptor motivated him to explore threedimensional

as well as two-dimensional

applications of the process. When he

applied for a Fulbright Fellowship to

study printmaking in Italy in 1964, he

was awarded the fellowship in sculpture.

Learning how to speak fluent Italian and

to cast metal served him well when he

returned to the United States for graduate

studies at Stanford. While a student, he

taught printmaking and assisted visiting

sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro. After

completing his graduate work at Stanford in

1969, Tullis began teaching at the California

State University in Stanislaus while he set

up a printmaking studio of his own in Santa

Cruz. Contact with dynamic sculptors in the

Bay Area, such as Peter Voulkos and Mark

Di Suvero, influenced Tullis’s nontraditional

approach to making prints and working

with paper pulp.

In 1976, when he left Stanislaus

to teach at the University of California,

Davis, he moved and enlarged his studio,

now called the Experimental Printmaking

Workshop, to an 18,000 square foot space

in San Francisco. During the next decade,

Tullis with his wife, Ann McLaughlin, collaborated

with a wide range of established

painters and sculptors introducing them to

both printmaking and hand papermaking.

Garner and Ann contracted with New York

publisher Pace Editions to fabricate cast

paper editions for artists such as Louise

Nevelson and Joe Zucker in the late 1970s.

They also collaborated

with west coast artists

such as Robert Arneson

(work pictured left) and

Deborah Butterfield

on one-of-a-kind paper

cast sculptures. It was

also during this period

that Garner developed a

signature method of working two dimensionally

using both colored paper pulp and

printmaking ink as paint in the creation of

one-of-a-kind printed images. Sam Francis

and Ken Noland were two of the prominent

artists who succeeded in creating large bodies

of monotypes using this direct, “hands

on” method.

Tullis favored working shoulder to

shoulder with the artists in the studio rather

than reproducing a maquette or editioned

image. He also enjoyed having his family as

part of the collaborative team. Garner’s son,

Richard Tullis,

began assisting

his father at an

early age learning

technical skills

as well as how to

be a innovative

collaborator (see

photo circa 1973-4). So in 1984 when Garner

left the Experimental Workshop to Ann

and moved to Santa Barbara to establish a

new studio, The Garner Tullis Workshop,

he brought Richard with him to concentrate

full time on publishing his monotype

collaborations. Until a hand papermill was

added to the facility in Santa Barbara, Garner

used the printing presses to work with

artists Richard Diebenkorn and Sean Scully

on new monotypes.

In 1987, leaving the workshop in Santa

Barbara to Richard, Garner moved across

country to New York City to establish a new

studio to continue working on his own art

and to delve deeper into monotype and print

collaborations with Sean Scully and other

East Coast artists such as Robert Ryman

and Helen Frankenthaler. Though he did

not set up a hand papermill in New York, he

continued to work on the handmade paper

that his son Richard produced in Santa

Barbara as well as using other domestic and

imported handmade papers. As with the

work produced in Santa Barbara from the

late 1980s, the art that he created in New

York, both his own and that of the artists he

worked with, reveals an understated polish

and subtlety that compliments the out sized

bravado which characterized so much of his

earlier experimental work.

In 2003 Garner packed up once again,

this time to return to Italy, a place that had

left an indelible impression on him years

ago when he had studied art as a young

student. Though Richard Tullis continued to

make handmade paper and collaborate with

artists at the shop in Santa Barbara until

2005, just this past year he let go of the studio

and the presses and put the papermaking

equipment into storage until settling

into his new home in Portland, Oregon.

Meanwhile for the past two years, Garner

has been reestablishing contacts with

friends and artists in Italy and assembling

printing and papermaking equipment for a

new studio.

DECORATED PAPER

Sidney Berger, a professor at Simmons College

in Boston, has been collecting and researching

decorated paper for over thirty years. In this

article Sid argues that decorated paper practitioners

deserve better notoriety.

Last month I gave a talk at The Guild

of Book Workers’ Centennial Celebration

in New York. My topic: Decorated Papers

in the U.S. I spoke about the history of

decorated papermaking and also, of course,

about the practitioners, whose work is inextricably

linked with the history.

In my research, I uncovered the names

of many obscure practitioners, along with

names we are all familiar with – the more

recent (many still active) marblers, paste

paper makers, and others whose work we

recognize and admire.

A few things emerged from my research.

The first is that decorated

paper makers, while satisfying the needs

of others – mostly bookbinders, but also

people needing their papers for lining

boxes, making lampshades, doing all kinds

of craft projects, and even making fire

screens – pretty much remained anonymous

over the centuries. Richard Wolfe says

in his book The Role of the Mann Family of

Dedham, Massachusetts in the Marbling of

Paper in Nineteenth-century America (N.p.:

n.p., 1981):

Of all the craftsmen engaged in the

book trades over the centuries, the

makers of marbled and decorated

papers remain the least understood and

identified today.... the historian or bibliographer

attempting to study and interpret

the marbled and colored paper

trade encounters an almost total dearth

of documentation .... As a result, there

is no aspect of the book arts at present

which is more obscure and about

which less information is available than

early marbling and the making of fancy

and colored papers. (p. 1)

One of the aims of my talk was to make

people recognize this and to spur them on

to rectify this situation.

That is, I hope that those using the

decorated papers of others give those

others credit, in colophons, prospectuses,

and other places in which information is

given about the manufacture of the item on

which the decorated paper is used. Millions

of books in our libraries are covered with

paste, marbled, or block-printed papers with

no attribution whatsoever of the artists who

made these sheets. I discussed this with

Peggy Skycraft, one of the first active marblers

whose work became well known in the

commercial world, and a strong advocate for

the protection of copyright for paper decorators.

She said, “Sometimes we even ask the

binders to mention us and they don’t. We

marblers don’t get no respect” (telephone

interview, September 19, 2006).

A second thing that emerged from my

work is that there is an abundance of information

hidden away in obscure places that

would reveal to us the names of many paper

decorators. Sometimes the information

needs to be sought out with a little leg-work.

For instance, I went to Harvard’s Rosamond

Loring Collection at the Houghton Library.

Hope Mayo, the Curator of Graphic Arts

there, kindly allowed me to work from the

as-yet unpublished finding aid she had

prepared of that wonderful collection, and

I was able to identify about a dozen names

of paper decorators, mostly marblers. The

good thing about this line of approach is

that there are actual papers attached to the

names, so that a scholar can see the work of

these otherwise “unknown” artists.

For instance, the Loring collection has

papers by M. Kalaba (or Calaba) of New

Rochelle, New York; George K. Huber of

Swarthmore, PA; W.C. Doebbelin; Peter

Franck; Mrs. George Bullock and Mrs.

Irving Coxe of New York (more about them

below); Margaret Laquer Hayes, and others,

along with papers from a distributor called

Tamm & Co., about which I could find nothing.

This will require more sleuthing.

The tale of Mrs. George Bullock and

Mrs. Irving Coxe is frustrating. Norma

Rubovits, one of our most imaginative

and artistic marblers, steered me to some

marbled papers in her own collection, now

housed in the Newberry Library in Chicago.

The only designation she had on the papers

were the names Bullock and Coxe. She

knew nothing about them; all she knew was

that her collection had sheets with those

names on them. A few weeks later I found

those names in the Loring collection. But

the folder there had on it only the names as

I have given them, linked to their husbands’

names. I still don’t know the names of these

women, nor do I know what sheets each did

in the folders. Did they both do each sheet?

This too calls for more detective work.

But it is just this kind of work that

might reveal some of our artistic past.

To be continued in the April 2007 issue.

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, Amagansett, NY,

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

on the eastern end of Long Island.

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts,

Gatlinburg, TN, (865) 436-5860, <www.arrowmont.

org>. Classes and workshops in a

variety of disciplines, including paper.

The Topography of Handmade Paper, March

18-24, with Mary Hark. After a thorough

investigation into fibers and tools, be ready

for a lively exploration of surface, form and

content.

The Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada,

(800) 565-9989 or (403) 762-6180,

<www.banffcentre.ca>. Contact <wendy_

tokaryk@banffcentre.ca> for info.

Brookfield Craft Center, Brookfield, CT,

(203) 775-4526, <www.brookfieldcraftcenter.

org>. Workshops at a colonial vintage campus

75 miles north of New York City.

Papier Mache Sculpture, March 17-18, with

Lanette Barber. Work with pulp and sheet

paper to create sculptural forms using wire

armatures, constructed forms, and premade

forms.

Basic Papermaking Plus, March 24-25, with

Shannon Brock. Learn pulp preparation,

sheet forming, use of additives, pressing

and drying.

John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown,

NC, (704) 837-2775, <www.folkschool.org>.

Classes in papermaking and other crafts in

the mountains of western North Carolina.

Advanced Marbling – Images, Devices and

Effects, January 7-13, with Mimi Schleicher.

Gain a mastery of watercolor marbling.

Eastern Papermaking, March 11-17, with

Rajeania Snider. Take a papermaking tour

from Nepal to Japan and China to Egypt.

Paper Cutting: Scandinavian Paper Patterns,

March 25-31, with Barbara Stoop. Explore

the tradition of “papierklip,” making papercuttings

using small, curved scissors and

many different papers.

Marble and Paste: Pretty Paper Duet, April 15-

21, with Nancy Lawrence. Try both marbling

and paste paper decoration.

Carriage House Paper, Brooklyn, NY, (800)

669-8781, <www.carriagehousepaper.com>.

A full program of beginning and advanced

papermaking classes taught by Donna Koretsky

and Shannon Brock.

Center for Book Arts, New York, NY, (212)

481-0295, <www.centerforbookarts.org>.

Dozens of book and paper workshops offered

in midtown Manhattan.

Columbia College Chicago Center for Book

and Paper Arts, Chicago, IL, (312) 344-6630,

<www.bookandpaper.org>. Papermaking

classes in spacious downtown studios.

Cottage Industry Technology Center,

20 Russet St., SSS Village, 1811

Marikina City, Philippines, (632) 942-

3974, <LorEto.DA@gmail.com> or

<bookendshere2002@yahoo.com>.

Dieu Donné Papermill, New York, NY,

(212) 226-0573, <www.dieudonne.org>.

Beginning and advanced papermaking

classes for adults and children.

Basic Papermaking, January 10, February 7,

or March 7, with staff instructor. Gain a general

overview of the papermaking process.

Open Studio, January 22, February 12, or

March 12, with staff instructor. Experiment

with the medium on your own using various

pulps.

Frogman’s Press & Gallery, Beresford, SD,

(605) 763-5082, <www.frogmans.net>.

Paper is Just the Beginning, July 9-14 (register

by April 15), with Lynn Sures. Create artistmade

paper which varies in shape, pattern,

color, thickness, surface texture, scale, and

edge, from abaca and kozo pulps.

The Hall of Awa Japanese Handmade Paper,

141 Kawahigashi, Yamakawa-cho, Yoshinogawashi,

Tokushima 779-3401, Japan, fax

81-883-42-6085, <www.awagami.com>.

Harvesting Mitsumata for Papermaking,

March 4-5. After harvesting, steaming, peeling

the outer bark, and processing the white

bark, spend a day making paper from this

fiber rich in tradition.

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer

Isle, ME, (207) 348-2306, <www.haystackmtn.

org>. Workshops in various disciplines,

including papermaking and book arts.

Historic RittenhouseTown, Philadelphia,

PA, (215) 843-2228, <www.rittenhousetown.

org>. Summer paper arts workshop series 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, Oakland, CA, (510)

839-5268, <www.magnoliapaper.com>.

Workshops in papermaking, printmaking,

and book arts.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts,

Minneapolis, MN, (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

the procedures and instructions for safe

operation of the beater, hydraulic press, and

restraint dryer.

Traditional Marbling, March 5, with Steve

Pittelkow. Practice the basic process of

marbling including preparation of the bath,

mixing paint, and making tools.

Papermaking Open Studio, April 13. Bring

your own inclusions; everything else is supplied

during this self-directed evening.

Japanese Papermaking and Decoration, May

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

learning the process and forming many

sheets, try your hand at a variety of decorative

techniques.

Paper Circle, Nelsonville, OH, (740) 753-

3374, <papercircle@frognet.net>. Call or

e-mail for upcoming classes.

Papermakers of Victoria, at Box Hill Community

Arts Centre, Whitehorse, Victoria,

Australia, phone 9885 2479.

The Papertrail, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,

(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, <office@papierwespe.at>, <www.

papierwespe.at>. Workshops in English

and German taught by paper specialists in

downtown Vienna.

Reliefs with Paper Pulp, April 20-21, with

Beatrix Mapalagama.

Hot Air Balloons, June 29, with Gerhild

Resch.

Creating Handmade Papers for Illuminated

Structures, July 21-22, with Helen Hiebert.

Make papers to be used for lamps, lanterns,

or sculptures which incorporate light.

Paper Lamps, Lanterns & Sculpture,

July 27-29, with Helen Hiebert. Cover

traditional wire lampshade frames, then

advance to more complex structures

involving armatures.

Paper Jewelry, December 1-2, with Babsi

Daum, Du Fei, Christina Leitner, and

Andrea Schreiber. Work together with four

artists to create one piece of paper jewelry.

Penland School, Penland, NC, (828) 765-

2359, <www.penland.org>. A full program

of craft workshops, including papermaking

and book arts.

Peters Valley Craft Center, Layton, NJ, (973)

948-5200, <www.pvcrafts.org>. Workshops

in a variety of craft, including papermaking.

Pyramid Atlantic, Silver Spring, MD, (301)

608-9101, <www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.

org>. Workshops in papermaking, printmaking,

and book arts.

Open House, January 20, with staff, interns

and volunteers. Experience the studios,

see how paper is made, meet artists-inresidence

and local faculty, and select your

spring classes.

Rhode Island School of Design, Providence,

RI, (800) 364-7473. Continuing education

through the Summer Institute of Graphic

Design Studies.

Robert C. Williams Paper Museum, Atlanta,

GA, (404) 894-5726, <www.ipst.edu/amp>.

Advanced Japanese Papermaking, January

13, with Berwyn Hung. Enhance your skills

making washi from kozo.

Paper Jewelry Family Workshop, April 14,

with Marcia Watt. Make paper beads and

assemble your own paper bracelet.

Lampshades from Paper Family Workshop,

June 9. Create decorative paper shades with

flower petals and leaves.

Japanese Papermaking – A Hands-on Learning

Experience, June 25-29, with Berwyn Hung.

Study all stages of Japanese papermaking

from fiber collection and preparation to

sheet forming.

San Francisco Center for the Book, San

Francisco, CA, (415) 565-0545, <www.sfcb.

org>. Book arts classes and events year-round.

Seastone Papers, West Tisbury, MA, (508)

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

Summer paper workshops in Martha’s Vineyard

taught by Sandy Bernat.

Sievers School of Fiber Arts, Washington

Island, WI 54246, (920) 847-2264, <www.

sieversschool.com>. Summer workshops on

an island in Lake Michigan.

Snow Farm, The New England Craft Program,

Williamsburg, MA (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, San Antonio,

TX, (210) 224-1848, <www.swschool.

org>. Classes at the Picante Paper Studio.

Intermediate Papermaking, January 17, with

Beck Whitehead. Learn some new techniques

of pulp preparation, pigmenting

pulp, and sheet forming.

Introduction to Paper, February 3-4, with

Jo Etta Jupe. Explore the paper studio and

learn the basic papermaking process.

Making Watermarks and Shaped Deckles,

February 17, with Linda Draper. Create

shaped deckles and watermarks for a variety

of projects using very low tech methods and

easily obtained materials.

Low-Relief and Textured Paper, March 3, with

Jo Etta Jupe. Explore many ways of incorporating

physical texture into the handmade

sheet of paper.

Exploring Special Fibers, March 17, with

Beck Whitehead. Discover some new fibers

or just enjoy having a variety of pulps ready

to use.

Spannocchia Foundation, Tuscany, Italy,

<www.spannocchia.org>. Contact Susanne

Martin at <alavee15@hotmail.com> for

summer workshop details.

Organic Bookmaking: From Clay to Crops,

July 16-30, with John and Susanne Martin.

Use materials from a sustainable farm

to create books using paper made from

recently harvested plants and herbs.

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

Mandeville, LA, (504) 674-9232.

Nagashasuki with Mary-Elaine C. Bernard,

selected Saturdays. Learn this Eastern

method of making paper and incorporate

local plant fibers.

Valley Ridge Art Studio, Muscoda, WI,

(608) 250-5028, <www.valleyridgeartstudio.

com>. Workshops in papermaking, bookmaking,

photography, writing, etc.

Wisconsin Center for Paper Arts,

Madison, WI, (608) 284-8394,

<wcpaperarts@hotmail.com>.

Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY

12472, (845) 658-9133, <info@wsworkshop.

org>. Summer Arts Institute includes workshops

in papermaking, printmaking, book

arts, photography, and other media.

EVENTS

The twelfth annual Newport Paper Arts

Festival takes place April 20-22 at a breathtaking

site overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Workshops, lectures, and exhibits on surface

design, papermaking, printmaking, and

book arts are planned. Send SASE to NPAF,

PO Box 1315, Newport OR 97365, or email

<vac@coastarts.org>. Go to <www.coastarts.

org> (click “NPAF”) for registration and

workshop information.

The Friends of Dard Hunter will meet in

Washington, DC, October 18-20 at the historic

Carnegie Institution. The Friends meet

annually to enjoy speakers, presentations,

tours of local paper and book arts facilities, a

trade show, auction, and banquet. Scholarships

are 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 19th Congress at Wadham College

in Oxford, England, from July 30- August 3.

For more information contact

<hilarysussum@googlemail.com>. To find

out more about the organization and the

Congress, visit: <www.iapma.info>. Plan

ahead for the 2008 conference in Italy;

2009 in Australia; and 2010 in Korea.

The 36th Annual SGC Conference takes

place March 21-25 at Kansas City Art Institute

in Missouri. Established in 1972, the

purpose of the Southern Graphics Council

is to educate the public and promote awareness

and appreciation of the art of making

original prints, books, handmade paper, and

drawing. The annual event is the largest

gathering of printmakers in North America.

Contact Conference Director Laura Berman

at <Lbsgc07@gmail.com> or visit <http://

sgc.kcai.edu/>.

Founded in 1910 on the shores of Lake

Michigan as an escape from the city, the

Ox-Bow School of Art campus encompasses

115 acres of pristine landscape. Paper &

Book Intensive 2007 will be held at Ox-Bow

from May 20-31. Instructors for this year are

Stuart Brockman, Michael Burke, Amanda

Degener, Ann Marie Kennedy, Barbara

Korbel, Renate Mesmer, Dominic Riley, Pati

Scobey, Pamela Spitzmueller, and Barbara

Tetenbaum. PBI is held annually in different

regions of the country and attended by

individuals who are passionate about the

book arts, bookbinding, hand papermaking,

conservation, and related fields. Motivated

beginners and practitioners are welcome.

The online brochure can be viewed at

<www.paperbookintensive.org>.

EXHIBITS

The Fabric of Life: Tapas and Mud Cloths

from the South Pacific, Africa, and Mexico,

is on view at the Robert C. Williams Paper

Museum in Atlanta April 26 through July

6. Tapa, one of several words for traditional

beaten bark cloth, is at once beautiful

and functional, having historically served

the mundane and the sacred in cultures

throughout the world. The exhibit will focus

on particularly rare and unique tapa collected

by Dard Hunter on his travels during the

1920s. In September look for Art from Wood

and Paper: Japanese Woodblocks and Washi, a

joint exhibition with the Georgia Museum

of Art. For further details call (404) 894-

7840 or visit <www.ipst.edu/amp>.

The Book as Art: Twenty Years of Artists’

Books from the National Museum of Women

in the Arts is on exhibit until February 4.

The 108 works by 86 artists employ a wide

variety of structures and formats – traditional

codex, unfolding accordion books,

scrolls, tunnel books, boxes, pop-ups, fans,

flag books – many with handmade paper.

Curator Krystyna Wasserman has organized

these annual exhibitions since 1987. More

details are on the NMWA website at <www.

nmwa.org> plus a podcast interview with

Audrey Niffenegger. A full-color, illustrated

catalogue is available for purchase. Call

(202) 783-5000 for information.

The Japan Foundation is proud to present

Found in Translation: Interpreting Elements

of Japanese Design, curated by Arlene

Gehring. The exhibit focuses on Japanese

design aesthetics and techniques as practiced

by four fibre and paper artists living

in Canada. Through their work, Nieves

Carrasco, Marta Dal Farro, Judith Fielder

and Lorraine Pritchard speak of Japanese

tradition in an artistic language of their

own. The exhibit is on view until January

19 at the Japan Foundation in Toronto. For

further details call (416) 966-1600 or e-mail

<tmiki@jftor.org>.

Through February, The Stairway Gallery

presents the First Paperworks Exhibition

and Workshops featuring the works of Loreto

Apilado, Penny Reyes-Velasco, Bencab,

Pandy Aviado, Rishab Tibon, Tess Pasola,

Tony Gonzales, and other paper artists.

The artists will use shredded, demonetized

Philippine money as the main material,

turning it into pulp or collage art mixed

with other media, or as paper canvasses.

For further details contact Stairway Gallery,

Imacron Media Center Bldg., 115 Kamuning

Road, Quezon City, Philippines, (632) 920-

1375, <penny@stairwaygallery.com>, or see

<www.stairwaygallery.com>.

Fuller Craft Museum presents an exhibition

entitled Pulp Function curated by Lloyd

Herman, founding Director of the Smithsonian’s

Renwick Gallery. The exhibit opens

May 19 at Fuller Craft Museum, and will

travel through 2010. Art made from paper

pulp; recycled paper; cardboard; papier

mache; and cut, folded, or otherwise manipulated

paper will be featured. For more

information visit <www.fullercraft.org>.

The Finnish Paper Art Gallery presents the

work of Jany Vyborna-Turunen, on exhibit

through January. For further details contact

The Finnish Paper Art Gallery, FIN-45700

Kuusankoski, Finland. The Gallery is part of

the Kymen Paviljonki complex on Highway

6 at Kuusankoski.

Marjorie Alexander exhibits her paperwork

Flock in Flight II as part of the Arrowhead

Biennial Exhibition at The Duluth Art Institute,

506 West Michigan Street, Duluth,

MN 55802, until March 4.

CALLS FOR ENTRIES

Erica Rasmussen is presenting a lecture/

demo at the May 2007 Surface Design

Association conference entitled “From

Bubblewrap to Bottlecaps: Embellishing

Handmade Paper with Everyday Media.”

During the slide section she will be showing

examples of low-tech methods for surfacing

paper with inexpensive and commonplace

materials like red wine, beet juice, rusty

washers, tomato paste, and instant cocoa.

Your contributions of non-traditional or

non-conventional sheets would be most

appreciated. Verbal credit will be given to

artists/craftspeople. Please send slides and

contact information to Prof. Erica Rasmussen,

Metropolitan State University, 1380

Energy Lane #205, St. Paul, MN 55108 or

e-mail <erica.rasmussen@metrostate.edu>.

PapierWespe Studio in Vienna, Austria,

is planning a paper jewelry exhibition

in December. To participate mail five

to ten digital images of your works to

<office@papierwespe.at> no later than

April, 2007. The entries will be juried.

Selected artists will be notified by e-mail

before June 15.

OPPORTUNITIES

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. For further information contact

SSAC, 300 Augusta, San Antonio, TX 78205,

(210) 224-1848,

The Creative Residency program in Visual

Arts at The Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada,

provides studio facilities and support for

artists working in a broad range of media,

including papermaking. Applications are

now being accepted. Visit <www.banffcentre.

ca/va/residencies/> or contact Wendy

Tokaryk at <wendy_tokaryk@banffcentre.

ca> or (403) 762-6402.

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.

TRAVEL

The Rittenhouse European Tour takes

place April 25- May 9. Tour the homeland

of William Rittenhouse the founder of

RittenhouseTown and the first papermaker

in North America. The tour will travel to

many locations throughout Germany and

Netherlands. The tour will be led by John

Ruth, a minister, author, and filmmaker.

He teaches history through storytelling.

He knows points of interest on both

Rittenhouse and Mennonite history. Mary

Rittenhouse Schwartzentruber organized

this tour and will act as the administrator.

For the complete tour itinerary or for more

information, please call (215) 438-5711 or

email <info@rittenhousetown.org>.

MISCELLANEOUS

In the spring of 2007 Dieu Donné Papermill

will move to a new location at 315 West

36th Street in New York City. Plans for an

expanded studio, archive, and gallery are

now being drafted. Visit <www.dieudonne.

org> to view images of the new space and to

help support this major milestone.

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>.

Hand Papermaking continues 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: 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

1070, Beltsville, MD 20704. Or call (800)

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

about Hand Papermaking’s Artist

Registry can be found at <www.handpapermaking.

org>.

CLASSIFIEDS

Classifieds in the Hand Papermaking

Newsletter cost 75 cents per word, with no

minimum. Payment is due in advance of

publication.

Fresh USA Grown Kozo For Sale. UI Center

for the Book 2006-2007 harvest from

imported Japanese tree stock. $25 for 500

grams; packing and shipping included. This

is dried black bark: scrape prior to cooking

to make high quality paper, or cook as is

to make ‘chiri-gami’ with black bark flecks

included. Email Tim Barrett at <handmadepaper@

uiowa.edu> to place an order. Supply

limited; first come, first served.

Need a Mould and Deckle? Welcome to

The Paperwright, Britt Quinlan, <www.

trytel.com/~brittq>, <brittq@trytel.com>

(877) 622-4522. I custom build pine and

mahogany moulds, types include: beginner,

form fitting, bronze mesh, laid, square,

Japanese. Check out the on-line catalogue.

Fine Art Paper Business Opportunity:

Have you always had a hankering to be in

the paper business? Do you have the desire

to ensure beautiful paper gets into the

hands of those that need it? If your answer

is “YES” to either these questions, please

send resume and contact info to:

<paperbizopportunity@gmail.com>.

SPECIAL THANKS

Hand Papermaking would like to thank

the following people who have made direct

contributions to our organization. As a nonprofit

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 Marshall & Alan Wiesenthal,

Charles E. Morgan. Underwriters: Bobbie

Lippman. Sponsors: Jane Farmer, Helen

Frederick, Peter Newland & Robyn Johnson,

Pamela S. Wood. Donors: Grimanesa Amoros,

Cathleen A. Baker, Simon & Kimberly Blattner,

Gail Deery, Michael Durgin, Lori B. Goodman,

Susan Gosin, Helen Hiebert, Lois James,

Elaine Koretsky, Mary Lou Manor, Dianne L.

Reeves, John L. Risseeuw, Michelle Samour,

Kimberly Schenck, Agnes Schlenke, R. H.

Starr, Jr., Marilyn Sward, Claire Van Vliet,

Becky Whitehead, Ellie Winberg. Supporters:

Marjorie & Harold Alexander, Shirah Miriam

(Mimi) Aumann, Valerie T. Bechtol, Bonnie

Bernell, Joanne R. Davis, Amanda Degener,

Linda Draper, Martha Duran, Frank Gallo,

Patricia Grass, Peter Hopkins, Courtney Hudson,

Kristin Kavanagh, Ann S. Miller, Nancy

Norton Tomasko, Ralph Ocker, Lise Poulsen,

Mary C. Schlosser, Maxine Seelenbinder-Apke,

Lynn Sures, Marcia Widenor, Kathy Wosika.

In-Kind: Adobe Systems, Campbell-Logan

Bindery, Arnold Grummer’s, Hiromi Paper

International, Val Lucas, Maryland Institute

College of Art, Paper Connection International.

Hand Papermaking’s 20th-anniversary

activities were made possible through the

generosity of: Carole A. Alameddine, Pat

Alexander, Shirah Miriam (Mimi) Aumann,

Cathleen A. Baker, Bonnie Bernell, The

Brodsky Center, Inge Bruggeman, Tom and

Lore Burger, Susan Butler, Carriage House

Paper, Carla Castellani, Amanda Degener,

Gail Deery, Lesley Dill, The Drachen

Foundation, Linda Draper, Mindell Dubansky,

The Fifth Floor Foundation, Kathy Fitzgerald,

Elizabeth Frater-Allen, Shirley Freriks, The

Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Susan

Gosin, Peggy Grissom, Lucile G. Hicks,

Helen Hiebert, Kristin Kavanagh, Yukie

Kobayashi, Elaine Koretsky, Mary C. Leto,

Val Lucas, Russell Maret, Bruce Markow,

David Marshall & Alan Wiesenthal, Allen K.

Mears, Ellen Mears Kennedy, Lourene Miovski

and Tom Bannister, Margaret Prentice,

Pyramid Atlantic, Dianne L. Reeves, Gretchen

Schermerhorn and Eric Burris, Jann Selleck,

Lynn Sures and Rick McSorley, Marilyn and

Steve Sward, Betty Sweren, Sandy Triolo,

James Trice, Gibby Waitzkin, Bob Weber,

Beck Whitehead, Marcia Widenor,

Pamela and Gary Wood.

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