HAND PAPERMAK ING
N E W S L E T T E R
Number 82, April 2008
Newsletter Editor: Shireen Holman Advertising & Listings: Mary Tasillo
Columnists: Cathleen A. Baker, Sidney Berger, Susan Gosin, Helen Hiebert, Elaine Koretsky, Winifred Radolan, Mary Tasillo, Pamela Wood.
Hand Papermaking Newsletter is published four
times per year. In summer and winter it is mailed
with the journal Hand Papermaking, and in
spring and autumn it is distributed separately.
Annual subscriptions include both publications:
$50 in North America or $75 overseas. Two year
rates are discounted: $95 in North America or
$145 overseas. To subscribe, send a check to the
address below, call or fax us to use Visa or Master-
Card, or visit our website. Foreign subscribers may
use a credit card, or pay in U.S. dollars via money
order or check marked payable through a U.S.
bank. For more subscription information, or a list
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
Fax: (301) 220-2394
E-mail: <info@handpapermaking.org>
Web: <www.handpapermaking.org>
The deadline for the next newsletter (July 2008)
is May 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. 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;
Shireen Holman, Newsletter Editor; Mary Tasillo,
Ads & Listings; Deborah Selk, Portfolio Binder.
Board of Directors: Cathleen A. Baker, Sidney
Berger, Shannon Brock, Inge Bruggeman, Georgia
Deal, Gail Deery, Jim Escalante, Helen Hiebert,
Ann Marie Kennedy, Barbara Lippman, Andrea
Peterson, Margaret Prentice, John Risseeuw, Beck
Whitehead. Board of Advisors: Timothy Barrett,
Simon Blattner, Gregor R. Campbell, Mindell
Dubansky, Jane M. Farmer, Helen C. Frederick,
Elaine Koretsky, James Sitter, Marilyn Sward,
Claire Van Vliet, James Yarnell. Co-founders:
Amanda Degener and Michael Durgin.
Dear Hand Papermaking Readers,
Jules Heller, artist, printmaker, papermaker, administrator, died on December 28, 2007,
in Scottsdale, Arizona. Born in New York in 1919, Jules Heller was the well-known author of
Papermaking, the first book to examine papermaking as a fine art medium, in 1978. He was
also the author of Printmaking Today, the first complete studio manual for printmaking, in
1958. A life-long printmaker and Dean-emeritus of Arizona State University, Jules taught at
the University of Southern California from 1947 to 1961, after which he became the founding
Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Penn State University. In 1969, he went to York University
in Toronto to found the first Canadian College of Fine Arts, and in 1976 came to Arizona
State University.
Upon arriving at ASU, Jules was completing the text of Papermaking, and his enthusiasm
for papermaking led him to establish a well-equipped mill in basement rooms on campus,
from which he taught graduate students. When Dean’s duties pulled him away from teaching,
his students taught other students. In 1980, he was instrumental in creating a faculty
position in book arts, which I was honored to fill. I began teaching papermaking in his mill
a few years later, and have done so ever since. He was always generous and supportive of all
papermaking activities at ASU.
The Jules Heller Print Study Room at the Arizona State University Art Museum is named
in his honor, and includes more than 4,000 prints. It may be viewed at: http://asuartmuseum.
asu.edu/collections/prcat.htm.
Jules is survived by his wife Gloria and daughters Nancy and Jill. He will be missed for his
commitment not only to the printed arts and paper, but to art that has a social and political
purpose. Many who knew Jules Heller described him as a “gentleman,” and remark that he
also will be greatly missed for his fine sense of humor and wit.
Sincerely,
John Risseeuw
Dear Friends,
As many of you already know, Aiko’s Art Materials will close on April 11, 2008. I appreciate
all that the book, paper and print communities have done for us during our 54 year existence.
It has been a pleasure meeting so many wonderful people, and I am hopeful that our paths
will cross again. Your support has been tremendous, and your friendship has truly been
heartwarming.
Thank you and best wishes,
Chuck Izui / Aiko’s Art Materials
UPCOMING!
Our 10th Annual Online Auction awaits your bidding April 19-26... see page 19.
An exclusive northeastern event supports Hand Papermaking June 29 ... see page 16.
The Summer 2008 issue spotlights the working artist, including an extensive
Papermaking Studio Guide and three exceptional paper samples... see a preview at
www.handpapermaking.org/UpcomingMag.html
ALONG THE PAPER ROAD...
This regular feature offers paper musings from
Elaine Koretsky—renowned paper historian,
researcher, and traveler. Here Elaine describes
the production of mammoth sheets of paper in
southwestern China.
Last November I embarked upon a
new project along the paper road,
sparked by a newspaper article describing
a papermaking village in the Gaoling
Mountains in western Yunnan Province. The
article was written five years ago, and despite
how rapidly traditions seem to be dying out
throughout China, I thought it worthwhile to
track it down. Fortunately, my good friends
in China enjoy a challenge. They found
out that the village was somewhere in the
vicinity of Teng Chong, which had been an
important center for hand papermaking
until fairly recently, when the Teng Chong
Xuan Zhi Mill closed down. I had visited
there and documented their papermaking in
1993 and 1994, but I was not aware of other
papermaking activity in that area.
Since I do not travel half way around
the world to visit only one village, I planned
other investigations as well. Therefore, I
arranged for a month of ambitious travel.
First we flew non-stop for sixteen hours
from New York to Hong Kong where we
thoroughly enjoyed five days with our lovely
friends Han Rui and Guang Lin at their
spacious apartment at the new Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology, where
Guang Lin is now a Professor. The impressive
academic complex is entirely vertical,
built on the side of a cliff, sloping down to
the sea. It was reminiscent of sojourns in
Darjeeling and Gangtok, where our hotels
were just hanging off the edge of the mountains.
Our friends had spent a summer at
our house the previous year, after Guang
Lin received his PhD at Harvard in Chinese
Economic History, and kept insisting that
we come to Hong Kong to visit them.
In advance, Han Rui did some research
for me on the subject of tung cao zhi, the socalled
“rice paper” that is neither paper nor
made from rice.1 She found that the Hong
Kong Museum of Art had a display of “rice
paper” paintings, and accompanied us to
see the works and talk with the conservators
there. They showed me a magnificent catalog
of such paintings that had been exhibited
recently at the Guangzhou Art Museum.
That was very fortunate, because Guangzhou
was our next stop, and I had already arranged
for our wonderful friend and guide, Wu Zeng
Ou, to meet us there around noon to help
with explorations for another several days.
Wu comes from Guizhou Province, but he is
ready to go anywhere.
Sidney and I took the train from Hong
Kong to Guangzhou; Wu flew in from the
Guiyang airport in Guizhou, and despite
joint train and plane delays, we managed
to find each other at the cavernous Guangzhou
Railway station. Because of the long
delays, however, we only had time to take
a taxi to the museum and spend an hour
there, as we were already booked on a late
afternoon flight to Huangshan in Anhui
Province. But it was a very productive hour.
We met Dr. Cheng Cunjie, Director of the
Museum, and looked at the pith paintings
that were still on view, although their special
exhibition had already ended. I asked Dr.
Cheng if there was still a catalog available
for purchase. He disappeared immediately,
and returned shortly to present me with the
handsome catalog that he specially inscribed
with a message to me.
Then he showed us something quite
unexpected. In 2002 he had seen the tung
cao zhi made in a small village in Guizhou
Province, and had filmed the process. He
projected the CD for us, and I was astounded.
He had seen the same process that I
documented in 1987 in Taiwan, and now has
disappeared from there. It was an extraordinary
coincidence that our friend Wu was
with us at the museum, since he could find
out if the tung cao zhi is still being made in
Guizhou. If so, I shall soon be planning my
next expedition to China.
We managed to arrive at the airport in
time for our flight to Huangshan, but it was
a close call. When we reached the Huangshan
airport, Wu surveyed the taxi stand for
a good prospect to drive us through Anhui
Province for four days, including Jing Xian,
the site of our 1982 arrest by the People’s
Police for the crime of visiting a commune
where we photographed the making of
bamboo toilet paper. However, I had learned
from a friend, Nancy Tomasko2, that now it
was much easier to visit the hand papermakers
of Jing County (note: Xian=County
in Chinese).
Nancy told me to look for the papermaking
fibers drying on the hillsides as
we approached Jing County. I followed her
advice, kept my eyes fixed on the side of the
road, and spotted the spectacular scene of
qing tan3 and rice straw fiber spread up a
high hill. Nearby we noticed a building operated
by the Red Star Paper Co. that houses
a hand papermaking demonstration of xuan
zhi, the fine paper made for calligraphy and
painting. As I traveled throughout China,
I noticed that the Chinese government is
promoting all kinds of cultural activities and
interesting processes that could contribute
to tourism. I watched the papermaking
demonstration, but my real goal was to visit
hand papermakers in their own paper mills.
I had the name of a particular papermaker,
and a vague address, and we started
driving through Ding Jia Qiao village. We
never found the person we were seeking,
but suddenly came to a street where packs
of paper were drying on the ground next to
a row of buildings. Immediately we stopped
to investigate and discovered we had stumbled
upon the Ching Qing paper mill that
was making enormous sheets of xuan zhi.
There was no objection to our visit and
our photography of their work. Each sheet
measured 17 x 7.5 feet, requiring a team of
fourteen papermakers. It was incredible,
and I filmed the entire process of producing
these mammoth sheets.
Fourteen men surrounded the huge
vat, five on each long side, and one or two
on each end. One man at the end was the
leader and shouted the commands.
The fiber, which was the inner bark of
qing tan, was pumped directly into the vat.
A wooden framework, with two detachable
deckle sticks, supported the massive
bamboo screen. On one long edge I noticed
three large metal rings attached. At a signal,
the workers lowered the front edge of the
mould into the vat and scooped up a layer
of pulp. Then they leveled out the pulp
on the surface of the screen, threw off the
excess water, and made a second dip in the
opposite direction, again throwing off the
excess water. Next, they raised the mould
from the vat, removed it and left it propped
up against the vat, while they picked up the
screen, folding it somewhat to form a cradle
with the sheet inside; it was carried by six
men on each long side to the couching area.
I observed hooks suspended from
pulleys close to the ceiling; quickly three
workers placed the hooks into the rings on
the edge of the screen and the others pulled
on ropes that raised the hooked edge of the
screen up to the ceiling.
The vertically hanging screen now slid
on tracks so that the bottom of the screen
was parallel to the long edge of the post. The
screen was lowered slightly so that workers
could place the newly formed sheet of paper
correctly on the edge of the post. Gradually the
screen was lowered so that it fell properly on
the previously couched sheets of paper. When
the non-couched long edge of the screen is a
few inches above the long edge of the post, the
hooks are removed and the long edge of the
screen is manually lowered in place.
Then the
edge of the
screen that was
first lowered
on the post is
pulled up and
across the post
manually until
the screen is
fully removed.
Finally, the
screen is carried
back in the
form of a cradle
by six men on
each side and
returned to the
frame in the vat to start the sheet formation
process again.
When approximately 160 sheets have
been made, the post is pressed while in
place, with an arrangement that utilizes
blocks of wood, steel beams, and a group of
hydraulic jacks placed at intervals around
the post. After pressing, the post is divided
into blocks about four inches thick and put
out on the road alongside the building to dry
out until the next day. We returned the next
day to see the last step, watching a worker
carefully pull one damp sheet at a time
from the block of papers that was standing
against a wall. He folded each sheet as he
removed it, and handed it to another worker
who brought it into the drying room. There
I saw two men brushing the huge sheet
onto the heated wall; one man stood on sawhorses
and brushed the top half of the sheet;
the other stood on the ground and worked
on the lower half.
I purchased four of these huge sheets, at
a cost of 500 yuan each, totaling $278.00,
which was understandably expensive.
However, I never bargain with papermakers
when I buy their paper or tools; I appreciate
their hard work. Perhaps I overpaid this
time, because the boss of the paper mill
took us out for lunch, and then gave me a
huge bundle of 100 sheets of handmade paper,
27.5 x 53 inches, with watermarks along
one edge of each sheet. All of the paper
was made entirely from qing tan fiber, a specialty
of Jing County, which I have not seen
used in other papermaking areas of China.
Many Chinese artists and calligraphers
maintain that the best xuan zhi is made in
Jing County.
We visited other workshops in Jing County
where I documented procedures of sizing
and coloring the handmade paper and also
various ways of producing both decorative
and decorated papers. Of course I purchased
a lot more paper.
After leaving Anhui Province we flew
to Kunming, hoping to find the paper mill
in the Gaoling Mountains. In Kunming six
other adventurous people joined our expedition.
We had some extraordinary experiences,
perhaps more than our participants expected.
UNIQUE TECHNIQUE
Well-known author and teacher Helen Hiebert
offers helpful guidance and tips gleaned from artists
she has worked with over the years. In this issue
Helen discusses techniques for making watermarks.
Someone viewing a watermarked sheet
of paper for the first time will inevitably
wonder how it got there (at least we
papermakers will). If you take a look at a
mould with a watermarked design on it
and compare it to a freshly made piece of
paper created on that mould, you can start
to understand the magic: the sheet of paper
looks embossed (or debossed if the design
was recessed in the mould, which is the case
in many light and shade watermarks). When
a sheet of paper is formed, the fibers are
evenly dispersed across the mould, creating
a flat sheet of paper. If wires or other
materials are sewn or adhered to the mould
surface, they protrude into the sheet when it
is formed, making it thinner in those areas.
After pressing and drying, however, the
embossed (or debossed) pattern is no longer
as visible—the sheets appear to be flat and
the images are only visible when viewed in a
certain light.
Perhaps the simplest watermark is the
papermaker’s tear (as in cry, not rip), which
looks like a watermark in a finished sheet of
paper. Technically it isn’t a watermark since
it is not created by attaching something to
the mould surface. The tear is created by
a drop of water hitting the surface of a wet
sheet of paper and displacing the fiber.
Traditional watermarks were made by
sewing or soldering wire to the surface of
the papermaking mould. These types of
watermarks are fairly permanent. Sewing
wire to the mould is tedious, and once the
watermark is attached, it takes a long time
to remove, so why go to the effort unless
you plan to keep it on there permanently?
I traveled to Wookey Hole Mill in England
this past summer, where I saw moulds from
as early as the 1930s. When a company
needed to have paper made, they ordered
a mould with their watermark on it and all
of the sheets made on the mould had that
mark. You can imagine the stockpile of
moulds and the expense of making them all.
I was fortunate to find a set to purchase and
have been tediously removing the existing
watermark so that I can make my own work
with the mould.
Pulp preparation is very important for
watermarks, especially since watermarked
images are practically invisible. My favorite
pulp is cotton linter, 1st or 2nd cut, slightly
overbeaten in my Hollander for two to three
hours. This cuts the fibers short so that they
fill in the little gaps of the watermark design.
I’ve also tried overbeaten abaca, which
is effective and makes for an even subtler
watermark due to the translucency of abaca.
I am not an expert in using Eastern fibers,
but I have seen many lovely and unique
watermarked papers made with them.
One technique I’ve experimented with
for a long time (adapted from a technique
I learned at Dieu DonnО Papermill when I
worked there) is creating a watermark with
a thin, flexible, adhesive-backed material.
This technique works especially well for
hard-edged precise line-drawn images.
There are a variety of materials you can use
for the actual watermark, which are all easy
to cut with an X-Acto knife and have an
adhesive backing which allows them to be
stuck to the mould. They come in several
forms: Buttercut, available from Carriage
House Paper; Sure Stamp, from Dharma
Trading Co. in California; or Craft Magnet,
available at your local craft store (Craft Magnet
is slightly tougher to cut).
The line drawing you start with should
be a single line if possible—with a continuous
image—so that you don’t end up with
many little pieces to attach to the mould.
Following are a series of steps I take in
preparing my watermark:
1. Using glue stick, tack a photocopied
drawing of your watermark to the reverse
side (the peel-off part) of the adhesivebacked
material.
2. Use a sharp blade to carefully cut out the
image. Remove the excess material and then
peel off the backing material along with your
photocopy. Your design will appear backwards
when you stick it to your mould, but after making
a sheet of paper it will be right-reading.
3. Position your watermark on a dry mould.
4. Make a sheet of paper. Your sheet should
be thick enough so that the design you’ve
attached is covered with pulp. Once you have
formed the sheet, you should see a faint outline
of the attached design. If the sheet is too
thin, you will end up with holes in the paper.
If it is too thick, you risk not being able to see
the watermark in the sheet.
So, what do you do with your sheets with
practically invisible images? There are many
artistic applications for water-marks, and here
are a few that I’ve seen: artwork displayed on a
light box; lamps or lanterns with watermarked
images on the shades; pages in a book—as
you lift the page, the light catches the watermark,
or if you have a watermarked sheet
in a light-colored paper on top of a darker
paper in the page behind it, the image will
be visible without illumination.
Another technique for watermarks is to
double couch a light-colored watermarked
sheet onto a darker sheet to reveal the image
without backlighting.
The original purpose of the watermark
is unknown, but the first watermarks were
often used as emblems or symbols rather
than an artistic feature within a sheet.
Historians today often use watermarks as
a way to identify when and where a sheet
of paper was made. Papermakers today can
inscribe their papers with their own secret
that historians from another generation will
be left to discover.
TEACHING HAND PAPERMAKING
Based in Philadelphia, Winifred Radolan operates
an itinerant teaching papermill, and has taught
papermaking to thousands of adults and children.
Winnie describes how she and a group of 6th
graders created a permanent paper sculpture for
their school.
In just a few minutes I’ll be packing my
pulp-mobile and heading for the Maurice
and Everett Haines 6th Grade Center, where
I’ve spent many of my winter teaching
days. It has been an unusual and refreshing
experience in that I rarely do twenty-day artist
residencies, and this is the first time I’ve
taught in a school in which the entire student
body is made up of 6th graders. Due
to the rapid expansion of families in the
well-heeled New Jersey community where
the school is located, the middle school was
bursting at the seams with students. The
township built a new facility and elected to
leave all the 6th graders at Haines. What a
splendid idea, as these young people don’t
experience the peer pressure to be more
mature than they are ready to be.
I am working with forty-four “Challenge
Art” elective students who are divided into
two groups, one that I see on “A-days” and
the other on “B-days,” for their one-hour
class period. In addition, either “A-day” or
“B-day” students may elect to work with me
during their lunch hour, which precedes
the regularly scheduled class, or stay after
school. So far, no one has chosen to bring
a lunch and spend that first hour with
me. But that time has proven to be most
beneficial for my organizing and setting up
the focus of the day’s activities. A handful
of really dedicated students stay after school
every day, and have really carried the project
forward while chattering incessantly about
6th grade matters!
During the planning meeting for this
residency I learned that the principal wished
for me to work with students to create a permanent
wall installation for the school out
of paper. The wall area where the piece is to
be mounted is at the end of a corridor and
by a busy door, but the principal seemed
most willing to have a Plexiglas box built to
protect the art.
Six of the residency days fell in December
before Christmas break. I decided to
dedicate these days to presenting a brief
history and the techniques of papermaking
to the students. During these classes each
child made two sheets of layered paper,
then folded and stitched them to make a
single signature pamphlet book. While the
children have all been excited to have the opportunity
to work on an art legacy they could
leave to their school, I really wanted them
to have a personal memento of their twenty
days of working with me. The little books
were a big hit!
The handmade paper wall installation
that we are now finishing is a three-dimensional
line drawing in basket reed, with
selected spaces wrapped in high shrinkage
pigmented abaca and flax. Students have
been working in teams to design and tie
the reed units before covering them with
paper. At present, selected areas of the units
are being embellished with embroidery
floss stitchery. And today we will begin to
assemble the reed sculptures onto two 28” x
42” canvas panels.
I’ve been really impressed at how well
this loosely structured group has taken to
the concept of collaboration. In the beginning
I paired students to fabricate the reed
units, both so that they could assist each
other in creating a flowing design and in
tying secure knots. As individual sculptures
began to reach completion, I discussed
selecting areas to highlight with a pulp
wrap and demonstrated how to manipulate
the high shrinkage paper. Some students
proved more adept at this procedure,
while others preferred to form paper on
the moulds, albeit with a fair amount of
patience for the slow drainage times. And
there was a dedicated team who wished to
create yet more reed structures than the
designated wall will hold!
Finally, I was surprised at how both
girls and boys all took a stab at free-form
embroidery to create surface embellishment
on the pieces. You might have guessed that
the “teacher’s challenge” award was equally
divided between needle threading and getting
students to remember to leave enough
to knot at the end of a thread path. Much
teacher intervention was required in these
two areas.
Early attempts to involve students in
arranging the sculptural units on the two
stretched canvas bases have proven more
chaotic than a game of free-form musical
chairs, as there are as many opinions
as children. I believe I will select a very
intimate group of helpers to position and
hold the 3D pieces while I stitch them to the
canvas with fishing line. I am very proud
of all the 6th graders in the “Challenge
Art” classes for their dedication to a project
that required not only thoughtful design
decisions, but nimble fingers and patience
as well. I am looking forward to seeing the
pieces completed this week, and will miss
working with this energetic and exciting
group of young people and their teacher.
We have had great fun!
Pamela S. Wood of Arizona makes one-of-a-kind
books from her handmade papers. She explores
the internet seeking out notable paper-related
sites. Here Pam has found interesting information
about the history of the paper industry in Ontario.
Just when you get paper files in order, now
it seems that you have to get virtual files
organized as well. Yikes, I made a return
visit to my trusty bookmarks folder and
what a mess! (Just like my closet.) Anyway, it
was fortunate that I did my revisit—I almost
deleted a wonderful site that had been
totally redesigned. I had saved it initially
because I wanted to report how lackluster it
was. Not any more!
Let’s take a
trip to Ontario,
Canada. The URL
is www.archives.
gov.on.ca/english/
exhibits/paper/.
The site gives
you the feeling of
being in a museum,
without having to leave your chair or
showing your pass to the guard.
The improved Papermaking in Ontario
site was updated in 2005. It is from the Archives
of Ontario, part of a larger Ministry of
Ontario Government site. There are several
videos in this archive. At the bottom, there
are free downloads for Windows Media
player and Quicktime. There is a text choice
of English or French.
Just taking the time to scroll the Home
page will provide a visual treat. The design
motif is an album; the photos even have
the old style black photo corners; the type
font is that of a typewriter; and the paper
includes watermarks. All are simple touches
that work well. Scrolling is the major way
to navigate this site. The photos can be
‘clicked’ to enlarge them, and in some cases
the type can be enlarged as well.
Ontario was considered Upper Canada.
In the late 1700s, when the country was
growing, paper was getting more and more
expensive. So to stimulate the possible
mills, the government held a contest of
sorts. Lo and behold, there was a taker, resulting
in the first paper mill in Ontario.
The second link describes the history
of the increase in demand for paper in the
1900s, and the growth of the pulp and paper
industry in Canada. The building of the
Canadian Pacific Railway contributed to the
economic boom in the area. (I am reminded
of the great Gordon Lightfoot song.)
The ‘Company Profiles’ section explains
the details of half a dozen major mills and
their respective roles in paper production.
An interesting tidbit—paper and power
plants go together. We papermakers always
knew that. Wink! Now everyone can see
why. It is in these profiles that you can see
videos of archival footage of the surrounding
towns and the rivers on which the mills
are located. A bit dry, but considering that
this is an archive, the contents follow the
harnessing of the timber and the water, the
essence of commercial paper production.
‘Papermaking Today’ updates us on the
major changes that have taken place since
the mid-twentieth century. With expansion
came the need to look for recycled sources.
This is an important part of the story that
takes the viewer full circle.
Now I guess I will have to get back to my
New Year cleaning up of bookmarks. Sigh,
I’d rather make paper, although I would
have missed this excellent site.
Cathleen A. Baker, PhD, is Senior Paper Conservator
at the University of Michigan Library. She is
author of By His Own Labor: The Biography of
Dard Hunter and proprietor of The Legacy Press
(www.legacy-press.com), specializing in the printing,
paper, and bookbinding arts. This is Part II of
an article about the use of wove paper in an early
American publication.
The examination of wove paper that
American publisher Isaiah Thomas
used to print a 1795 edition of Charlotte
Smith’s Elegiac Sonnets proved very interesting.
The William L. Clements Library at the
University of Michigan owns two copies:
one that had never been bound and one
with a half leather binding with marbled
paper sides.
This latter copy is probably a contemporary
binding. It is a tight back (the leather
spine adhered directly to the text block), is
difficult to open, and the covers are loose.
Because of the fragile condition of this copy,
only its tipped-in plates were examined.
While Dard Hunter wrote in Papermaking:
The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft
that the intaglio plates in this book—five
in all—were printed on laid paper, four of
the five plates in the Clements copy were
printed on wove paper (probably the same
as the text paper). When the book is closed,
this plate sticks out slightly from the rest of
the trimmed text block, perhaps indicating
that it was tipped into the book later.
If this is the case, the plate may have
been printed at another time on different
paper. It should be noted, however, that the
plates could not viewed on a light box or
held up to a light source, but rather, were
examined with the use of a light in sheet
form that can be slipped into a book to view
a page in transmitted light. Unfortunately,
this light source is not very strong. Therefore,
while I am quite sure about these findings,
I cannot be positive. (It is also inadvisable to
make hard-and-fast conclusions about many
aspects of printed or bound material after the
examination of only a few copies.)
The second Clements Library copy is rare
indeed because it has never been bound. The
printed sheets were simply torn apart into
folios, folded, and gathered into signatures.
There are no sewing stations,
and no plates are tipped
on. Fortuitously, the folios
could be opened out into the
printing imposition, and the
dimensions of the full sheet are
about 15.5 x 18.5 inches with the
deckle edges intact. The format
is duodecimo—twelve pages
printed on one side of the full
sheet. There are ten signatures,
each having six leaves, and a
partial one (A (A2), B (B2), C (C2),
D (D2), E (E2), F (F2), G (G2), H
(H2), I (I2), K (K2), L (four leaves);
no J) for a total of 128 pages. The
largest untrimmed page size is
6.25 x 4 inches; the trimmed text
block measured 5.25 x 3.5 inches.
Interestingly Thomas noted in the
“Directions to the Binder”: “Cut
the book as large each way as it
will bear.”
When a signature is laid out
on the light box, it is apparent
that the parallel, evenly spaced
shadows, seen in the image above
running horizontally across the
pages, were caused by sewing the
wove cover of the papermaking
mould directly onto the supporting
ribs underneath.
Additionally, a few wavering
shadows ran perpendicular to
these, and the author would be
pleased to learn of possible explanations
for these. “Papermaker’s
tears” are seen in this paper, as
well as wood debris, probably from
the papermaking equipment, a few
colored threads, and iron specks.
Where the paper was protected
from contact with acidic materials,
it is a light cream color, but otherwise,
it is a warm grayish-brown,
possibly from excess alum used in
gelatin sizing.
To quantify the range of thick
and thin areas, the first page with a
deckle edge in each signature was
measured with a micrometer, taking a measurement
one-quarter inch inside the deckle
edge at the bottom of the page and a second
at the same distance from the torn edge at
the top of that page. The table above groups
signatures in twos because they came from
the same full sheet. The results are in mils,
1/1000 inch.
These measurements indicate that there
are substantial thickness
variations, easily seen in the
images above and felt with
the hands. (Note: Some measurements
fell in the thicker,
“rib shadow” areas.) Thickness
differences can result
in poorly printed areas, but
generally, this printing was
uniform. The paper would
have been dampened before
printing, and this “plumps”
up the sheet, making printing
unevenly dense paper more successful.
The impression into the
paper was deep, indicating that
substantial pressure was generated
by Thomas’s Columbian
Press and that the paper was
strong and pliable.
The warp and weft of the
woven metal cover can be seen
in this image; the ruler divisions
are millimeters. In raking light,
the texture imparted by the
woven felt, on which the paper
was couched, can be seen, but
in normal light, the paper has a
relatively smooth surface with
an almost velvety finish, a nice
complement to the hairline
stems of some of the typefaces
used on the title page.
To our eyes, there is little
that is remarkable about the
wove paper used in Thomas’s
publication, but in the waning
years of the eighteenth century,
those Americans interested
in book production, including
papermaking, would have
found it very intriguing. That
Thomas hoped that others
would “raise an emulation”
to produce books on “superior
paper with more delicate
engravings” perhaps indicates
disappointment in the paper he
used for Elegiac Sonnets.
Donna Koretsky was undoubtedly the
youngest hand papermaker to participate
in the First Conference of Hand Papermakers
in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1975.
And though she was a young teenager, she
was as enthusiastic about meeting fellow papermakers
for the first time as her mother,
Elaine, and the other adults in attendance.
Though Elaine and Donna were relatively
new to hand papermaking and self taught,
their experience using plant fibers harvested
from their garden contributed to the discussion
about traditional rag papermaking and
new artistic applications of the process.
Donna had learned how to make paper by
hand a year earlier when she came home
from school one day and found her mother
absorbed in following instructions garnered
from Dard Hunter and John Mason books
on preparing and making sheets from harvested
plants. Immediately, she joined her
mother at the vat in their “kitchen mill” and
thus began a unique papermaking partnership.
Shortly thereafter, they purchased the
carriage house next door with the prerequisite
floor drain already installed and began
assembling equipment, officially opening as
Carriage House in 1975.
Donna and Elaine worked together in all
aspects of production and research at Carriage
House for their first year of operation.
Donna also accompanied Elaine to purchase
Amies’ moulds at J. Barcham Green in
England. In 1976, she left Boston to study
art at the University of California at Santa
Cruz. Though the art department at Santa
Cruz did not include papermaking, with the
help of Chuck Hilger, an artist she’d met at
the 1978 papermaking conference held by
the World Print Council in San Francisco,
Donna was able to continue papermaking
in his studio in Santa Cruz. Chuck had
perfected using the vacuum table as a tool for
making high relief and sculptural forms with
paper pulp. Under Chuck’s guidance, Donna
adapted his techniques and the use of cotton
pulp to create a finished body of work, which
she exhibited in Santa Cruz and Boston. It
was at this time that she was introduced to a
fellow Santa Cruz student known as “Peter
Papermaker,” none other than Peter Thomas,
who, like Donna on the East Coast, frequented
craft fairs during summer vacation,
selling handmade paper art and conducting
hand papermaking workshops.
It was also during these college years
that Donna absorbed extensive information
about coloring agents and fiber research
in the use of abaca and flax that Elaine and
other papermakers were actively pursuing.
During her visits to California papermakers
such as Don Farnsworth and Garner
Tullis she was exposed to the growing influx
of information on Japanese papermaking
on the one hand, and to new experimental
approaches to using paper pulp for a means
of creating art, on the other. Needless to say,
Donna was in the right place at the right
time to take advantage of the cross fertilization
that was occurring from east coast to
west in the United States, from Western to
Asian craft traditions, and from historical
techniques to newly invented applications in
hand papermaking.
Upon completion of her undergraduate
studies, Donna returned to Boston just in
time to help Elaine and Bernie Toale with
the final preparations of the 1980 Boston
International Hand Papermaking Conference.
The conference brought together an
exceptionally wide range of national and
international hand papermaking experts
and practicing artists. During the conference,
Donna was introduced to people who,
in very different ways, have played a pivotal
role in the definitive aspects of her life:
family and business, art and travel. Donna
met Winifred Lutz when she gave a casting
demonstration using flax and high shrinkage
pulps with three-dimensional forms.
Winifred’s research and art inspired Donna
to apply these techniques to her own work,
which had a profound and long lasting influence
on her art. (Here is Donna in 1980
at an exhibit of her work.)
At the conference, she also deepened her
friendship with Asao Shimura, a Japanese
hand papermaker she had originally met in
1975 in Appleton, Wisconsin. The following
year Donna began regular trips to Asia, initially
to study hand papermaking, by joining
Asao on his first washi tour in Japan.
During the 1980s, important trips to
other Asian countries quickly followed her
first washi tour with Asao, which included
meeting Japan’s national treasure, Eishiro
Abe. In 1987, she helped Asao organize his
tenth washi tour, traveling with other paper
diehards such as Amanda Degener and
Richard Flavin to the snow country of Japan
to find examples of “Niigata” paper. Besides
group trips with colleagues and her family,
Donna traveled, in the 1980s, to many European
hand papermills as well as to remote
papermaking sites in rural areas of Korea,
Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, and Nepal.
The book about Burmese bamboo
papermaking, entitled The Goldbeaters of
Mandalay, is an exquisite example of the
years of joint research that Donna and
Elaine Koretky collected together over many
shared and individual trips in the 1980s.
However, as Donna recalls, perhaps one of
her most vivid trips was to Nepal in 1986
when she and a guide trekked deep into the
Nepalese countryside for a week to visit a
rural pocket of farmer/papermakers making
traditional Daphne sheets of handmade
paper. Living amongst the local Nepalese,
participating in the rituals of village life,
even sleeping in the manger, so to speak,
with the livestock became as important a
part of the experience as finding the elusive
papermakers.
When Elaine and Donna hosted a second
conference in 1985 in Boston, “A Gathering
Of Papermakers,” Donna met another
colleague, David Reina, whose interest in
hand papermaking equipment would one
day complement her commitment to the
field. Donna’s role as the youngest devotee
within the nucleus of the group who had
launched the revival and reinvention of
hand papermaking has given her a unique
standing and perspective. Though her
mother, Elaine, mentored and nurtured her
first curiosity about papermaking, early on
Donna demonstrated a precocious interest
of her own that soon matured into a full
business partnership in all the activities of
research, education, and paper production
at Carriage House as well as an ongoing
and independent interest in exploring
papermaking as an art form.
With added responsibilities in running
the activities and business of Carriage
House, which moved from Boston
to Brooklyn in 1993, it was not until 1995
that Donna, with husband, David Reina,
returned to Asia, this time to Indonesia.
And though this was not a professional trip,
Donna and David were wedded as much
to their shared interest in papermaking as
to each other, finding time to track down
examples of tree bark paper, as described
by Dard Hunter, as well as the bark paper
books of the “Batak” tribe.
In 1994, Carriage House Paper officially
opened in Brooklyn, New York, and two
years later, Shannon Brock joined Donna as
Art Director. Also in 1996 their son James
was born to Donna and David, and then, in
1997, daughter Monel joined the family. For
more than a decade in Brooklyn, the Koretsky/
Reina family, along with the invaluable
Shannon Brock and various assistants, has
served papermakers by providing both the
professional equipment that David fabricates
and a wide range of supplies and services
necessary to the growing community
of hand papermakers and paper artists. This
past summer,
Carriage House
Paper moved
from shared
quarters with
the family down
a few blocks to
a beautifully
renovated ground floor space next door to
David’s machine shop.
The new space houses Carriage House
Paper’s supply business while plans are
being drawn up to add a wet floor studio.
A museum display area for future exhibitions
from Elaine’s extraordinary collection
of paper artifacts, presently archived in The
Paper Museum and Research Institute of
Paper History & Technology in the original
carriage house in Boston, will also be added
to the new Brooklyn location. These new
arrangements will allow Donna to return
to the old studio once again, to make her
own art using the papermaking process that
has become her life. In the new storefront,
which houses Carriage House Paper, Elaine
can begin to share her exceptional collection
with a whole new audience in greater
New York. This is as much a turning point
in Donna Koretsky’s varied yet integrated
life in papermaking as it is a new phase
of business for Carriage House Paper and
the interrelated lives of this extraordinary
family.
Sidney Berger, a professor at Simmons College
in Boston and Director of the Phillips Library at
Peabody Essex Museum, has been collecting and
researching decorated paper for over thirty years.
In this issue, Sid discusses chiyogami papers.
For me, one of the great joys of collecting
decorated papers is the discovery
of new and unusual Japanese decorative
techniques. Even the “old” techniques, as
in chiyogami papers, are exciting since the
Japanese are masters at coming up with
more and more and still more patterns. The
seemingly endless number of decorative papers
from Japan keeps me going back time
and again to my sources to see what is new.
For this column I will explore the remarkable
chiyogami papers—amazing no less for
their beauty than for their range of patterns.
My wife and I have in our collection, for
instance, one set of chiyogami sample books
consisting of forty-three volumes, each with
about one hundred sample sheets. A single
pattern might be represented by five or seven
different color combinations. And a single
sample book from a different company contains
between five hundred and fifty and six
hundred sample sheets. The range of colors,
color combinations, and designs is truly
astonishing. As these papers have a great
many uses—such as screens, room dividers,
umbrellas, origami, packaging and gift wrapping,
and many more—there
continues to be
a need for such a variety of patterns.
The technique of decorating
these papers comes
from the decoration of
fabrics, mostly the silks
used for kimonos. Early
chiyogami papers were
printed from woodblocks,
but for at least a century
and a half, stencils have
been employed to create
these remarkable papers.
According to Tatsugoro
Hirose, “the word chiyo (“thousand generations”)
occurs in congratulatory phrases
used at happy occasions.... Others think
that the word may be derived from the name
of the Chiyoda Palace, the center of old Edo.
Whatever the truth may be, it is at least certain
that chiyogami was known in the Edo
period (1603-1867).”1 “Gami,” like the cognate
form “kami,” is the Japanese word for
“paper.” Ann Herring speaks of the “cumbersome
but extraordinarily versatile multicolor
woodblock-printing technique early in the
second half of the eighteenth century” (p. 15),
noting also that there were “other yet older
forms of embellishment, such as tinting, appliquО,
hand-coloring, spatter printing, and
stencil painting.” She adds, “Any number of
these techniques could be, and frequently
were, blended to achieve special effects. In
particular, the latter three processes were
regularly combined in the production of
attractive, gracefully decorated papers known
to us collectively as fuki-bokashi” (p. 15).
Western inventions, particularly “mechanical
printing techniques [of ] the Meiji
era” allowed the artists to replace woodblocks
with stencils (Herring, p. 15). Today’s
chiyogami papers, while being produced in a
much smaller range of designs than,
say, as late as the 1960s, are still
abundant. One website alone carries
hundreds of them.2
The stencil method of chiyogami
production, which is the focus here,
uses katazome, made from katagami.
3 A good literature exists on
these stencils (see below for a short
bibliography), which were hand cut
using several fine tools. The paper
completely different when produced with different
palettes. In our collection we have several
chiyogami papers with truly remarkable
designs, produced in what must be at least a
dozen colors. This means that at least a dozen
stencils had to be cut to produce the picture.
This column has given just a brief
description of the hand-stencil method of
production. Other techniques are equally
worthy of study. The chiyogami papers are
of such beauty that it is impossible to do
justice to them in words. The stencils themselves
are works of art and must be seen in
collections to be fully appreciated. Seek out
these collections: you’re in for a treat.
1. Quoted from Herring, The World of Chiyogami:
Hand-printed Patterned Papers of Japan, 7. Lucy Birmingham
Fujii even pushes the date of kategami—the
stencils used in the decoration—back to the Nara period
(710-794), “when leather goods such as saddle stirrups
and warrior’s [sic] helmets were decorated with the stencil
designs” (see “Isa Toshihiko: Beauty of Stencil Dyeing,”
6/5/2007, at www.acejapan.or.jp/acl/reviews/49momat.
htm; accessed 2/10/08).
2. See the Japanese Paper Place site: http://japanesepaperplace.
com/abt-japanese-paper/about-washi.htm;
accessed 2/10/08.
3. Fred Siegenthaler derives the word “katagami” from the
two Japanese words “katai” (hard) and “gami” (paper). See
his Siebdruck-Papiere/Papier de l’Impression au Cadre/
Silk Screen Printed Paper. Susanna Campbell Kuo, however,
says “Katagami means literally ‘pattern paper.’ See her
“Stencils and the Rise of Popular Textiles,” in Tai, Carved
Paper: The Art of the Japanese Stencil, 5. The katazome
are the actual stencils made from the kategami paper. Kuo
says that “katazome” means “pattern dyeing” (p. 5).
4. Clarence Hornung says that the layers of paper were
“laminated together,” and the stencil paper “was then
treated with a hard-drying oil” to waterproof it. See his
Traditional Japanese Stencil Designs, viii.
5. Kuo says, “Over the centuries, the small communities of
Shiroko, Jike, and Ejima ... generated millions of stencils,
most of which were of exceptionally high quality in design
and execution.” See her “The Ise Stencil Industry,” in
Carved Paper, 45.
Bibliography:
Fujii, Lucy Birmingham. Isa Toshihiko: Beauty of
Stencil Dyeing. Crafts Gallery, The National Museum
of Modern Art, Tokyo. April 26 - June 26, 2005;
www.acejapan.or.jp/acl/reviews/49momat.htm (accessed
2/10/08).
Hornung, Clarence, ed. Traditional Japanese Stencil
Designs. New York: Dover, 1985.
Herring, Ann. The World of Chiyogami: Hand-printed
Patterned Papers of Japan. New York, Tokyo, and San
Francisco: Kodansha, 1987.
Japan Crafts Sourcebook: A Guide to Today’s Traditional
handmade Objects. Intro. by Diane Durston. Tokyo,
New York, and London: Kodansha, 1996.
Katagami / Katazome / Paper Stencils for Dyeing: The
Yoshioka Collection. Trans. by Ai Fukui and Judith A.
Clancy. Kyoto: Shikosha Publishing Co., 1989.
Siegenthaler, Fred. Siebdruck-Papiere/Papier de
l’Impression au Cadre/Silk Screen Printed Paper.
Switzerland: n.p., n.d.
Spero, James. Japanese Stencil Designs. New York:
Dover, 1991.
Tai, Susan Shin-Tsu, ed. Carved Paper: The Art of the
Japanese Stencil. New York and Tokyo: Santa Barbara
Museum of Art and Weatherhill, 1998.
itself was multi-layered
kozo paper, impregnated
with persimmon
juice, and then oiled
to make it waterproof.4
Sometimes the paper
was smoke-cured after
the juice was soaked
into it, supposedly to
add strength.
Fujii says, “the actual cutting requires
enormous concentration and skill. A single
mistake can ruin an entire sheet so perfectionism
is a must” (see note 1). Hornung says
the papers were stacked up for cutting, and
he identifies the following tools used to cut
the stencils: “a type of awl (kiri-bori) with a
small semicircular blade to cut minute holes.
Another thin blade with a steeply diagonal
edge and needle-like point, called tsuki-bori,
was held by the fingers like a pencil and
pushed away from the cutter. Thin blades
with straight, curved or fluted edges called
ichimai-zuki were held vertically and pushed
into the stack of paper for special effects.
Then there were a variety of punch-like
knives (dogu-bori) used to created the minute
patterns known as komon” (p. viii).
The number of patterns is dizzying,
for the artists looked everywhere for their
inspiration. Hornung says, “To attempt an
inventory of these sources of inspiration
would be as hopeless as trying to count the
heavenly bodies on a clear, starry night” (p. v).
He cites the heavens, the natural and botanical
world in all of its
complexity and variety
(including all kinds of
geographical shapes
and phenomena),
birds and mammals,
amphibians, insects,
and a vast array of geometrical
shapes, along
with human beings
and the trappings of
life: umbrellas, toys,
children and adults performing a vast range
of activities, clothing, dolls, all kinds of
games, gates, spools, swords and arrows,
tassels, drinking vessels, and so on. And
many sheets combine two, three, four, or
more of these motifs.5
Some of the patterns are simple, but
most require thousands of holes cut into the
stencil. And for some, the pattern requires
large areas of pigment, which means that
there are quite large openings in the stencil.
Some of the elements of the
pattern, then, are “floating,” not
attached (or just barely attached) to
other parts of the stencil paper; so
for this kind of stencil the paper is
attached to a fine mesh that backs
the whole katazome.
They are then printed out in
several colors, and varying color
combinations that will make two
sheets with identical patterns look
FOR BEGINNERS
Mary Tasillo is a papermaker, book artist, and
mixed media maven based in Philadelphia. She
works at the Center for the Conservation of Art
and Historic Artifacts, and teaches workshops
nationally. Her topic for this issue: Printing Technologies
and Handmade Paper 101.
In the last issue, I discussed a method for
using computer and laser printing technologies
with handmade paper in order to work
large. In this issue, we will take a step back
and cover some basic tips and ideas for using
printing technologies on our handmade paper.
Handmade paper being an old technology,
we take it for granted that we can apply
other old technologies to it—letterpress,
drawing, writing. What about new technologies?
You can print on your paper via inkjet
printer, photocopier, or laser printer.
What kind of handmade paper can I use with
these more recent printing technologies?
A crisp rather than soft sheet of paper will
feed best through your printer. You may have
a little more leeway with an inkjet printer,
as the way it feeds makes it possible to back
a soft or tissue-thin paper with a sheet of
conventional printer paper for printing. How
is a crisper sheet achieved? Generally, a pulp
that has been Hollander-beaten rather than
blender-processed will be crisper. Longer
beating times produce a paper with more
rattle. Fibers such as abaca and flax produce
a crisper paper than cotton does.
The surface smoothness of your paper
affects the print quality and the ease with
which your machine handles the paper. The
surface quality is affected by the way you dry
your paper, as well as by the material onto
which you couch your wet sheets, and the
surface of your mould. Some papermakers
add calcium carbonate to pulp to achieve a
smoother surface. Couching onto pellon as
opposed to felts creates a smoother paper.
Restraint drying processes tend to produce
a less textured surface than does air drying.
Drying on glass produces a much slicker
surface than drying on varnished wood.
Then again, you might like some texture in
your paper surface. The aesthetic quality of
both the printing and the paper is affected
by all of these variables.
I have run wrinkly sheets of very sturdy
abaca/flax through the inkjet printer, and
was surprised to find how well the printer
handled it. It seems to iron those wrinkles
right out for the printing process. However,
you are more likely to get renegade ink
smudges where the paper is raised. The
printing process may also be less forgiving
when printing detailed images and larger
uninterrupted areas, than when printing
text or line-based images.
Industrial Papermaking Felts
Super Thick, Super Absorbent, Super Durable
Perfect for wet pressing and restraint drying
Complete felts, or cut to your specifications
Peter Hopkins (802) 823-5405
peter.hopkins@comcast.net
What about the deckle edge?
A deckle edge is no barrier to running
your paper through a photocopier or printer.
The primary concern when retaining the
deckle edge is registration and alignment,
which may not be quite as tight as it could
be with a straight edge. This is of course
true whether you are printing via letterpress,
etching press, or inkjet. If registration
and alignment are of concern, mind how
you feed the paper into your printer since
the deckled paper corners are not precisely
square. It may take some experimentation
to figure out which edge you need to line
up primarily to achieve the best results, but
once you settle on lining up your paper at
the right edge of the paper feed tray, keep
lining up at that right edge. I have also
found that, when printing an edition, it is
best to feed fewer sheets at a time than I
would with a cut edge and a commercial
paper.
I suggest allowing a greater margin for
error by printing more extras than you usually
would, since your machine may have
trouble handling a few of the handmade
paper sheets. I also recommend using the
manual feed tray on a laser printer or photocopier
rather than feeding from a drawer.
What print settings should I use?
The answer: well, that depends. Printers
are all different, and print differently when
set to different paper types. Obviously none
of those pre-settings reads “Mary’s Flax-
Hemp 2008.” So it behooves you to run
test prints at different settings to see which
results you might like best—and the presetting
that achieves this might be counterintuitive.
If I pull heavyweight sheets from my
Flax-Hemp recipe, this does not necessarily
mean that the cardstock setting will produce
the best results.
What about paper coatings?
Some people recommend the product
Ink Aid, which is designed to coat papers
for inkjet printing. Anything you coat your
paper with is going to affect the paper quality,
and your coating method will affect the
surface as well. Did you use a brush or a
sponge? Did you dip it? Roll it out with a
rubber roller?
Anything else?
A few words on inclusions. You wouldn’t
want to damage your printing technology
of choice by using paper with dimensional
inclusions such as hard plant materials. Of
course, the print quality over these areas is
going to be uneven anyway. Also, to reiterate
a point from my last column, anything
printed on an inkjet printer with a conventional
cartridge will bleed if it gets wet, so
when choosing a printing technology, take
into consideration how you will be using
these prints. Do you plan to incorporate the
print into a wet collage? Will you be mounting
it with a wet wheat starch paste? Laser
and photocopy prints are more stable in
regard to moisture, and using pigment and
archival ink cartridges in your inkjet printer
will also produce a more stable print.
Experiment. Test before committing
yourself to fifty copies of something. And
don’t be afraid of sending the deckle edge
off through new technologies.
> more for beginners at:
handpapermaking.org/beginner
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 July Newsletter is
May 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.
> CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
April 2008 15
Papermaking, May 25-31, with Bernie
Vinzani. Develop an understanding of the
historical aspects of paper while learning fiber
preparation, sheet forming, watermarking,
drying, and finishing.
Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis,
MN, (612) 215-2520, www.mnbookarts.
org. Classes at the Open Book center for
book and literary arts.
Flower Power Family Workshop, April 12, with staff
instructor. Pull cotton flower-shaped sheets.
Shaped Papers and Books, April 19 & 26, with
Betsy Dollar. Explore the possibilities of
shaped deckles and stencils in western-style
papermaking.
Pulp Painting Family Workshop, April 20,
with staff instructor. Learn traditional Western
papermaking while experimenting with
contemporary paper art.
Preschool Papermaking Family Workshop, May
15, with staff instructor.
Old Ways Book Arts Tools and Workshops,
near Santa, ID, (208) 245-3043, www.geocities.
com/oldways_id/, oldway@imbris.com.
Old Ways of Making Books from Raw Materials,
June 26-July 11, with Jim Croft. Learn
to create book arts tools by hand, process
hemp and flax for paper and thread, hand
papermaking, and how to make books with
wooden boards and brass clasps.
Paper Scissors Stone, Castletown, Caithness,
Scotland, 01847 851 449, info@joannebkaar.
com, www.joannebkaar.com. Paper and book
arts workshops held in the recently refurbished
Castlehill Heritage Centre.
Silkpaper Making, April 20, with Joanne B.
Kaar. Dye silk fiber in brilliant colors and
use it to make silkpaper.
Pulp Papermaking, April 27, with Joanne B.
Kaar. Use bamboo and linen half-stuff to
make your own handmade paper utilizing
several decorative techniques.
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.
Paper Jewelry, April 26-27. Foundation
Course, May 10-11, with Beatrix Mapalagama.
Fibre Processing: Japanese and Nepalese Paper,
May 12-13, with Beatrix Mapalagama.
Creative Papermaking, May 14-15, with Beatrix
Mapalagama.
Paperobjects, May 16-17, with Beatrix Mapalagama.
Papertextils, September 20-21.
Decorative Papers, October 24-26.
Handmade Books, November 20-23.
Penland School, Penland, NC, (828) 765-2359,
www.penland.org. A full program of craft
workshops, including papermaking.
Fresh Cuttings, April 26-May 2, with BОatrice
Coron. Create paper images and tools for
producing paper cutout editions, incorporating
techniques for stenciling, pochoir, simple popups,
and three-dimensional paper cutting.
Paper & Light, July 6-8, with Ann Marie Kennedy.
Learn about the myriad ways in which
light and paper interact, using several sheet
forming techniques to produce paper with
sculptural possibilities and image-based
applications.
Color Joomchi, August 10-22, with Jiyoung
Chung. Use low-tech hands-on processes,
adapting this traditional Korean handmade
paper technique to contemporary two- and
three-dimensional art.
A Survey of Decorative Paper Techniques, August
10-22, with Steve Pittelkow. Use Japanese
methods, paste paper, and marbling
techniques to build a portfolio of papers and
construct objets d’art.
Peters Valley Craft Center, Layton, NJ, (973)
948-5200, www.pvcrafts.org. Workshops in
papermaking and a variety of crafts.
Illuminated Paper Structures, May 30-June 3,
with Helen Hiebert. Use hand papermaking
techniques such as combining armatures and
wet sheets to create lamps, screens, and more.
Garden Papers, July 25-29, with Mary Hark.
Use materials from the garden as well
as kozo and gampi to make papers with
unique textures and rich natural colors.
Pyramid Atlantic, Silver Spring, MD, (301)
608-9101, www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.
org. Workshops in papermaking, printmaking,
and book arts.
Papermaking Society, Wednesdays, with
Gretchen Schermerhorn. Bring snacks,
discuss papermaking techniques, and make
as many sheets of paper as you can.
Sculptural Papermaking, April 2, 9, & 16,
with Gretchen Schermerhorn. Create
unique sculptures utilizing armatures,
direct casting methods, and plaster molds.
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence,
RI, (800) 364-7473. Continuing education
through the Summer Institute of Graphic
Design Studies.
Paper, Print, Book, June 30-August 5, with
Suzi Cozzens. Experiment with handmade
paper, then apply image-making techniques
and bind into books.
Robert C. Williams Paper Museum, Atlanta,
GA, (404) 894-5726, http://ipst.gatech.edu/amp/.
Teacher’s Japanese Papermaking Workshop,
June 23-27, with Berwyn Hung. Learn about
the history of Japanese papermaking and fiber
preparation, and get hands-on experience
in sheet forming and Japanese stab bindings.
San Francisco Center for the Book, San
Francisco, CA, (415) 565-0545, www.sfcb.org.
Book arts classes and events year-round.
Pastepapers, April 18, with Leigh McLellan.
Produce colorful, vibrantly patterned papers
using multiple techniques of this centuriesold
process.
Seastone Papers, West Tisbury, MA, (508)
693-5786, www.seastonepapers.com. Summer
paper workshops in Martha’s Vineyard
taught by Sandy Bernat.
Wet Bound Books, April 13. Work with wet fiber
as paint using squeeze bottles, brushes,
stencils, and free hand application to a book
from pulp.
Polaroid Transfers and Emulsion Lifts, April
19 or May 10. Transform your slides or
photographs to create fresco-like images on
a variety of paper surfaces
Wet and Wild Basics, Mondays in July and
August. A brief introduction to the basic
steps in the papermaking process.
Sievers School of Fiber Arts, Washington
Island, WI 54246, (920) 847-2264, www.
sieversschool.com. Summer workshops on
an island in Lake Michigan.
Beginning Papermaking, July 25-27, with
Thomas Grade. Spend a weekend learning
two- and three-dimensional handmade
paper techniques.
Paper: Varying Degrees & Beyond, July 27-
August 1, with Thomas Grade. Learn a
broad spectrum of techniques for forming
handmade papers.
Make & Use Silk Fiber “Paper,” August 1-3,
with Deb Menz. Create fabric from unspun
silk fibers and address many applications
for this material.
Handmade Paper Lampshades, August 29-31,
with Michelle Workowski. Use handmade
papers, barks, and fibers to make as many
lampshades as time will allow.
Southwest School of Art & Craft, San Antonio,
TX, (210) 224-1848, www.swschool.org.
Classes at the Picante Paper Studio.
Advanced Studio Rental, most Wednesdays,
with Beck Whitehead. Use the Picante
studio and equipment; some instruction is
available upon request.
Papermaking Saturday, one Saturday each
month, with Linda Draper. Create paper in
an environment that is somewhere between
a class and an open studio.
Making Your Own Paper, April 1, with studio
instructors. Learn how to make paper the
color, shape, and size you want.
Valley Ridge Art Studio, Muscoda, WI,
(608) 250-5028, www.valleyridgeartstudio.
com. Workshops in papermaking, bookmaking,
photography, writing, etc.
Paper Marbling, May 31-June 1, with Galen
Berry. Learn to make beautiful, multicolored
patterned papers, including traditional patterns
like the Peacock, Stone Marble, Spanish
Wave, Feather, Nonpareil, etc.
West Dean College, Chichester, West Sussex,
U.K., (0)1243 811301, short.course@
westdean.org.uk, www.westdean.org.uk.
Recycled Papermaking for Artwork and Decorative
Objects, May 23-26, with Carol Farrow.
Experiment with paper pulps made from
re-used paper ephemera, learning about paper
selection, forming sheets, casting, laminating,
embossing, embedding, sizing, and coloring.
Hand Marbling on Paper and Fabric for Beginners,
June 13-15, with Christopher Rowlatt. Create
styles found in traditional marbling and
then explore the medium freely, learning to
prepare numerous pigment dye recipes.
Papermaking as a Creative Medium, September
18-21, with Carol Farrow. Explore the
versatility of paper and gain knowledge of
Western papermaking techniques, including
two and three-dimensional forms.
Patterned Papers for Books and Decorative
Uses, October 26-30, with Victoria Hall.
Make paste papers, dip-dyed papers, and
suminagashi marbled papers.
Wisconsin Center for Book and Paper Arts,
Madison, WI, (608) 284-8394, wcpaperarts@
hotmail.com, www.wibookandpaper.org. Offering
tutorial programs in hand papermaking
and decorative papers.
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.
Sculptural Papermaking, July 14-18, with
Ellen Kucera and Chris Petrone. Learn a
variety of armature making techniques and
methods for covering forms with handmade
abaca and flax paper.
Pulp Painting: Beyond the Squeeze Bottle, July
21-25, with Shannon Brock. Combine 2D
image-making techniques with 3D sculptural
papermaking to create seamless paper forms.
Cross Pollination: Papermaking and Encaustic,
July 28-August 1, with Chris Petrone and
Laura Moriarty. Create layered collages,
combining hand papermaking and encaustic
techniques.
Introduction to Asian Papermaking, August
4-8, with Kare Carr. Learn each step of Japanese
and Nepalese papermaking techniques
using kozo, from building a mould to preparing
the fiber, to forming sheets.
Western Papermaking: Cotton, Flax, Abaca,
and Non-Traditional Fibers, August 11-15,
with Eugenie Barron. Explore the unique
characteristics of a variety of fibers, activating
the surface, color, or texture of the sheets.
>more classes and workshops at
handpapermaking.org/listings.htm
> EVENTS
April 2008 17
MAGNOLIA
Papermaking Supplies
Handmade Paper
Workshops
Books
Mon - Fri 10 - 5 Sat 10 - 3
Call or write for a catalogue
and workshop schedule:
Magnolia Editions
2527 Magnolia Street, Oakland, CA 94607
telephone: 510/839-5268
fax: 510/893-8334
www.magnoliapaper.com
Tidewater Cottage & Papermaking Studio
in Del Haven, New Jersey, celebrates its
inauguration with an Open House on April
27. This opportunity for a papermaking and
related arts retreat at the New Jersey shore
offers the option of workshops or studio
rental with consultation. For details on the
Open House or the Tidewater Cottage &
Studio, contact Winnie Radolan at winnie.r@
verizon.net.
The Combat Paper Project goes on tour
this spring and summer. This collaborative
project initiated by Iraq Veterans Against the
War and Drew Cameron and Drew Matott
of the Green Door Studio in Burlington,
Vermont, engages veterans in reclaiming
their uniforms by transforming them into
handmade paper. For the tour schedule and
associated events, visit www.greendoorstudio.
net/combatpaper/combatpaper.html.
Paper & Book Intensive 2008 will be held
at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in
Gatlinburg, TN from May 14 through May 25.
The online brochure can be viewed at www.
paperbookintensive.org. In its twenty-fifth
year, PBI offers classes in book arts, bookbinding,
and papermaking, combined with
lectures, discussions, and shared meals. This
summer’s papermaking courses include
Shadow Play with Paul Wong and Innovative
Pulp Application and Stenciling with Andrea
Peterson.
Collective Workshops 2008, an eleven-day
residential conference offering hands-on
courses in book, paper and print techniques,
will be July 4-15 at Wellington
College in Berkshire, England. Students will
choose three courses from ten offerings that
include Papermaking with Jim Patterson,
Paper Washing and Bleaching with Karen
Vidler, and Historical & Contemporary
Pastepapers with Mark Walmsley. The first
event of its kind in the UK, this conference
aims to challenge, encourage, stimulate,
and entertain. The limit of sixty participants
gives everybody the chance to get to know
each other. To receive a brochure or join the mailing
list, email info@collectiveworkshops.org.
What It Takes: Fine Craft on Martha’s
Vineyard is a series of events taking place
July 13 through August 8 at the Featherstone
Center for the Arts, featuring six Island
artists. Exhibitions, lectures, workshops,
and studio tours will highlight local work in
paper, tapestry, ceramics, and multimedia.
For details, visit www.featherstonearts.org
or call (508) 693-1850.
The Friends of Dard Hunter meets 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 information on this conference visit
www.friendsofdardhunter.org. Plan ahead
for the 2008 meeting, October 23-26, in
Kona, Hawaii.
The 20th IAPMA Congress meets in Tasmania
in 2009 in the coastal town of Burnie,
home to Australia’s largest handmade
paper mill. The conference theme is Paper
of the New World and Rejuvenation of the
Creative Spirit. Events include workshops
and lectures and a juried exhibition. Preregistration
is now available. Visit www.
creativepapertas.com.au for more information
or contact Joanna Gair at manager@
creativepapertas.com.au.
The 10th Biennial Pyramid Atlantic Book
Arts Fair and Conference will take place
November 7-9 in Silver Spring, Maryland,
at the newly erected Cafritz Art Center at
Montgomery College of Art and Design.
The event connects international artists
to collectors and scholars of the book arts
through a dynamic book fair, stimulating
conference lectures, exhibitions, panel discussions
and events. Visit www.bookartsfair.
org for all the details.
Origami-USA will hold its 50th convention
this year in New York, June 27-30. The
group anticipates 800-1000 attendees from
around the world. See www.Origami-USA.
org for more information.
EXHIBITS
> CALLS FOR ENTRIES
The Friends of Dard Hunter invites proposals
for demonstrations and presentations
for the 2008 Annual Meeting in Kona,
Hawaii, which takes place October 23-26.
Demonstrations should be 30-45 minutes
in length and have little equipment needs,
with little to no water, due to the venue.
Presentations should be 20-45 minutes
in length and reflect the art, craft, and
scholarship that the organization promotes.
Proposals are due May 1. To receive the
complete call for proposals, contact Frank
Brannon at frankbrannon@hotmail.com.
The 2nd Annual SLV Folk Arts and Fiber
Festival actively seeks papermakers and
bookbinders to teach workshops or participate
in the vendor’s fair. The event takes
place July 11-13 in Monte Vista, Colorado. All
applications will be considered. Go to www.
slvfest.com for more information or email
admin@slvfest.com with questions.
The Miniature Book Society invites entries
to the 2008 Miniature Book Competition
and Exhibition. To qualify, a book must
measure no more than three inches in any
dimension and must have been published
in a multiple copy edition (one of a kind
books are not eligible) within the two-year
period April 2006 through April 2008. Submissions
utilizing handmade paper are encouraged.
Rules for entries are on the MBS website,
www.mbs.org. Questions can be directed to the
Chair, Neale M. Albert at nma8156@yahoo.
com. Entries are due April 15.
April 2008 19
Artists experienced in papermaking are
invited to apply for the opportunity to spend
up to three months working in the Paper
Studio at the Southwest School of Art &
Craft. Artists are expected to provide their
own transportation and materials. Housing
may be available, but is not guaranteed. Collaborations
will be considered. For further
information contact SSAC, 300 Augusta,
San Antonio, TX 78205, (210) 224-1848,
www.swschool.org.
Women’s Studio Workshop offers several opportunities
for artists working in papermaking
and book arts. A yearlong internship program
gives young artists creative support,
culminating in an exhibition, in return for
their assistance with the ongoing operations
of the facility, including assisting WSW’s
Artists-in-Residence with their projects and
participating in WSW’s Summer Arts Institute
classes as studio assistants. Studio fellowships
are designed to provide concentrated
work time for artists to explore new ideas
in a dynamic and supportive community of
women artists. For details on these and other
programs, visit www.wsworkshop.org.
Cultural Collaborative, a small non-profit
working with children in Ghana, West
Africa, is looking for papermakers and
bookbinders to volunteer to teach the kids
next summer. If interested contact aba@
culturalcollaborative.org. For information
on Cultural Collaborative, visit www.culturalcollaborative.
org.
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 painting, drawing,
performance, ceramics, book arts, textile
art, papermaking, sculpture, installation,
photography, and more. In the spring of
2008, The Banff Centre offers the thematic
residency “Making Artistic Inquiry Visible.”
Visit www.banffcentre.ca for information
about residencies and facilities, or contact
Wendy Tokaryk at wendy_tokaryk@banffcentre.
ca or (403) 762-6402.
Spring internship positions in the areas
of Art Administration, Archive, Gallery,
and Studio are available at Dieu DonnО,
a non-profit artist workspace dedicated to
contemporary art in the hand papermaking
process in New York City. Participants earn
credits toward classes and studio time. Visit
www.dieudonne.org for complete details.
> OPPORTUNITIES
The next book from Claire Van Vliet’s
Janus Press will be Papermaking at Hayle
Mill, 1808-1987. Due in June, the 68-page
text by Maureen Green surveys the family
papermaking activities over 180 years, with
illustrations, and sixteen watermarks from
as early as 1817 to the one that was made
for the last paper made at the mill, Finale,
on which the book is printed. A portfolio
of historic photographs, papers, and map
is also included, all in a clamshell box.
Request details from The Janus Press, 101
Schoolhouse Road, Newark, VT 05871.
The Activated Page: Handmade Paper and
the Artist’s Book is the latest publication produced
by Jae Rossman’s jenny-press, exploring
the artmaking practice of individual artists
for whom handmade paper is distinctive
to their work and not-for-profit institutions
that support hand papermaking. The cover
features a die-cut and flaps that unfold to
reveal paper samples by participants. Details
are available at www.jennypress.com.
Dieu DonnО announces the release of Watermark
Self-Portrait, a new limited edition by
artist Chuck Close. The light and shade watermark
image is taken from Chuck Close’s
daguerreotype photographs. Watermark
Self-Portrait was developed with the artist,
Crane & Company, Dieu DonnО Papermill,
and Susan Gosin of Dieu DonnО Press, and
produced in an edition of 35. To inquire
about subscription, please contact Catherine
C. Parker at (212) 226-0573.
> PUBLICATIONS
Classifieds in the Hand Papermaking Newsletter
cost 75 cents per word, with no minimum. Payment
is due in advance of publication.
Paper Press for sale. Versatile, hydraulic
papermaking press with separate stainless
steel couching / drain rolling table. Press
sheets up to 32” x 42” with up to 40 tons of
pressure. Email beverlysky@aol.com
Cotton Linter Pulp. All quantities available.
Call Gold’s Artworks, Inc. 1-800-356-2306.
Handmade paper mill for sale. Well-established
with large inventory. See ad on page 13.
bookbinding tools
14450 Behling Road
Concord, MI 49237
(517) 524-6318
scobeymoore@frontiernet.net
www.timothymooretools.com
HAND PAPERMAKING, INC.
box 1070, beltsville, md 20704
non-profit org. presort
u.s. postage
PAID
so md
permit no.
Recognizing Hand Papermaking’s 20th
anniversary in 2006, the Board of Directors
pledged an initial gift of $10,000 to launch
the Hand Papermaking Endowment Fund. We
now have nearly $40,000 received or pledged
thanks to the generosity of:
Hand Papermaking would like to thank the following
people and organizations who have made
direct contributions to further our mission. 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.
Benefactors: Barbara Lippman, David Marshall
& Alan Wiesenthal. Underwriters: Cathleen
A. Baker, Sidney Berger & Michele Cloonan,
Tom & Lore Burger, Ali Fujino, Susan Gosin,
Hiromi Paper Int’l, Mary Lou Manor, Charles
E. Morgan, Nancy & Mark Tomasko, Beck
Whitehead, Pamela S. Wood. Sponsors: Gail
Deery, Jane M. Farmer, Helen Frederick, Eve
Ingalls Von Staden, Ingrid Rose Company,
Joyce Kierejczyk, Peter Newland & Robyn
Johnson, Margaret Prentice, Anil Revri,
Kimberly Schenck, Scott R. Skinner, Marilyn
Sward. Donors: Grimanesa Amoros, Timothy
Barrett, Nancy Cohen, Nita Colgate, William
Dane, Mona Dukess, Martha Duran, Karla
Elling, Lori B. Goodman, Helen Hiebert, Rick
Johnson, Sally Wood Johnson, Elaine Koretsky,
Hedi Kyle, Andrea Peterson, Nancy Pobanz,
Brian Queen, Winifred Radolan, Dianne L.
Reeves, John L. Risseeuw, Mary C. Schlosser,
R. H. Starr, Jr., Claire Van Vliet, Tom Weideman.
Supporters: Marjorie & Harold Alexander,
Lois D. Augur, Inge Bruggeman, Charles
Cooper, Wavell Cowan, David Lance Goines,
Helen Hiebert, Mildred Monat Isaacs, Lou
Kaufman, Elaine Koretsky, M. P. Marion, Edwin
Martin, Marion Melody, Patricia L. O’Neal,
Harry & Sandra Reese, Pam Scheinman,
Agnes Schlenke, Jessica Spring, Marie Sturken,
Betty Sweren, Elsi Vassdal-Ellis, Women’s
Studio Workshop, Kathy Wosika. Friends:
Annie Alexander, Anonymous, Ellen K. Berg,
Elena Osterwalder Bonny, Patricia Zobel Canaday,
Nancy O. Daley, Janet Higgins, Courtney
Hudson, Charlotte Johnson, Marcie Kauss, Pat
Feeney Murrell, Joanne Olsen, Camille Riner,
Sally Rose, Gretchen Schermerhorn, Laurie
Shelton, Margaret P. Spoor, Bonnie Stahlecker,
Taiko Suzuki, Marjorie Tomchuk.
Hand Papermaking is especially grateful to
the Fifth Floor Foundation of New York for
its recent grant in support of the magazine.
49er Books, Marjorie & Harold Alexander,
Martin Antonetti, Shirah Miriam (Mimi) Aumann,
Cathleen A. Baker, Tom Balbo, Timothy
Barrett, Sidney Berger & Michele Cloonan,
Marcia Blake, Inge Bruggeman, Tom & Lore
Burger, Nita Colgate, Georgia Deal, Gail Deery,
Jeanne M. Drewes, Bryan C. Ellison, Jane
Farmer, Helen Frederick, Jean Freeburg, Sara
Gilfert, Susan Gosin, Helen Hiebert, Peter
Hopkins, Lois & Gordon James, Sally Wood
Johnson, Julie Jones, Kristin Kavanagh, David
Kimball, Elaine Koretsky, Karen Kunc, Abby
& Mitch Leigh, Barbara Lippman, Winifred
Lutz, Allegra Marquart, David Marshall & Alan
Wiesenthal, Anne and Robert McKeown, Jesse
Munn, Peter Newland Fund of the Greater
Everett Community Foundation, Margaret
Prentice, Preservation Technologies L.P., John
L. Risseeuw, Michelle Samour, Peter Sowiski,
R. H. Starr, Jr., Marilyn Sward, Betty Sweren,
Gibby Waitzkin, Tom Weideman, Beck Whitehead,
Pamela and Gary Wood.
Please consider becoming a Founding Contributor
to the endowment thereby assuring
the long-term future of Hand Papermaking.
For more information about this campaign,
or to make a pledge, contact Tom Bannister at
(800) 821-6604 or visit www.handpapermaking.
org/Endowment.html.
Thank you!