I have many Great Loves in my life. I am lucky that way!!! One of the Great Loves you are all very familiar with by now is...my love of Mother Nature. She influences pretty much everything I do creatively. This post is all about how Mother Nature not only gives me plant materials to use in the art you are familiar with, but one most of you don't know I do. I make paper. I LOVE paper!! I collect beautiful papers and turn them into books and other pretty things as the paper dictates. Or if I'm honest I do tend to, on occasion, just open my paper cabinet and drool over "my lovelies". Everybody has to have a hobby, am I right? :)
Paper is my hobby. So, with that in mind, I got to thinking...I wonder if I can make my own paper? Not just any old paper. Special one of a kind, unique paper. Ones I don't see in a store. The kind artists make. And I wondered if I could use the same kinds of plants that I make my art with. Spoiler alert...turns out I can't!! Leaves and flowers aren't really papermaking plants, per se. They make pretty inclusions in hand made paper, but most can't really form a sheet all that well on their own. So I got thinking, if I can't use my regular plant material for my pet project, what can I use? Through research and trial and error, I found quite a few things I can use!!! One of those things I can use is our common pond plant; Cat tails. Yes, the humble Cat Tail makes GORGEOUS paper!! And you can even use those adorable felty brown flowers as a paper on it's own or mixed with other fibres!!
Cool or what?? Today I will tell you all about my adventures in making Cat Tail paper!!!
As most of you know by now, I grew up a country kid. My mom still lives on "The Farm". We got to talking about my papermaking project and how it wasn't going as great as I had hoped. I REALLY wanted to forage locally and use that for my paper. She said, "well remember that big old pond we used to skate on? It has SO many reeds around it. I bet you could make paper out of that." I reached out to people who know these sorts of things and did some research on my own. Turns out mom was right!! REALLY right. Cat tail paper is a favourite for many paper makers and lucky me, mom and I had literally acres to pick from!!! So we made a plan. It was early morning when we gathered our work clothes, water, boots, tools, and ourselves and headed out. The fog was still rolling across the field, and there was definite chill in the air. (insert pictures of tool pile)
The pond is a fair walk away, especially carrying all our gear. But we got there, just as the fog lifted. The sky was a stunning blue, nicely setting off the golden leaves of the poplar trees. It was a view right out of a movie!!! A more perfect day for a harvest would be hard to find!! We threaded our way carefully to the pond. Calling out LOUDLY to the Moose who grazes there that we were on our way into HIS territory!! One does not especially want to barge into a Moose's backyard!!!
We assessed our situation and found an area with a lot of reeds and got to work. Mom and I took turns cutting and hauling our bounty to a central pile to be sorted before we headed home. This took a while, so we made sure to keep speaking LOUDLY to the local Moose. No one wants a surprise encounter with a massive animal, least of all my mom and I. Finally the job was done. We got enough material to play with and needed to head home with it. By this time, it was getting a bit too warm and we were awfully dirty. So began the adventure home!!!
As we ate breakfast that morning, we had come up with a few ideas on how to haul our bounty home. Turns out our plans weren't all that great. Or easy!!! We did a LOT of backtracking to pick up bundles that had fallen off the toboggans we used. It was so exhausting and ridiculous, that we came down with a massive case of the giggles!! But, we made it home pretty much unscathed and not trampled by the Moose. All was well.
After lunch, we put the Cat Tails in the machine shed to dry and I took a big bag home to play with.
After a day of rest, I took to preparing the paper. I cut the reeds into small pieces and soaked them over night in water. Then, the next day I cooked them for 6 hours in water and soda ash to break down the fibres into a paper making form. After this was done, I drained the reeds and washed the soda ash off them.
From here, I used a rubber mallet to pound the fibres to soften them a bit more. I ended up with a pile of dark brown mush that was ready for the blender. After I blended it a bit more, I was finally ready to make paper!!!
I mixed the Cat Tails with water and some okra slime. Yes, I said okra slime.
This helps to form the paper in that it suspends the pulp in a sort of "gel" that makes it easier to make an even layer of pulp. Thus making a sheet with a more consistent thickness.
I pressed the formed sheets between felts for several hours and then hung them to dry. The next morning I had a gorgeous, thick, textured paper the colour of milk chocolate!!! I was and still am tickled!!!
This was a very fun, but incredibly labour intensive process!! One I most definitely DO NOT regret!!! Mom and I learned SO much!! Since this first harvest, we have developed a more efficient way of hauling our treasures home, and I have been working on much less exhausting and easier ways to turn out a unique piece of hand made, artist paper. I love nothing more than a good foraging adventure, spending time in the country, and learning a new way of doing something!!! It is invigorating and gets me out of bed in the morning!!!
Here's to many more adventures in papermaking!! Watch this space to read all about making paper from the Cat Tail flowers!! You won't want to miss that. For better or for worse I will share what happens. Even if I fail flat on my face!!! :)
The End
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