Enter your email address to hear the latest from Hand Papermaking! You’ll be the first to know what's happening with us and in the wider field of hand papermaking.
HAND PAPERMAK ING
N E W S L E T T E R
Number 84, October 2008
Newsletter Editor: Shireen Holman Advertising & Listings: Mary Tasillo Desktop Production: Amy Richard
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 (January
2009) is November 7. 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 $1.00 per word
with a 10-word minimum. Rates for display ads
are available upon request.
Hand Papermaking is a 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization. Staff: Tom Bannister, Executive
Director; Mina Takahashi, Magazine Editor;
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, Claire Van Vliet,
James Yarnell. Co-founders: Amanda Degener
and Michael Durgin.
Dear Friends and Hand Papermakers,
It is with profound sadness that
I relay the news of Marilyn Sward’s
death this past August 5, 2008, just
two weeks after her sixty-seventh
birthday. As friends and colleagues
know, during the past few years
she valiantly fought cancer with an
optimism and determination that was
characteristic of her nature. Though
she left us in her prime, she passed
on a legacy that is both a celebration
of her life and work, as well as a challenge
to those of us she touched and
inspired to continue her good work.
It is difficult to be brief about the wide range of professional accomplishments
of this gifted artist, educator, author, leader, and champion of
the arts. She was founding director of The Book and Paper Arts Center of
Columbia College, Chicago. Drawing on her years of experience teaching
at The Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College, she succeeded in
synthesizing the fiber arts, papermaking, the book arts, and photography
into a model program for inter-disciplinary visual arts.
Marilyn’s success as an educator began, first and foremost, with her
gift as an artist. Though she studied painting in school, she found her
medium in hand papermaking. She savored time in the studio making
her art, yet she was also an extraordinary collaborator. She co-authored
“The New Photography” with Catharine Reeve and co-created the “Treewhispers”
international paper installation with Pamela Paulsrud. She approached all her
roles and relationships in the true spirit of collaboration, including her invaluable board
service for Hand Papermaking magazine and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.
Although I never had the chance to travel with Marilyn on one of the exotic “fiber/paper”
trips she organized to India or Bali, I had unforgettable adventures with her. During
the five years we worked together on the Hunter/Howell Fellowship we met in airports
and even in the Green Bay Packer’s parking lot, to squeeze in a little needed face time. No
matter what project was cooking, and there was always some project cooking in that fertile
mind of hers, it was such an honor, not to mention fun, to be a co-conspirator in one of
her inspired projects. Marilyn knew that the key to a rich life was in the giving, which
she did with her heart and soul to her family, friends, colleagues, and the institutions she
helped create. We will miss her terribly.
Those who would like to make a donation in her honor may do so to The Hand
Papermaking Endowment Fund, Box 1070, Beltsville, MD 20704; or The Marilyn Sward
Endowment Fund, Columbia College Chicago, 600 South Michigan, Chicago IL 60605.
Sincerely,
Sue Gosin
Princeton, New Jersey
Dear Readers,
As Arnold Grummer celebrates a hale
and hearty 85th birthday (August 19), Kathryn
and I felt we should reminisce a little in
public about Arnie’s seminal contributions
to the craft of hand papermaking.
We first met Arnie Grummer by mail in
1970. A borrowed copy of Dard Hunter’s
book, “Papermaking: The History and
Technique of an Ancient Craft” revealed that
his collection was housed at the Institute of
Paper Chemistry in Appleton, Wisconsin.
We wrote asking for information about
the collection, and Arnie, as the museum
director, not only responded immediately,
but introduced us (by mail) to his entire
list of correspondents, which included
nearly everyone who was interested in hand
papermaking in the entire (mostly English
speaking) world.
In those days this was a small group, but
it included Dard Hunter II, Henry Morris
(papermaker and proprietor of the “Bird and
Bull Press”), Remy Green (of J. Barcham
Green, the last surviving hand mill in England),
James Lamar Weygand (papermaker
and proprietor of the “Private Press of the
Indiana Kid”), Walter Hamady
(who then ran the first and
only university papermaking
and books arts program, albeit
unofficial), Muir Dawson (a
rare book dealer in Los Angeles
who later gave us our own copy
of Hunter’s book) and, bless
her heart, Ceil Smith Thayer
(graphic designer and watermark
collector from New York
City) who was an even more
enthusiastic correspondent
than Arnie. What was amazing
was that, in those pre-computer
days, we were immediately
connected to nearly everyone
who actually made paper by
hand and just about everyone
who was seriously interested in
handmade paper, thanks entirely
to Arnold Grummer.
Arnie’s responsibility for the
Dard Hunter Paper Museum
and Library had been tacked on
to his main job as Public Relations
Director. The administration
didn’t really know what to
do about the museum but, since
all manner of pesky scholars
and historians and writers and
grade school groups kept coming to see it,
they decided it was something the PR guy
should do. This meant they didn’t need to
hire a curator and they didn’t need to think
about it. Ironically, Dard the First had moved
his collection to the Institute when a regime
change at MIT left the collection without
administrative support; unfortunately, a similar
situation developed at the Institute. An
analogy I used to use was the farmer with an
eroding Duesenberg in his barn, who knew
> LETTERS
HP Readers All,
Between the 20th and 22nd of June
the University of Iowa was hit by some of
the worst flooding in its history. The Arts
Campus was especially hard hit and one of
the worst casualties was the papermaking
classroom in the basement of the old art
building. When it became clear there would
be major flooding in the building, we were
given two days to get anything of value up to
the second floor, or out of the building. The
first day of moving was successful but when
we showed up for the second day, we were
locked out and told the water level was rising
much faster than expected. Bad news. With
the help of hardworking students I managed
to save about two-thirds of the portable tools
and equipment, but a lot remained. (See the
before and after photos below.)
The entire room was completely submerged.
I never thought a flood could
do what a tornado can do but I changed
my mind after this experience. The good
news is that a brand new classroom for
papermaking was completed across the river
in North Hall just prior to the flood. While
water also entered the lower level of North
Hall, thankfully it did not reach the new
classroom or the other UICB classrooms
that are on the same floor. In summary, we,
our facilities, and our homes are all OK.
Many thanks to everyone who contacted me
or Hand Papermaking to inquire about our
well-being. Come visit us for the College
Book Art Association conference in Iowa
City in January 2009! www.uiowa.edu/
~ctrbook/events/CBAA_conference.shtml
Tim Barrett
Iowa City, Iowa
it was valuable so he wouldn’t sell it, but
couldn’t afford to restore it, so it was wasting
away. They certainly didn’t realize that putting
Arnie in charge was the single best thing
they ever did for the museum.
The collection needed a historian, librarian,
curator, conservator, and a big bucks
donor ... Arnie was none of these. Dard
Hunter was not able to endow the museum
to provide such support, and the Institute
was not about to provide it either. What the
collection actually needed most was a concerned
and committed PR man to drum up
support, and Arnie was the perfect person.
He had installed the collection with Dard
Hunter himself, knew it well, loved it, and
understood its cultural importance. Luckily,
the timing was such that he was in the
center of the newly emerging renaissance of
hand papermaking.
Unluckily, the Institute was fading. Its
support base of commercial paper mills
dwindled as companies merged and internationalized.
Arnie’s job was reduced until
he was eventually let go. The Institute’s
head librarian, Douglas Dougal, did what
he could to keep Arnie’s hand in it, but the
Institute’s fortunes continued to decline.
The rapidly growing support
group was still an amorphous
bunch of papermakers, artists,
conservators, and historians
with no easy way to coalesce.
Arnie’s missives kept all of us
informed and alarmed until,
eventually, the Friends of Dard
Hunter formed, first as part
of the Book and Paper Group
of the American Institute of
Conservation, and later as a
separate group. The friends
were first and foremost a
pressure group to support the
museum. The Institute later
discovered that their crumbling
museum was a major
bargaining chip with Georgia
Tech, and while the situation
in Atlanta isn’t perfect, it is
certainly the best the collection
has ever seen.
Arnie made a new career
out of papermaking, and his
American Paper Machine has
been an educational force of
great magnitude ever since.
He has educated thousands,
from tykes to the FBI, on the
techniques and technology
of papermaking and recycling. We first met
Arnie and his wife Mabe in Appleton about
three years after the correspondence began.
[That’s Mabe at the vat with Howie and
Arnold looking on.]
Kathryn, Tim Barrett, and I made a
pilgrimage to the museum in 1973. The
Grummers were just as wonderful and welcoming
in person as through the mail, but
the museum was a revelation. For example,
Tim and I had carefully studied the diagram
of the English vat in Hunter’s book but didn’t
really understand it ‘till we saw it; all the
pipes and stuff just suddenly made sense.
The books and artifacts were overwhelming,
but the semi-amateur film that Arnie showed
us probably had the most effect. It was shot
by an Institute staff member (with Arnie’s
narration -- he has a perfect radio voice) who
had visited Singapore and shot 8mm film
of hand papermakers there. It absolutely
blew us away. Oriental-style multiple-dip
papermaking was only superficially known
in the West, and almost entirely misunderstood.
We tried it after returning home and,
despite the fact that we couldn’t make it work
at all (neri hadn’t been mentioned), Tim was
so intrigued he applied for, and received, a
Fulbright scholarship to study it in Japan.
The rest was, well, history.
Congratulations, Arnie, and thank you so
much for all you’ve done.
Howard and Kathryn Clark,
Founders of Twinrocker Handmade
Paper / Brookston, Indiana
Happy summer from the heat of the desert!
The doors are open at my new studio
Desert Paper, Book and Wax in a vintage
barrio in Tucson. Plans to offer diverse
papermaking, book, and mixed-media
encaustic workshops as well as one-on-one
or small group consulting and studio rental
are well underway, with intentions of inviting
national and international instructors.
Take a look at our brand new web site:
www.papermakingresources.com.
I am also excited that after more than
a year and a half of research and writing,
my article “Beater Finesse for the Artist” is
finally complete and was published in the
summer 2008 issue of Hand Papermaking
magazine. I interviewed 25 international
artists on their diverse methods of using
their Hollander beaters for making paper
for varied art uses and substrates. On
our web site there is also a 50-page/50-
color photo booklet with the artists’ actual
beater notes and a large format chart for a
nominal download fee. Donations will be
made from your purchase to both Hand
Papermaking magazine and Mark Lander’s
“Critter Fundraiser.” Hope you find it helpful.
After teaching and writing for 20+
years, I opened my files and have started
uploading. All the titles are there already,
and I am still working on uploading all
the articles (some of which were written
pre-computer!), but a number are currently
accessible to the reader for free, and the
“Getting Started/Teacher Ideas” section is
done! I’ll be starting my very first blog, so
this site is truly a work in progress. Ah, the
new world! Bookmark the site and keep
checking back!
Catherine Nash
Tucson, Arizona
ALONG THE PAPER ROAD...
This regular feature offers paper musings from
Elaine Koretsky—renowned paper historian, researcher,
and traveler. This is Elaine’s final installment
of the account of her 2007 trip to China.
The year 2007 was a remarkable time in
my papermaking adventures. In the previous
two issues of the Hand Papermaking
Newsletter I described my explorations in
Anhui and Yunnan Provinces. This third
and final installment takes place in Sichuan
Province, nearly half a year before
the devastating earthquake hit the areas
where I had traveled. Although I have
heard from my two guides in Chengdu,
the capital city of Sichuan, and know that
they survived the catastrophe, I may never
find out the fate of the wonderful papermakers
in the following narration.
From Kunming, the capital of Yunnan
Province, we flew to Chengdu, arriving early
enough to spend the afternoon in lovely
gardens that contain a memorial to Xue Tao.
She was celebrated in Chinese history as a
prominent poet and courtesan, but also was
documented as the first lady papermaker.
Xue Tao (758-832 A.D.) lived during the
glorious time of the Tang Dynasty when
Chinese arts flourished. She became interested
in making fancy notepaper that she
embellished with colored designs. She attached
thin bamboo strips to the screens of
her moulds to form the designs, and so can
be considered the originator of watermarks
in handmade paper.
After a leisurely evening in Chengdu,
we started our Sichuan explorations in the
morning, with a full day’s drive through
fog and rain to Changning County, where
the “Bamboo Sea” is located. The “sea” is
actually a 12,000-acre forest where more
than thirty types of bamboo are grown.
The area has now been developed as a
tourist attraction, with comfortable hotels
and exotic new restaurants. At night we
enjoyed a tasty six-course, totally bamboo
meal featuring bamboo shoots and roots in
various cooked, fried, and steamed forms.
The following morning, despite the continued
rain, we walked along trails weaving
through the spectacular bamboo forest,
passing a misty waterfall while admiring
hazy vistas of giant bamboos with branches
waving high above us. We stopped at a lake
to watch people navigating the water on
rafts, which they propelled with long poles.
Finally we visited a museum featuring
hundreds of objects made from bamboo,
and I eagerly purchased a vest made of tiny
bamboo rods.
Fortunately, those first two days in
Sichuan Province had allowed us to regain
our energy, for now our real adventures
would begin. After another completely
bamboo meal, we started off to search for
a papermaking village that our guide had
learned about from a friend. After a couple
of hours driving through the countryside,
we reached a small shop in Di Peng town,
where hand papermaking was supposed
to be taking place. However, it turned out
to be where paper objects were sold. Our
faithful guide kept questioning everyone
he saw, and finally located a man who
knew the way to the village of Ren He, in
Yi He town, Jiang’an County, where he
was certain that we would find bamboo
papermaking. We followed this person
along terrible local roads through many
little villages until we reached an excellent
paved road right at Ren He.
We met Zhu Xing Ron, the village
leader, and Lei Yao Wen, the head of the
papermaking family there. They told us
that solid, young bamboo is used, harvested
at five months of growth. It is cut
into lengths of 1.5 meters, bundled, and
put into a lime pool for four months. The
bamboo is not cooked. The next step is
beating, which formerly was carried out by
a revolving stone wheel driven by a cow.
Now the bamboo is beaten mechanically
by means of an agricultural grinder.
Paper is made down at the riverside, a
Yangtze River tributary that flows alongside
Ren He. Our group immediately set
off along a narrow, muddy path through a
bamboo grove. As usual, I led the way, and
soon noticed that our path took a sharp
downward route. I saw a series of steps
that looked muddy and slick from all the
recent rainfalls. But I bravely marched
ahead, treading firmly on each step, until I
discovered there were no more steps down
to the river, only a steep path of slippery
mud. I stopped abruptly and was stymied.
I did not want to slide the rest of the way,
maybe ending up in the mighty Yangtze,
but I could not turn around because everyone
else was directly behind me. As I stood
there undecided, a worker down at the river
realized my plight, rushed nimbly up the
slope, and indicated that I should climb
onto his back. This was embarrassing, but
I had no choice. The kindly papermaker
swiftly carried me piggyback down to the
riverbank. Directly behind me was Nick
Basbanes, a prominent writer who was
part of our intrepid group. First he photographed
me on the back of the papermaker,
then started down himself, immediately
landing on his backside, and sliding right
down to the river, though luckily not into
it. By that time, the rest of my group had
been provided with long
bamboo poles enabling
them to keep their balance
as they slowly descended
the mud slope.
At the riverside we
saw papermakers rapidly
forming sheets of paper
on moulds that consisted
of a wood frame with a
handle on the right side
and a bamboo screen that was divided so
that two sheets were formed at one time,
each 15 by 11.5 inches. No deckle or deckle
sticks were used. To form a sheet, the
papermaker made two dips into his vat of
bamboo pulp, throwing off the excess on
the right side of the frame. Formation aid
obtained from the roots of Hibiscus manihot
was added to the pulp. Sometimes they also
added a yellow dye, depending upon the
paper’s ultimate use. The posts of paper
were pressed in a hand operated metal
screw press, which recently had replaced
their former wooden winch type press.
After pressing, the sheets were air dried on
poles. Each papermaker produced 2,400
sheets per day.
Lei Yao Wen told us that papermaking
had been a tradition in his family for
many generations. Originally, there had
been 270 families of papermakers in
the area; now only thirty remained. The
paper was produced mainly
for use in burial ceremonies
and for sanitary purposes.
Fortunately, we all
were able to return to the
main road by another route
that was much longer, but
not muddy, as our descent
had been.
The following morning
we left for Jia Jiang, our final
papermaking destination. Jia Jiang is
one of the most important papermaking
centers in China, and has special significance
for me because it was the first place
in China where I had official permission
to visit and document hand papermaking.
The papermaker I sought was Shi Fuli,
whom I had first met in 1985 at Atlanta,
Georgia’s High Museum of Art, where he
was demonstrating papermaking at a special
Chinese exposition, “China—7,000
Years of Discovery.” I had interviewed
Shi Fuli, who told me that I was very
welcome to visit his workshop in Ma Cun
village, and even drew a map showing
how to reach his village from Chengdu.
Later that year, when my husband and I
traveled to Tibet, we stopped in Chengdu
and managed to find Ma Cun with the
unofficial help of a lively shopkeeper and
her boyfriend, whom we befriended. One
of the first documentary films I produced
shows Shi Fuli making paper high in
the mountains amid fantastic forests of
bamboo. Subsequently, I returned to see
him, and passed the word to colleagues
who also were able to reach his remote
workshop.
Now, twenty-three years later, I arrived
with my little group and we climbed
the hundreds of steps carved into the
mountainside to reach my old friend. Shi
Fuli had retired from active papermaking,
and was now the patriarch of the area, the
leader of the six papermakers who still remained
in Ma Cun. Originally, there had
been eighty families making paper. His
own workshop was rented to two young
men, who carried on the tradition. Other
workshops we visited there had adopted
mechanical equipment mainly for beating
and pressing, and had installed heating
surfaces for the drying of paper. Raw
materials now included a lot of wood pulp
and recycled paper scrap. Bamboo and
other grasses were still used, but cooking
the fiber was no longer done at the village
due to the government’s concern over
pollution. Instead, all the preparation was
performed at a factory some distance away.
After our morning visit, we had lunch
with Shi Fuli and reminisced about old
times. It was a perfect ending to our exciting
2007 expedition.
Hiebert
offers helpful guidance and tips gleaned from
artists she has worked with over the years. In this
issue Helen describes Andrea Peterson’s “paper
magic.”
> UNIQUE TECHNIQUE
I had the pleasure of working with
Andrea Peterson in 1995 and 1996 at
Dieu DonnО Papermill in New York City.
Over the years, Peterson has experimented
with a variety of image-making
techniques using pigmented paper pulp.
Now she runs a paper studio with her
husband in Northern Indiana (www.
hookpotterypaper.com). She recently
produced a magical paper for the cover
of the International Association of Hand
Papermakers & Paper Artists (IAPMA)
Bulletin, and I asked her to describe her
process.
The paper looks textured and has the illusion
of being three-dimensional – with
tiny yellow craters, highlighted with red
pigment, dotting it like the surface of
the moon – but it is absolutely flat to the
touch. I’ve seen other work by Peterson
as well as by Rick Hungerford (her
mentor while in undergraduate school
at the Art Institute of Chicago in the
mid-1980s), but I had never been able to
determine how it was done.
To create the moonscape, Peterson
formed large sheets by pouring rather
than dipping. She used cotton half-stuff
beaten in her Reina Hollander beater for
forty minutes, which she had pigmented
a bright yellow for this project. The pulp
drains quickly when poured, and the
sheets are not really shaken as they are
when pulling a sheet with a mould and
deckle, so the surface of the sheet is more
topographical, or uneven, which Peterson
uses to her advantage. After a sheet
drains and the deckle box top is removed,
she drips water over the surface of the
sheet (which is still on the mould), creating
papermaker’s tears, or craters. The
drips are random and vary in size.
To highlight the craters, Peterson
sprayed colored pulp onto the wet sheets
using a paint spray gun. She prepared
this second pulp from overbeaten cotton
half-stuff, beaten for six hours in her
Reina beater. It was pigmented an intense
red. The over saturation of color is important,
because only a light layer of the color
is applied. A faint color just wouldn’t be
visible. The pulp must be very wet – Peterson
uses pulp that is at least 50% water
– and nothing else should be added to the
pulp, because the tiny nozzle of the paint
spray gun might clog.
Usually the kind of spray gun used for
pulp spraying is one that is normally used
for applying stucco to walls. It is suitable
for applying a course pulp to a sculptural
form or for making a large sheet of
sprayed paper with a stucco-like texture.
Peterson uses a much smaller nozzle on
her paint spray gun, which is the kind
you would use to apply detailing to a car.
She loads the finely beaten pigmented
pulp into the hopper of the paint spray
gun, which is attached to an air compressor
(Peterson owns a small Craftsman
with a half-horsepower motor and a twogallon
tank). She has a 1.25 mm tip on the
gun and she sets the pressure to 45 PSI.
The combination of the tip diameter and
the PSI allows a fine mist of pulp to be
sprayed through it.
The beauty of the spray gun is that the
pressure from the compressor provides an
even stream/mist of pulp, which prevents
it from clogging, a frequent problem when
applying pulp in a similar manner with an
atomizer or a fine-tipped syringe.
This technique lends itself to applying
color to a large surface. It is also
a good way to apply pulp through a
stencil, and can be useful in creating illusion
– by playing with the angle of the
gun relative to the surface of the paper,
you can control how the misted pulp
lands on the sheet for varying effects
and optical illusions. You can also vary
the craters in the surface of the sheet by
using a squirt bottle, syringe, or other
device. After applying pulp with the
spray gun, the sheet can be pressed and
air or restraint dried.
TEACHING HAND PAPERMAKING
In “Miss Winnie’s Itinerant World
of Papermaking Adventures,” if it is
summer, it must be camp time! And my
favorite camp is one that I have written
about in the past, held at Perkins Center
for the Arts in Moorestown, New Jersey.
The experience teams six instructors in
a variety of visual and performing arts
disciplines from painting, ceramics, and
papermaking to dancing, drumming, and
theatre arts. During a two-week period,
each artist either works with thirty students
for a total of six hours of class time,
or with twice that many students, spending
four-and-a-half studio hours a week
with each group of thirty children. With
either scenario, by the Final Performance
and Art Show on Friday, all the artists
have pulled off minor miracles in their
respective disciplines with these young
campers! This summer’s theme, “Carnival,”
could be interpreted as circus, amusement
park, or street festival, according to
the inspiration of the various lead artists.
I chose to work with the nine- and
ten-year-old campers during the two-week
Tuesday and Thursday morning sessions,
so that with each class of fifteen students
I would have about six hours to complete
our handmade paper Carnival Clowns.
My clowns were inspired by the French
Jumping Jack figures whose movable
arms and legs were connected by a string
system behind the paper dolls. Pulling a
centrally attached string would cause the
arms and legs to fly up and dance.
During my first session with the
children, a very few remembered making
paper with me last summer. But most
were being introduced to handmade paper
materials and vocabulary for the first
time on that very HOT June morning.
One advantage of summer papermaking
has always been that our little area is on a
porch outdoors, with a nearby hose, and
no need for concern about dripping, gently
splashing, soothingly cool water spills!
So on day one, everyone learned the “oldfashioned”
way to make paper by hand
on a mould and deckle, using people’s
old clothing that had been “beaten to a
pulp.” After having made colorful base
sheets, the students stood at the colored
vats and placed their hands on top of the
wire moulds, while dipping them into
the pulp. These “hand prints” were then
paper.
layered on top of
the base sheets.
Sessions two
and three were
devoted to creating
the handmade
paper body parts
for our Carnival
Clowns. I cut
special arm, leg,
and body shaped
deckles from grey
cushioning floor
mat material. I
pigmented a cotton/
abaca blend
of paper pulp in
bright orange,
turquoise, and
purple. The pulp
was generously
internally sized,
and I kept the vats
heavily charged so
that the delicate
arms and legs,
when dried, could
withstand the
potential dancing
movements. I
had also prepared
brightly colored
cotton rag pulp
paint in small
containers, which
were spread out the length of the students’
workstation tables. After students formed
their arms, legs, and bodies at the vat
table and couched them onto pellon,
they carefully carried the pellons back to
their workstations. There they could add
surface detailing, using pipettes to apply
the pulp paint.
Summer has always been a wonderful
season for drying paper quickly. Due to
the short turn-around time of these sessions,
I’ve been most grateful for the sun’s
intense rays shining down on my luan
drying boards. This time the boards were
plastered with brightly colored arms, legs,
and bodies bearing many little identifying
name tags (so that Marc’s legs and Sara’s
arms didn’t end up on George’s body!)
Our fourth class was devoted to assembling
all the nicely dried Carnival
Clown parts. After punching lots of holes
through thick paper, we attached the arms
and legs to the bodies with brass spreading
fasteners. The students then used
colored markers to add even more layers
of surface design. We attached string to
the clowns’ heads to hang them for the
Art Show, but never quite had the time
Pamela S. Wood of Arizona makes one-of-akind
books from her handmade papers. She
explores the internet seeking out notable paperrelated
sites. Here Pam has found information
about paper on a printmakers’ site.
> ON-LINE
to pull off the mechanics that would have
allowed dancing arms and legs. But the
parts were still movable, and I retained a
modicum of my sanity.
Final Performance Friday was a visual
and auditory treat of colors, movement,
and rhythm. The performing arts instructors
collaboratively presented their
works with these six-to-ten-year-olds in
a series of dancing and drumming performances,
many of which were inspired
by Latin carnival themes. During the
finale, students brought their parents on
stage to dance together in a truly festive
celebration of the children, their arts,
and summer!
No matter how many times I get warnings,
dead ends come as a surprise. I
think the human brain refuses to take no
for an answer. The internet cyber highway
has a vast number of dead ends. Just as in
life, I was ready to take a different path,
when a surprise led me in an unexpected
direction. Exploring it involves going to
two web sites but it is worth the extra
click. Let’s get started.
The first site is at www.worldprintmakers.
com/english/. Go to the very bottom
of the page and click on “Paper.”
Up pop the questions, “How Important
is the Paper?” and “Does Handmade
Paper Really Make a Difference?” As papermakers,
we all know in our hearts the
answers to these questions. The pleasant
surprise is that we are not alone in our
beliefs. Printmakers have been important
for papermakers since the beginning.
Now we see our importance to them
declared in white print on a black page,
as though emphasizing the reciprocal
nature of our relationship.
The first image is of a Hollander being
loaded, next to a section titled “Creativity
Begins with Paper.” “Traditional Methods”
shows a photo of a vat and sheet formation.
Scrolling down we find the drying
stages—removal of water, blotting, and
curing.
The final part provides food for
thought. It is a short discussion about
why “…the most serious artists choose to
present their work on handmade papers.”
Is it prestige or other reasons? And the
topic continues with “More Reasons for
choosing handmade papers for your bestbeloved
fine-art projects.”
This simple, legible, and informative
page makes an important point that is
crucial to artists of all disciplines. Caring,
craftsmanship, and quality are basics that
will show in the final result. The arts are
so often surrounded with quick downand-
dirty, ram-and-slam, methods. Here
it is refreshing to have a group remind us
papermakers that our craft is not going
unnoticed. A few extra kudos sure go a
long way.
With this, let’s go to part two and find
out where this information came from:
www.paperki.com, “Paperki Handmade
Art Papers.” The opening splash page
shows us a papermaker tending dried
sheets of paper. We have a choice of
languages, Spanish or English. Taking
the latter, we also see a quotation from
the Paperki guest book, “To Paperki, to
whom we owe the discovery of the beauty
of paper.”
From the menu along the bottom of
the page, click on “About Us.” We find
that the Paperki creators are located in
Spain, in the heart of Basque country.
The mill has been owned and operated
by Kikis and JosО RamЧn Alejandre
since 1982. The couple, originally from
Mexico, has made their way around the
world. Kikis did post-graduate work at
Pacific University in Seattle, Washington.
They both have done the Spanish art fair
circuit and have taught in Holland and
Switzerland.
Clicking on “The Papers” gives you
reasons why you might want to use their
products, along with
some great photos
of the papers. It also
lists noteworthy artists
who have used
Paperki paper.
As you can see,
with the simple question,
“How Important
is Handmade Paper?”
we can enjoy the feeling
that, as papermakers,
we are doing
something very special.
It doesn’t matter
how often I tell folks
what I do, it’s always
a great feeling to
see people’s amazement,
bordering on
epiphany, when they
experience the beauty
of handmade paper.
PAPER HISTORY
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. In this issue Cathleen discusses
the use of antique laid paper in the nineteenth
century.
A few issues ago, I wrote about the
assumed first use of a domestically
made wove paper used in America in
Charlotte Smith’s Elegiac Sonnets published
by Isaiah Thomas, who was also
the paper manufacturer. This book was
published in 1795, and while the publisher
asked for the public’s approbation
regarding the use of this new kind of paper,
it seems that the old fashioned kind
of paper, which we now call antique laid,
seems to have remained popular.
Examination of two other copies of
books published by Thomas (and in the
University of Michigan Library) reveals
that antique laid paper was used for the
text paper in both. The slightly earlier book
was William Enfield’s Institutes of Natural
Philosophy, Theoretical and Practical, printed
in Boston by Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer
T. Andrews in January 1802. This 450-page
quarto volume was printed on antique laid
paper. There is only one extant leaf of wove
paper, and that is an endsheet at the back of
the book. (The book, bound in full sheep,
has been re-backed
and new endsheets
added, and so it is
possible that there had
been wove paper endsheets
at the front and
back.) The formation
of this paper is clear,
and therefore it is easy
to see the wire sewing
marks left on top of the
chain lines as the cover
was sewn to the ribs
below. These “dots” are
located about a half
inch apart. There is no
watermark.
Also seen is an
imperfection along
the uppermost chain
line, a slight thin area
in a roughly circular shape; this defect can
be found repeatedly throughout the book.
Also abundant are papermaker’s tears,
clumps of unbeaten textile, wrinkles, as
well as pulled areas and air bubbles—some
long and tunnel-like, seen above—due to
problematic couching.
There is also a
decided difference
in the thickness of
the sheet from one
side to the other,
perhaps indicating
that the vatman
favored one side either
when dipping
the mould or when
rocking it from side to
side. This difference
can be as much as 1.5
mils. There are a few
signatures (one sheet
folded twice) that are
decidedly blue. The
color is more evident
in the central area of
the page (top right,
the area above the
bottom chain line), while the edges show
no color.
It is likely that smalt (finely ground cobalt-
colored glass) was added to a yellowish
pulp to make the paper appear whiter.
This pigment is known to be susceptible
to discoloration in the presence of acid,
which may account for its disappearance
around the edges of the pages, where air
pollutants are absorbed and the paper is
typically more degraded.
The second book examined was Sermons
on Various Important Subjects… by Lee
Andrew. It was printed in Worcester,
Massachusetts by Isaiah Thomas, Jun.,
and sold by him
and the author in
Lisbon, Connecticut.
This 400-page book
appeared in October
1803. The format
is octavo, and the
antique paper may
have been made on
the same moulds
as the Enfield book.
Because the page
size is smaller
compared to the
larger format book,
however, it is more
difficult to see details
of the chain lines,
sewing, defects, etc.
No blue paper was
noted; however, because the paper has
discolored in the interior of the page, its
presence may no longer be discernible. In
fact, many of the signatures of this book
exhibit an unusual staining pattern. (See
photo above right.)
As noted, the interior of the page is
brown while the
edges about a half
inch around are
relatively white.
The demarcation
between the two colors
is rather fuzzy
and occasionally
a tide line is seen,
indicating, perhaps,
that during printing,
the part of the page
that was exposed in
the frisket window
and pressed onto
inked type absorbed
moisture from the
dirty, sodden packing
material in the
tympan. The moisture
in the tympan came
from the piles of printing paper, dampened
prior to printing. After printing, as the
sheets dried, the moisture in each page
area was then pulled toward the outer,
drier parts of the sheet but stopped about
a half inch inside these “borders.” This
defect would not have been seen in the
paper until many years later when dissolved
gelatin sizing and other contaminants
from the dampening and printing
processes began to deteriorate the paper
differentially. Of course the foregoing
explanation of this unique kind of staining
pattern may indeed not be correct,
and if the reader has another, I would be
grateful to learn it. Additionally, it would
be interesting to see if any other copies of
this book exhibit the same deterioration.
The complexities of typical paper-use
technologies—printing, drawing, painting,
decorating—often make it challenging
to figure out exactly what causes
paper deterioration, especially when
the staining is local rather than overall;
the latter probably due to manufacture
rather than use. It is essential for book
and paper conservators to understand
these causes because proper treatments to
stabilize damaged paper are informed by
such discoveries. For printers, artists, and
anyone who uses paper, it is also essential
to practice good studio “housekeeping”
to avoid problems with staining that may
appear in their work several years later.
For example, some letterpress printers
dampen sheets prior to printing by soaking
thick paperboards in water and then
interleaving them between groups of dry
paper. Once a pile is made, they weigh it
down, occasionally switching the “sandwich”
around. Depending on how well the
paper is sized, the sheets may take a day
or two to dampen evenly. The problem
with this is that any water-soluble impurities
in the paperboards are drawn along
with the water into the drier paper. I have
seen once-beautiful books, made with the
utmost care and costly material, ruined
by foxing, which, I am convinced, arose
from this kind of dampening practice.
> PROFILES IN PAPER
Susan Gosin co-founded Dieu DonnО Press &
Paper in 1976. She regularly lectures and teaches
papermaking, and has compiled a significant
collection of interviews with noted personalities
in the hand papermaking community. Here is
part one of Sue’s column about Victòria Rabal.
Previous “Profiles in Paper” articles
have highlighted pioneers in the revival
of hand papermaking in the United
States in the second half of the twentieth
century. I have sought to describe their
relationship to each other as participants
in the hand papermaking movement,
and to examine how these links have
fueled both the revival of the craft and
its reinvention as an art medium. The
first Hand Papermaker’s Conference, in
1975 at The Paper Chemistry Institute
in Appleton, Wisconsin, brought many
of these committed pioneers together
for the first time. It signaled the genesis
of a movement that would spread and
integrate into the American educational
system as well as the visual arts. Though
my task of presenting influential Americans
is ongoing and far from complete,
in this article I will take the opportunity
to introduce a Spanish colleague whose
story overlaps those of her American
counterparts, and, perhaps not surprisingly,
includes Laurence Barker, whose
influence as teacher and mentor extended
from Cranbrook Academy in Michigan to
his studio in Barcelona, Spain.
I was fortunate to meet VictШria Rabal
during one of her numerous visits to Dieu
DonnО Papermill in New York City. This
past spring when I traveled to Spain, I
spent a day with VictШria at the Museu
MolТ Paperer de Capellades, approximately
one and one-half hours northwest of
Barcelona. Though the printed materials
and web site offer a beautiful and detailed
introduction to the Capellades Mill and
Museum, they did not prepare me for the
rich and meaningful experience I encountered
while visiting the site; nor do they
describe the dynamic artist/director behind
the remarkable story of Capellades.
As with many of her American and
European colleagues, Victòria’s interest in
paper began when she was an art student
studying painting and printmaking. As
she said to me recently, “even though we
used standard printmaking papers from
Arjo Marie in France, I was always curious
about the different kinds of paper I
used and how it affected the image I was
working on.” A native of Barcelona, she
attended The University of Barcelona
in the late 1970s, and, upon completion
of her undergraduate degree in 1981,
traveled to Urbino, Italy to continue her
training in printmaking. In 1982 when
she returned to Spain she married, and
moved with her husband to the small
commercial papermaking town of Capellades,
a center of Spanish papermaking
for over 800 years. Shortly after getting
settled and establishing a studio to continue
making her art, she took a tour of the
nearby historic papermill/museum where,
with the help of the two elderly gentlemen
who were caretakers of the museum, she
made her first sheet of hand made paper.
Intrigued by the process, she got to know
the two older gentlemen and quickly realized
that they needed help and that there
was untapped potential in this historic
papermill and museum.
In 1982, VictШria applied to the Autonomous
Government of Catalonia to
find financial support for the museum.
Fortunately, an appreciation of Catalan
culture was being revived at the time, and
the museum received funding so that
VictШria could begin to inventory its collection
and design permanent exhibits. While
developing her role as a curator, she got to
know the museum’s first director, Antoni
Sellares, a distant relative of her husband’s
family, papermakers from the Capellades
district. As she spent hours listening to
this historian and former hand papermaker,
who had witnessed the end of a
long tradition of fine hand papermaking in
Capellades, she began to formulate a new
vision. She felt the museum and papermill
could serve an audience much broader
than the few historians and tourists who
occasionally stopped by.
A 1983 visit to Laurence Barker’s studio
in Barcelona opened up a very different
world of hand papermaking than that of
the historic craft she had learned at Capellades.
Laurence introduced her to applications
that could be used in the creation of
contemporary art; his mentorship proved to
be the perfect complement to that offered
by Antoni Sellares. Thus the teacher and
artist who was instrumental in fostering
the hand papermaking movement in the
United States fulfilled the same role in his
adopted country of Spain, helping to grow a
new, European branch on the family tree of
twentieth century artist/hand papermakers.
Laurence also helped VictШria begin
the process of uniting artists in
the United States and Europe who
were exploring similar applications in
papermaking. In 1984 VictШria instituted
the first of a regular series of interdisciplinary
workshops at the museum.
Professionals in hand papermaking,
commercial papermaking, art education,
and related fields of the visual arts were
able to exchange ideas and information
at a high level of expertise. The first
participants included Laurence Barker
and Catalan artist, Frederic Amat, who
showed some of the large-scale paintings
and sculptures he had collaborated on
at Dieu DonnО Papermill in New York
City. This first professional workshop
and conference also brought local commercial
papermakers to the museum
to share their experience with different
kinds of pulp. Though the Capellades
Museum receives most of its income
from its 30,000 yearly visitors, and
limited sponsorship from the more than
eighteen paper companies in the district,
it also receives in-kind donations of flax,
abaca, hemp, sisal, and jute pulp from a
pulp mill south of Catalonia. As workshop
attendance doubled the following
year, and she assumed leadership of the
museum as its director, VictШria developed
an ongoing program of regular
workshops which host international artists
and hand papermakers such as Anne
Vilsbњll from Denmark and Gail Deery
from the United States.
In 1986 VictШria joined European
colleagues Fred Siegenthales, Sophie
Dawson, John Gerard, Anne Vilsbњll,
Julie Lawson, Dorothea Eimert, and
Ray Tomasso to form the International
Association of Papermakers and Artists
(IAPMA). As she was preparing for the
first IAPMA conference, which was to
take place at Capellades in June 1987,
she suffered a terrible accident.
Note: This article will be continued in the
January 2009 newsletter.
DECORATED PAPER
On a recent trip to Quebec City, I
found a shop from which I acquired
three lovely large sheets of crepe paper,
each in a different color: red, blue, and
gold. Someone not clued in to my eye
for decoration (or my interpretation of
“decoration”) might think that I had gotten
merely three sheets of paper. But for
me, the decorative element was the creping,
and that made the sheets irresistible.
(Of course, almost any decorated sheet of
paper is irresistible to me, but that’s another
tale.) Parenthetically, I have heard
and seen “creped paper,” using the past
tense of “crepe” in an adjectival sense (as
in “filtered water”). This is an accepted
form as a description of the paper, but the
proper term uses “crepe.”
In an earlier column I spoke of the difference
between decorated and decorative
papers. Decorated paper starts out plain
and gets a decoration put onto (or into) it.
Decorative paper is a more generic term
that refers to paper that is especially attractive
for one reason or another. Creping is a
technique which changes the texture of a
sheet of paper in a decorative way.
Merriam-Webster’s unabridged dictionary
(third edition, 2002, p. 534) defines
crepe paper as “paper with a crinkled or
puckered texture”—and that’s it. The
American Heritage Dictionary isn’t
much better: “Crinkled tissue paper,
resembling the fabric crepe” (www.
bartleby.com/61/8/C0740800.html;
seen 8/15/08). We all know what it is, but
where does it come from and how old is
its technique of manufacture?
The earliest creped papers that I can
find reference to are from the United
States or Japan, and are from the last
quarter of the nineteenth century. In
Frederic Sharf’s lovely exhibition catalog
on crepe-paper books (Takejiro Hasegawa:
Meiji Japan’s Preeminent Publisher of Wood-
Block-Illustrated Crepe-Paper Books [Salem,
MA: Peabody Essex Museum, 1994]; published
as Volume 130, Number 4 of Peabody
Essex Museum Collections), the author
reproduces a print showing an “Apparatus
for the Preparation of Crape [sic] Paper”
from the book by Johann Justus Rein,
The Industries of Japan (New York: A.G.
Armstrong, 1889); see Sharf, p. 12.
Sharf says that the paper was made
from mitsumata papers (though he then
says it is from the mulberry plant (Broussonetia
papyrifera), so that could mean it
is really kozo fibers, not mitsumata (Edgeworthia
papyrifera). He then describes the
creping of the sheets:
The equipment necessary for this
production consists largely of a lever
press...and special cardboard molds...with
parallel grooves. Regular Japanese paper
sheets...were wetted and interleaved with
the molds, and then the whole mass was
wrapped around [a] cylinder. A considerable
amount of pressure can be brought to
bear on the paper through this device. The
paper sheets and molds are arranged in a
slightly different position for each pressing,
and this operation is repeated a total
of nine or ten times. (Sharf, pp. 30-31)
The resultant sheet contains everything
the original sheet did (all the fibers, any
illustration, deckles, and so forth), but it
is now smaller horizontally and vertically
(if the creping is done in both directions)
since the paper now essentially has
hundreds of tiny folds in it. This is what
gives the paper its softness and pliability.
Pull the sheet from one edge to another
and it has a tendency to stretch out like
Spandex.
In fact, a nicely creped sheet feels like
cloth. When I was a wee kindergarten tyke,
my parents made me a Halloween costume
to wear to school. The outfit was in the
shape of cowboy clothes—chaps and all. It
was taped-together pieces of crepe paper.
And while it got a bit kid-worn by the end
of the costume parade, it still looked like a
cowboy outfit at the end of the day.
In our collection, my wife and I have
several gorgeous sheets of Japanese crepe
paper, with the stenciled-on Chiyogami
or Mingei patterns that I wrote of in an
earlier column. They are sensuous and
beautiful, and when we show them to
guests, we always get an “aah” when
people touch them.
The most “famous” use of this paper—
other than for streamers, party favors,
celebratory festivities, and cowboy suits—
was in the crepe-paper books that Frederic
Sharf was writing about. These little
books—to be a subject of a future column
or article for Hand Papermaking—are
highly collectible today.
They were printed in Japan from 1885
on, into the first decade of the twentieth
century, and they appeared in several
languages. The artists for them did lovely
multi-color wood-block illustrations on
the flat paper. Then the paper was creped
and the images’ colors, in the “shrinking”
dimensions of the sheet, became more
intense and softer. Takejiro Hasegawa was
the most prolific publisher of these, and
his work today is sought after by artists,
collectors, and anyone who sees these
little books. The illustrations are often
quite lovely, partly because Hasegawa
hired superb artists, and partly because
the substrate, the crepe paper, intensified
the loveliness of the colors and pictures.
And the books felt wonderful since they
were on a cloth-like material that caressed
the hands of the readers.
So even many plain sheets of crepe
paper elicit the “oohs” and “aahs” of those
who touch them. This is a form of decoration
that reaches out to you. I can’t get
enough of them.
One can make an affordable mould
and deckle with no woodworking
skills whatsoever (unless one counts
sanding and hammering nails into wood
as woodworking skills). This mould will
not form sheets with lovely laid lines, but
will be a fraction of the cost, and it will
get the job done just fine. The method
I’m about to explain is good for small
sheets of Western style paper.
What you will need:
8 stretcher bars (more on this below)
Sandpaper
Square
Escutcheon pins/nails (16+)
Hammer
Polyurethane
Small paintbrush
Fine mesh window screening
Hardware cloth (a heavy wire mesh
with .-inch openings)
Wire scissors/cutters
Staple gun with staples
Duct tape
You will need the stretcher bars that are
meant for needlepoint. These are narrower
than standard stretcher bars for canvas,
about .-inch by .-inch by variable
lengths, and pre-cut to join together at
the corners. Purchase four stretcher bars
that are 1Ч inches longer than the desired
paper length, and four that are 1Ч inches
longer than the desired paper width. That
is, if you
want to
make 5Ч
x 8Ч-inch
sheets of
paper, you
should
purchase
four
7-inch stretcher bars, and four 10-inch
stretcher bars.
Lightly sand the stretcher bars to
remove all rough spots and potential
splinters. Fit the pieces together into two
7 x 10-inch frames. You may need to tap
them gently into place with a hammer.
Once you have fit the frames together, use
a square or triangle to make sure all of
the corners measure 90 degrees. Next, secure
the corners by tapping two escutcheon
pins into each corner (see diagram).
Having done this for both frames (one for
the mould and one for the deckle), you
can now polyurethane the frames to protect
them from all the water they will be
encountering. Build up two or three coats,
allowing each layer to dry completely before
adding the next, lightly sanding away
any rough areas in between coats.
Once the frames are dry, put one
aside as your deckle. (Hint: hold the
mould and deckle
frames together to
determine which
sides lie flattest
against one another.
Attach your
mould screening
to the flatter
side of the frame
to ensure the tightest fit when forming
your sheets.) Cut the window screening
and the hardware cloth to the exact size
(or just shy of the exact size) of the outer
edges of your remaining frame. Staple the
screening to the frame, with the hardware
cloth directly touching the frame and the
window screening on top, stretching it
taut as you go.
You will want to staple once every inch
around the perimeter. Trim away any loose
flyaway edges of the screening. Make sure
to remove any sharp or rough edges that
may prove injurious. Finally, use the duct
tape to secure the edges of the screening to
the frame. The strip of duct tape on the top
surface of the mould should be no wider
than your frame, or else it will affect the
size of your sheet of paper.
Variations: To make a larger mould
and deckle, you will need additional support
behind the screening of the mould.
Plastic egg crate will do the trick. Get it
cut to size (this does require power tools)
and glue it in place directly beneath the
screening. Also, why not make a sugeta
for Japanese sheet formation? Use the
same procedure described above to prepare
two frames of the same size, treated
with two coats of polyurethane. A su can
be created from a bamboo placemat or
brush mat, cut to the size of your frame.
Stitch a piece of no-see-um netting of
the same size to the bamboo mat along
the long edge, which should be parallel
to the direction of the bamboo rods. For
information on constructing a deckle box,
see Marilyn Sward’s instructions in Hand
Papermaking Newsletter, Number 66, April
2004.
> more for beginners at:
Expressive Paste Papers, October 19, with
Don Taylor. Exploring decorative papers as
an expressive medium, learn the traditional
basics as well as trying some new twists.
Carriage House Paper, Brooklyn, NY, (800)
669-8781, www.carriagehousepaper.com.
Papermaking workshops offered in a new
studio space. Visit website for fall/winter
workshop schedule.
Center for Book Arts, New York, NY, (212)
481-0295, www.centerforbookarts.org. Dozens
of book and paper workshops offered in
midtown Manhattan.
Suminagashi, October 4, with Yukari Hayashida.
Make beautiful decorative paper using
basic techniques and simple preparations.
The Hidden Art of Kozo Paper, October 18-19,
with Rory Golden. Use a wide range of applications
for kozo, bringing together book
making, pastepaper, and art, and incorporating
a variety of decorative techniques.
From Plants to Fiber to Thread, December
6-7, with Peter Schell. Work with flax, jute,
raffia and other exotic fibers (even pineapple)
to produce thread, learning several methods
of harvesting, processing and twining
natural fibers.
Columbia College Chicago Center for Book
and Paper Arts, Chicago, IL, (312) 344-6630,
www.bookandpaper.org. Papermaking
classes in spacious downtown studios.
Breaking the Surface: Hand Papermaking and
the Photographic Image, October 4, 5, 11, & 12,
with Sara Walton Andrews. Create paper that
informs, changes, and interacts with the imagery
that is then printed upon it using digital
negatives and darkroom processes.
Cheap Papermaking Day, November 22 or
23, with Sara Walton Andrews. Learn the
basics of papermaking: sheet forming,
couching, pressing and drying.
Cottage Industry Technology Center, 20
Russet St., SSS Village, Marikina City,
Philippines. Workshops, demonstrations
and technical consultancy in a variety
of crafts and livelihoods, including hand
papermaking and related crafts. Contact
Loreto D. Apilado: LorEto.DA@gmail.com
or bookendshere2002@yahoo.com or
(632) 942-3974.
Paper Product Adaptation, October 1, with
Loreto Apilado. Make handmade boxes and
journals.
Desert Paper, Book and Wax, Tucson,
AZ, www.papermakingresources.com.
Papermaking, book, and mixed media encaustic
workshops, as well as consulting and
studio rental.
Paper and Color: Pulp Painting, November
Dieu DonnО Papermill, New York, NY, (212)
226-0573, www.dieudonne.org. Beginning
and advanced papermaking classes for
adults and children.
Introduction to Contemporary Papermaking,
October 6, November 3, or December
3, with staff instructor. Learn the basic
papermaking process, as well as various
artistic techniques.
Open Studio, October 15, November 12, or
December 10, with staff instructor. Experiment
on your own with studio pulps, making
sheets up to 11 x 14 inches.
Grafton Arts Fest, Grafton, Australia, (02)
6643 1528 or artsfestgrafton@bigpond.com,
www.artsfestgrafton.com. Spring and fall
workshops in a range of media.
Watercolour Marbling, September 27-October
2, with Joan Ajala. Investigate watercolour
marbling, creating beautiful individual
stone, combed, Spanish and Suminagashi
marbled papers using non-toxic materials.
Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis,
MN, (612) 215-2520, www.mnbookarts.
org. Classes at the Open Book center for
book and literary arts.
Paper and Binding: Shaped Paper Books, October
4 & 11, with Betsy Dollar. Explore the
possibilities of shaped deckles and stencils,
learning simple binding techniques to create
books from these papers.
Organic Abstraction: Pulp Painting and Monotype,
October 5 & 12, with Emily Hoisington.
Make abstract unique prints on your own
handmade paper, using pulp painting combined
with monotype printing.
Japanese Papermaking and Decorative Papers,
October 25-26, with Jana Pullman. Learn
the tools and techniques of Japanese style
papermaking, using your own sheets to add
a range of decorating techniques.
Marbling Open Studio, November 1 or December
6, with Lin Lacy. Work independently in
an open marbling session under the eye of
an artist who can answer questions and share
tips.
Paper Circle, Nelsonville, OH, (740) 753-
3374, www.papercircle.org, papercircle@
frognet.net. Call or e-mail for information
about upcoming paper classes.
Open Studio, second Saturdays, with studio
artists. Gain new skills while working on
themed, relaxed projects.
The Papertrail, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,
(800) 421-6826, www.papertrail.ca. Classes in
papermaking, marbling, and related arts and
studio rental scheduled on an as-needed basis.
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.
Decorative Papers, October 24-26. Explore
both historical and new techniques.
Handmade Books, November 20-23.
Penland School, Penland, NC, (828) 765-2359,
www.penland.org. A full program of craft
workshops, including papermaking.
The Book as Holistic Object, September 21-
November 14, with Frank Brannon. Create
books with attention to the whole and the
interdependence of its parts, from creating
paper to printing to binding.
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.
San Francisco Center for the Book, San
Francisco, CA, (415) 565-0545, www.sfcb.org.
Book arts classes and events year-round.
Paper Marbling 101, November 22-23, with
Mary Beaton. Learn the basics of paper
marbling in both the Japanese and Turkish
traditions, preparing materials, creating patterns
and making marbled prints for both
techniques.
Pastepapers, December 5, with Leigh McLellan.
Create colorful, vibrant patterns by
covering paper with paste and then drawing,
stamping, combing, or pressing and pulling
apart the surface.
Southwest School of Art & Craft, San Antonio,
TX, (210) 224-1848, www.swschool.org.
Classes at the Picante Paper Studio. Special
papermaking classes can be scheduled for
one person or a group; please contact Beck
Whitehead for more information.
Advanced Studio Rental, most Wednesdays,
with alternate days and instruction available
upon request. Use of the Picante studio and
equipment.
Low Relief and Textured Paper, October 18,
with staff instructor.
Papermaking Saturday, November 8, December
6, January 31, or February 28, with Linda
Draper. Create paper in an environment that
is somewhere between a class and an open
studio.
Special Fibers: Pineapple, Yucca, and Iris,
November 22, with staff instructor.
West Dean College, Chichester, West Sussex,
U.K., (0)1243 811301, short.course@
westdean.org.uk, www.westdean.org.uk.
Patterned Papers for Books and Decorative
Uses, October 26-30, with Victoria Hall.
Make paste papers, dip-dyed papers, and
suminagashi marbled papers.
Hand Marbling on Paper and Fabric, February
27-March 1, with Christopher Rowlatt.
Make samplers of traditional patterns and
develop your own work while learning every
stage of the marbling process.
Hand Marbled Papers, April 23-27, with
Victoria Hall. Explore suminagashi while
learning traditional patterns and the history
of paper marbling.
Recycled Papermaking for Artwork and Decorative
Objects, May 22-25, with Carol Farrow.
Experiment with paper pulps made from reused
paper ephemera to create cards, books,
containers and artworks.
Informing Paper: Recycled Paper Pulp Vessels
and Vintage Paper Casting, May 28-31, with
Magie Hollingworth. Explore ways of forming
organic vessels with recycled paper pulp
and casting with handmade and vintage
papers.
The Weaving Works, Seattle, WA, (206) 524-
1221, weavingworks@speakeasy.net, www.
weavingworks.com. Fiber and book arts
classes in Seattle’s University District.
Tibetan Papermaking, October 11-12, with
Mary Ashton. Make your own frame, prepare
fibers, form sheets and dye the finished paper.
> more classes and workshops at:
EVENTS
Dieu Donné Benefit Auction takes place
October 14 and will honor David Kiehl,
curator of prints at the Whitney Museum of
American Art and Board Director at Dieu
DonnО. The event will be held at Metropolitan
Pavilion in Manhattan and will include
a live and silent auction of new works on
handmade paper, made especially for this
event, by renowned and emerging artists.
An exhibition of all donated works will be
on view at Dieu DonnО through October
11. For tickets or more information, please
contact Peter J. Russo, Program Manager at
(212) 226-0573.
Hook Pottery Paper is a fine art and craft
studio in northwest Indiana run by husband
and wife team Jon Hook and Andrea
Peterson. They invite you to join them for
their 11th Annual Fall Sale in Indiana at
their farm an hour southeast of Chicago
on October 16-19, as well as for an exclusive
weekend in Chicago, December 4–7,
hosted by Front 40 Press, which is located
at 437 North Wolcott. Focusing on local
and renewable resources, they make many
hand made papers from indigenous plants
and fibers. You will find a fine selection of
handmade papers and paper art works available.
Artists will be present to discuss and
demonstrate their techniques throughout
the weekend. See the website for details and
upcoming fall classes. Hookpotterypaper.com
The Friends of Dard Hunter 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.
The 2008 “Paper in Paradise” meeting will
be held October 23-26 in Kona, Hawaii, with
a rare opportunity to focus on native plants
and enjoy a unique and beautiful setting. For
information on this conference visit www.
friendsofdardhunter.org. The 2009 meeting
will happen in Atlanta, Georgia.
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.
The 20th IAPMA Congress meets in Tasmania
March 26-30 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. The
program can be viewed at www.iapmacongress2009.
com.au.
Pulp Function, curated by Lloyd Herman,
founding Director of the Smithsonian’s
Renwick Gallery, will be at the Plains Art
Museum, Fargo, North Dakota, from October
31 through February 8. It then travels to
the James Michener Museum, Doylestown,
Pennsylvania, where it will be on view
March 14 through June 28. Art made from
paper pulp; recycled paper; cardboard;
papier mache; and cut, folded, or otherwise
manipulated paper is featured. For more
information, visit www.fullercraft.org or
www.plainsart.org.
Papierwespe’s Paper Jewelry exhibition
presents a selection of jewelry made from
artists around the world. The exhibition is
at the Paper Museum through November.
For further information, Paperwespe can
be contacted at (0676) 77-33-153, office@
papierwespe.at, or www.papierwespe.at.
The Paper Museum can be found at www.
papiermuseum.at.
The World of Yugen: Japanese Paper
Artworks by Kyoko Ibe takes place through
January 4 at Krannart Art Museum, University
of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana. The
installation of large scale hanging paper
will be accompanied by a separate exhibit of
Ibe’s latest two-dimensional washi works.
More details are available at www.kam.uiuc.
edu.
Material and Metaphor, an exhibition of
Ann Silverman’s work, runs September 24
through October 24 at the City of Upper Arlington
Concourse Gallery in the Columbus,
Ohio area. Her work explores metaphor and
meaning expressed through the material of
paper. There will be a reception on October
6, followed by an artist talk on October 8.
For details, visit www.ua-ohio.net/parksrec/
arts/gallery.asp.
The Deckle Edge, Hand Papermakers of
Northern California, presents New Directions
in Handmade Paper at the Gualala
Arts Center Gallery in Gualala, California.
The exhibition opens with a reception from
5-7 pm on October 11 and runs through
November 2. Participating artists are Lori
Goodman, Bev Harrington, Susan Hersey,
Jim Meilander, Linda Ortiz, Joan Rhine
and Andrea Tudker-Hody. For directions
and hours, visit www.gualalaarts.org or call
(707) 884-1138.
Cutting Fine Cutting Deep: Cut Paper
Works from Switzerland and North America
is on display at the Robert C. Williams
Paper Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, through
November 26 in the newly remodeled
Changing Exhibition Gallery. The exhibit is
curated by Julie Putten. For further details
call (404) 894-7840 or visit http://ipst.
gatech.edu/amp/.
4th National Collegiate Handmade Paper
Art Exhibition invites entries. Sponsored
jointly by the Brodsky Center at Rutgers,
The State University of New Jersey, and the
Corcoran College of Art & Design, Washington,
DC, this exhibition is dedicated to the
memory of Marilyn Sward, papermaking
educator, artist, and juror of the 3rd Collegiate
triennial in 2005. All BFA, BA, MFA,
MA and 2-year degree students enrolled in
2007 and/or 2008 are eligible to enter. The
deadline for entries is October 13. Please
email papertriennial@gmail.com for an
entry form.
My Paper, My Land, a postcard show held to
coincide with the 2009 IAPMA Congress
in Burnie, Tasmania, invites entries of mail
art. Works should reflect where you come
from and contain at least eighty percent
paper. The size should be ten by fifteen
centimeters. Please send works through the
mail, preferably with postage stamp and
postmark, to Gail Stiffe, 11 Keltie Street,
Glen Iris, Victoria 3146, Australia. Creative
Paper’s Gallery will display the postcards
for one month and on the web. The funds
raised will be shared equally between
Papermakers of Victoria, Creative Paper, the
IAPMA support fund and the Papermak-
ing Village in the Philippines. Works will
be documented on the Internet at www.
mylandmypaper.blogspot.com. For more
details, contact info@gailstiffe.com. Works
should be sent by March 1.
Conrad Wilde Gallery of Tucson, AZ is reviewing
submissions from artists working
with handmade and machine made paper
for a 2009 exhibition. View the General
Call for Submissions at www.conradwildegallery.
com. Submissions for the paper
exhibition are due March 3, 2009. The
gallery also seeks proposals for workshops.
Questions may be addressed to info@
conradwildegallery.com.
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 year-long
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.
> PUBLICATIONS
Announcing Water Paper Time, Helen
Hiebert’s Explorations in Paper, a video
by Gretchen Hogue, with music by Kell
Black. Helen Hiebert showed the beginnings
of this film at the 2007 Friends of
Dard Hunter meeting in Washington, DC,
and is happy to announce that it is now
complete and that DVDs are available for
$30 plus shipping and handling. This DVD
will include Water Paper Time, a 15-minute
video portrait featuring her experimental
art in handmade paper, along with two
versions (with and without music) of the
9-minute video: The Secret Life of Paper.
Please contact Helen to place an order or
for information about the special edition
packaged in a handmade paper DVD jacket
at Helen@enlightenedpapers.com, www.
enlightenedpapers.com, or (503) 284-7987
(Pacific).
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.
> CLASSIFIEDS
Classifieds in Hand Papermaking Newsletter
cost $1.00 per word, with a 10-word minimum.
Payment is due in advance of publication.
Paper Equipment: 5 lb. Valley Beater plus
more. Please contact David, rpmstudio@
mac.com.
Little Critter Hollander Beaters, sized from
3/4# to 10# capacity. Contact Mark Lander,
51 Hodgsons Rd, RD2, Rangiora 7472, New
Zealand; ph 0064 3 3103132; email landergallery3@
xtra.co.nz.
Cotton Linter Pulp. All quantities available.
Call Gold’s Artworks, Inc. 1-800-356-2306.
Large Versatile Paper Press for sale.
Hydraulic press with separate rolling cart,
vacuum table capacity. Press sheets up to 32”
x 42”. Price $5000. beverlysky@aol.com
Papermaking Supplies and Equipment.
Various fibers, chemicals, pigments, etc.
Call Penny at (704) 840-8189 or email
claypenny@gmail.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.
SPECIAL THANKS
Hand Papermaking would like to thank the
following people and organizations who have
made direct contributions to further our mission.
As a non-profi t 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 International,
Mary Lou Manor, Charles E. Morgan,
Marilyn Sward, 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.
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: Lynne
Allen, Marjorie & Harold Alexander, Martha
Anderson, Lois D. Augur, James Barton,
Lora Brueck, Inge Bruggeman, T. Patterson
Clark, Rona Conti, Charles Cooper, Wavell
Cowan, Jennifer Davies, Dianne Dolan,
Jonathan Fairbanks, David Lance Goines,
Kathy Fitzgerald, Sara Gilfert, Deborah
Hamburger, Theresa Fairbanks Harris, Helen
Hiebert, Barbara Hunter, Mildred Monat
Isaacs, Lou Kaufman, Elaine Koretsky, M.
P. Marion, Gordon Marshall, Edwin Martin,
Joyce McDaniel, Marion Melody, Patricia L.
O’Neal, Harry & Sandra Reese, Pam Scheinman,
Agnes Schlenke, Jessica Spring, Karen
Steiner, Marie Sturken, Betty Sweren, Betty
Ustun, Elsi Vassdal-Ellis, Anne Williams,
Women’s Studio Workshop, Kathy Wosika.
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:
*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 M. Farmer, *Helen Frederick,
Jean Freeburg, *Sara Gilfert, *Susan
Gosin, Helen Hiebert, Peter Hopkins, *Lois
and 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 & 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 & Gary Wood.
*Founding Contributor
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!