Handmaking Paper
Plant Pulp Explorations
Sculpture and Vessels
Paper Beads
Figured Papers
Cards and Books
Suppliers, Sources
Tools and Resources
I began this journey in the mid - 90s of the 20th century, As a poet and writer I wanted to make the substrate that carried my thoughts and words. Papermaking remains an enduring endeavor, a persistent passion, that continues to inform and inspire me, despite aging and disability
Plant pulps
Paper mulberry, Lunaria, milkweed, wild lettuce, chicory, Queen Anne's Lace, teasel tops, nettles, spurge, dandelions, garlic mustard, ground ivy, hosta, yucca, Japanese Knotweed, cattails, timothy squirrel tail, and sunflower are among the plants I explored for papermaking.
Burdock
"Common Burdock: Arctium minus
Weed Description: A biennial that produces a rosette of very large leaves in the first year and a branched stem with many burs during the second year. Found across the upper half of the United States and is most commonly found as a weed of pastures, hay fields, and fence rows. "
From Virginia Tech's weed index: http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/leftside.htm
Burdock makes green paper. I cooked the entire plant, stem, root, and leaves, where I could pull up the whole thing. Some of the gather was huge leaves, others were more mature, like little flower shrubs.
The pulp was very green, think spinach blended, resembling dandelion pulp but more fibrous. The green didn't wash away.
I cooked a steel pot full 3 to 4 hours with washing soda. I let it cool overnight, rinsed repeatedly and left it to soak for another day. I then blendered it. The pulp was easily couchable ,unlike dandelion, and so is drying on felts (note: I often use CMC and formation aid in my weed vats).
The paper sheets I ironed (just for this report back) came out a dark spring green. They are crisp.
Thanks for urging me to try it, Gin!
I'm enamored of this plant site - if you want pictures of the plant and information on its habitat try:http://plants.usda.gov/)
Thanks to her and the papermaking list folks for reawakening me to the possibilities right outside my door.
Pulp on, people!
Weed Description: A biennial that produces a rosette of very large leaves in the first year and a branched stem with many burs during the second year. Found across the upper half of the United States and is most commonly found as a weed of pastures, hay fields, and fence rows. "
From Virginia Tech's weed index: http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/leftside.htm
Burdock makes green paper. I cooked the entire plant, stem, root, and leaves, where I could pull up the whole thing. Some of the gather was huge leaves, others were more mature, like little flower shrubs.
The pulp was very green, think spinach blended, resembling dandelion pulp but more fibrous. The green didn't wash away.
I cooked a steel pot full 3 to 4 hours with washing soda. I let it cool overnight, rinsed repeatedly and left it to soak for another day. I then blendered it. The pulp was easily couchable ,unlike dandelion, and so is drying on felts (note: I often use CMC and formation aid in my weed vats).
The paper sheets I ironed (just for this report back) came out a dark spring green. They are crisp.
Thanks for urging me to try it, Gin!
I'm enamored of this plant site - if you want pictures of the plant and information on its habitat try:http://plants.usda.gov/)
Kingdom Plantae -- Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons
Subclass Asteridae
Order Asterales
Family Asteraceae -- Aster family
Genus Arctium L. -- burrdock P
Species Arctium minus Bernh. -- lesser burrdock
i'm following Gin's example (plant documenter extraordinare, access her journal here). Thanks to her and the papermaking list folks for reawakening me to the possibilities right outside my door.
Pulp on, people!
Arugula
I love arugula, planted some two years ago and it "ran away", crossing the driveway, entering the garden from its other spot, growing now, green and sharply delicious in third place, a crack in the driveway around the carport rail.
I gathered the weathered stalks on which its yellow flowers bloomed; cooked them in soda ash for 4 hours. Rinsed and blendered some. Alone, the paper was hard to couch so I left it to dry on a screen, very dense, goldenbrown.
Mixed with 40% cotton it is incredibly easy to manipulate (couch) though very slow draining.
I have some in the Critter, but like teasel, I couldn't get it to circulate and added about 5% abaca and 3% cotton linters and will turn it back on sometime later this week.
In the image posted the darkest is the 100% arugula, the other two sheets are the 60-40, both air dried. One was made with a sugeta and one was formed on deckle-less mould.
I gathered the weathered stalks on which its yellow flowers bloomed; cooked them in soda ash for 4 hours. Rinsed and blendered some. Alone, the paper was hard to couch so I left it to dry on a screen, very dense, goldenbrown.
Mixed with 40% cotton it is incredibly easy to manipulate (couch) though very slow draining.
I have some in the Critter, but like teasel, I couldn't get it to circulate and added about 5% abaca and 3% cotton linters and will turn it back on sometime later this week.
In the image posted the darkest is the 100% arugula, the other two sheets are the 60-40, both air dried. One was made with a sugeta and one was formed on deckle-less mould.
So much value in my pruning and trimmings! I'm following Gin's example (plant documenter extraordinare,)Thanks to Gin and the Yahoo papermaking list folks for reawakening me to the possibilities right outside my door.
Pulp on, people!
Wild Carrot Paper
A Carrot, Daucus carota sativus, had over wintered and was a 18" bushy thing. I snatched out while weeding before realizing what it might be, but the fragrant roots were small and white.
I cooked it in washing soda, blendered it and got a very green yellow or pale green paper. I like the paper, less coarse than dandelion, but crispy like dandelion. Made the few sheets that I could, letting the pulp dry on moulds.
This was far larger and more expansive than any I've seen at a fruit stand or supermarket).
So, in addition to collecting cornshucks from grocers, add carrot tops for an easy lovely paper.
Green Paper
From Gin Petty, papermaker extraordinaire, other sources for plant fibers that make green-green paper: Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis), gill-over-the-ground (Glechoma hederacea), wild garlic (Allium vineale), barnyard grass (Echinochloa crusgalli), common violet leaves and stems (Viola sororia), spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) and Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense).
All of these, with the exception of gill-over-the-ground, will make a decent paper without the addition of any other fiber.
Pulp on, people!
I'm enamored of this plant site if you want pictures of the plant and information on its habitat try:http://plants.usda.gov/)
Kingdom Plantae -- Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons
Subclass Asteridae
Order Asterales
Family Asteraceae -- Aster family
Genus Arctium L. -- burrdock P
Species Arctium minus Bernh. -- lesser burrdock
i'm following Gin's example (plant documenter extraordinare, access her journal here). Thanks to her and the papermaking list folks for reawakening me to the possibilities right outside my door.
Pulp on, people!
Catalpa Bean Paper
I cooked newly gathered (August 2003) beans from catalpa trees in washing soda for 3 to 4 hours. I cut them and blender processed them.
The resulting paper is light and crisp-the images make it appear rough, but it feels on lightly textured to the touch. It makes a crisp, strong paper with rattle. A very generous return for little mechanical effort.
The resulting paper is light and crisp-the images make it appear rough, but it feels on lightly textured to the touch. It makes a crisp, strong paper with rattle. A very generous return for little mechanical effort.
Catalpa speciosa (Warder) Warder ex Engelm.
Northern catalpa
Common names: catawba (Source: Trees US )
* cigartree (Source: Trees US )
* Indian-bean (Source: Trees US )
* northern catalpa (Source: Trees US )
Symbol: CASP8
Group: Dicot
Family: Bignoniaceae
Growth Habit: Tree
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Northern catalpa
Common names: catawba (Source: Trees US )
* cigartree (Source: Trees US )
* Indian-bean (Source: Trees US )
* northern catalpa (Source: Trees US )
Symbol: CASP8
Group: Dicot
Family: Bignoniaceae
Growth Habit: Tree
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native
Image: J.S. Peterson @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
Subkingdom Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Asteridae -
Order Scrophulariales -
Order Scrophulariales -
Family Bignoniaceae - Trumpet-creeper family
Genus Catalpa Scop. - catalpa
Genus Catalpa Scop. - catalpa
Info from USDA-NRCS. 2003. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov/plants). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
I'm enamored of this plant site; if you want pictures of the plant and information on its habitat try:http://plants.usda.gov/)
Kingdom Plantae -- Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons
Subclass Asteridae
Order Asterales
Family Asteraceae -- Aster family
Genus Arctium L. -- burrdock P
Species Arctium minus Bernh. -- lesser burdock
Thanks to her and the papermaking list folks for reawakening me to the possibilities right outside my door.
Pulp on, people!
Cattails
Cattails make such an agreeably easy pulp, that felt so soft and furry after just blendering. I cooked the whole plant sans "cigar" in washing soda, let sit, rinsed repeatedly, blendered cup by cup, and rinsed again til water ran clear.
My pulp looked like light chocolate, my paper is tan/pale brown. For the beaterless, this pulp is so creamy, easy, dreamy and the paper sooooo smooth, as if from a beaten pulp (really amazing to me, but then again, I'm easily amused).
I'm enamored of this plant site if you want pictures of the plant and information on its habitat try:http://plants.usda.gov/
I was made welcome at the Spencer Crest Nature Center, atop the hill in Corning, NY and did my gathering at Amelia Pond. My thanks to Denise at the Center for her kind assistance.
I'm following Gin's example (plant documenter extraordinaire, access her journal here)Thanks to Gin and the papermaking list folks for reawakening me to the possibilities right outside my door.
Pulp on, people!
My pulp looked like light chocolate, my paper is tan/pale brown. For the beaterless, this pulp is so creamy, easy, dreamy and the paper sooooo smooth, as if from a beaten pulp (really amazing to me, but then again, I'm easily amused).
I'm enamored of this plant site if you want pictures of the plant and information on its habitat try:http://plants.usda.gov/
Kingdom Plantae - Plants
Subkingdom - Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Subkingdom - Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision - Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division - Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class - Liliopsida - Monocotyledons
Subclass - Commelinidae
Division - Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class - Liliopsida - Monocotyledons
Subclass - Commelinidae
Order - Typhales
Family - Typhaceae - Cattail family
Genus - Typha L. - cattail
Family - Typhaceae - Cattail family
Genus - Typha L. - cattail
Species - Typha latifolia L. - broadleaf cattail
I was made welcome at the Spencer Crest Nature Center, atop the hill in Corning, NY and did my gathering at Amelia Pond. My thanks to Denise at the Center for her kind assistance.
I'm following Gin's example (plant documenter extraordinaire, access her journal here)Thanks to Gin and the papermaking list folks for reawakening me to the possibilities right outside my door.
Pulp on, people!
Chicory
Chicory yielded a green paper that faded to a slightly olive tan as it dried in the sun.
The blender processed paper is stiffer than the beaten paper. The paper is a bit more stiff than corn husk, burdock - a smoother surface than I thought it would be from the blendering.
Blender-processed chicory paper
I prefer beating for this fiber....it surprised me, because the wet pulp felt like it would drain fast and be just a fiber mat that I would have to dry on the mould. Nope. It drained at just the right speed, neither in a whoosh nor at a snail's pace. It couched easily, in both forms.
I think I cooked it for 8-10 hours in washing soda. I was unable to cook it continuously, as I could not withstand the additional heat in the house (having recently had my outside electric burner expire), but I know I had several multi hour sessions. (This is July 2003.)
It was tough. I suspect that now may be the best time to gather it--- before it flowers, before it summer hardens, those lower stems are tough.
I beat it for about 15 minutes-- as the pulp seemed to disappear. Mind you, I had blendered it all, thinking that was all it needed. After feeling like it needed a little bit more, and not getting there from more time in the blender, then I set up the Cherub. The material that seemed to take so long to process in the blender was transformed almost immediately by the beater. Next time I will only beat it.
Beaten chicory paper
Cichorium L. chicory
Symbol: CICHO
Group: Dicot
Family: Asteraceae
Subkingdom Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
The blender processed paper is stiffer than the beaten paper. The paper is a bit more stiff than corn husk, burdock - a smoother surface than I thought it would be from the blendering.
Blender-processed chicory paper
I prefer beating for this fiber....it surprised me, because the wet pulp felt like it would drain fast and be just a fiber mat that I would have to dry on the mould. Nope. It drained at just the right speed, neither in a whoosh nor at a snail's pace. It couched easily, in both forms.
I think I cooked it for 8-10 hours in washing soda. I was unable to cook it continuously, as I could not withstand the additional heat in the house (having recently had my outside electric burner expire), but I know I had several multi hour sessions. (This is July 2003.)
It was tough. I suspect that now may be the best time to gather it--- before it flowers, before it summer hardens, those lower stems are tough.
I beat it for about 15 minutes-- as the pulp seemed to disappear. Mind you, I had blendered it all, thinking that was all it needed. After feeling like it needed a little bit more, and not getting there from more time in the blender, then I set up the Cherub. The material that seemed to take so long to process in the blender was transformed almost immediately by the beater. Next time I will only beat it.
Beaten chicory paper
Cichorium L. chicory
Symbol: CICHO
Group: Dicot
Family: Asteraceae
Subkingdom Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Asteridae -
Order Asterales -
Family Asteraceae - Aster family
Family Asteraceae - Aster family
Genus Cichorium L. - chicory
This information from plants.usda.gov
Cattail "Cigars"
Gin Petty suggested trying this wonderful brown pulp made of just the heads, the brown cigars of cattails.
(Image:Cattail head background sheet, and sheet-cast head; Jerusalem artichoke horizontal sheet and ragweed/rose/lillystem/cotton llnter vertical sheet and paper beads.)
I love the near leather look of it, that highly textured surface is just wonderful for certain applications and the sheets are light as a feather. What a find! The wet pulp is both fluffy and gelatinous, beautiful in its deeply ruddy brown. And it is so ---prodigious? High yield. big payoff for minimal effort.Cooked in a soda ash solution until tender, and blendered until pulp.
Cattail head background sheet, and sheet-cast head; Jerusalem artichoke horizontal sheet and ragweed/rose/lillystem/cotton llnter vertical sheet and paper beads.
Saturday, mid September as summer slips toward autumn, I drove 2 minutes further along route 225 than I had been before---- through a town called Caton and saw a road with a sign for the Steuben County Department of Public Works, having passed a Green Brae (?Bay Area town on stilts) type scene -- a raised, white washed clapboard building with a wooden walkway named Marshland Gallery (or something like that)- country picture glorious-- and beyond it a body of water like a small low lake in an abandoned field at the base of a hill rise.
The other end of this marsh, just before the Public Works Station was a field of cattails-- the vegetation included crown vetch and Queen Anne's Lace by the road's edge, but there they were-- from the marsh to the road and on the other side of the road, deceptively close.
Something warned me, I stepped carefully and though the tight headed cattails waved just within or just beyond arm's reach, they were all 18" to 3 feet below the road level--- all the vegetation obscured this.
I'm enamored of this plant site; if you want pictures of the plant and information on its habitat try:http://plants.usda.gov/
Kingdom Plantae – Plants
I love the near leather look of it, that highly textured surface is just wonderful for certain applications and the sheets are light as a feather. What a find! The wet pulp is both fluffy and gelatinous, beautiful in its deeply ruddy brown. And it is so ---prodigious? High yield. big payoff for minimal effort.Cooked in a soda ash solution until tender, and blendered until pulp.
Cattail head background sheet, and sheet-cast head; Jerusalem artichoke horizontal sheet and ragweed/rose/lillystem/cotton llnter vertical sheet and paper beads.
Saturday, mid September as summer slips toward autumn, I drove 2 minutes further along route 225 than I had been before---- through a town called Caton and saw a road with a sign for the Steuben County Department of Public Works, having passed a Green Brae (?Bay Area town on stilts) type scene -- a raised, white washed clapboard building with a wooden walkway named Marshland Gallery (or something like that)- country picture glorious-- and beyond it a body of water like a small low lake in an abandoned field at the base of a hill rise.
The other end of this marsh, just before the Public Works Station was a field of cattails-- the vegetation included crown vetch and Queen Anne's Lace by the road's edge, but there they were-- from the marsh to the road and on the other side of the road, deceptively close.
Something warned me, I stepped carefully and though the tight headed cattails waved just within or just beyond arm's reach, they were all 18" to 3 feet below the road level--- all the vegetation obscured this.
I'm enamored of this plant site; if you want pictures of the plant and information on its habitat try:http://plants.usda.gov/
Kingdom Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom - Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision - Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division - Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class - Liliopsida - Monocotyledons
Subclass - Commelinidae
Order - Typhales
Family - Typhaceae -Cat-tail family
Genus - Typha L.-cattail
Species - Typha latifolia L. -broadleaf cattail
Dandelions and Green PaperMaking
In search of green pulp, I was led to dandelions. I weeded, gathered a bunch of dandelions, cooked them (the whole plant) for about 90 minutes in my large stainless steel pot using some soda ash, rinsed assiduously, blendered it, and made paper.
Gosh-- how did I miss out on this? It was deep forest green paper with strands, perhaps from the occasional root? So easy to prep and so lovely!
I added formation aid and methylcellulose to the vat. I made sheets by gathering from a vat. By this I mean I inverted molds and collected pulp-- using the mold sides as a deckle and leaving the sheet to dry within this frame. I have about a dozen moulds of various sizes, so this method, while material intensive and slow initially, delivers ready to use sheets within the same day.
My thanks to folks at Papermaking on Yahoo for pointing out yet another treasure at my feet.
The papers shown were formed with a sugeta, with a mold and deckle, with an inverted mould, and on a mould without a deckle. All were air dried, none were couched.
Gosh-- how did I miss out on this? It was deep forest green paper with strands, perhaps from the occasional root? So easy to prep and so lovely!
I added formation aid and methylcellulose to the vat. I made sheets by gathering from a vat. By this I mean I inverted molds and collected pulp-- using the mold sides as a deckle and leaving the sheet to dry within this frame. I have about a dozen moulds of various sizes, so this method, while material intensive and slow initially, delivers ready to use sheets within the same day.
My thanks to folks at Papermaking on Yahoo for pointing out yet another treasure at my feet.
The papers shown were formed with a sugeta, with a mold and deckle, with an inverted mould, and on a mould without a deckle. All were air dried, none were couched.
Green Paper
From Gin Petty, papermaker extraordinaire, other sources for plant fibers that make green-green paper: Kentuckybluegrass (Poa pratensis), gill-over-the-ground (Glechoma hederacea), wild garlic (Allium vineale), barnyard grass (Echinochloa crusgalli), common violet leaves and stems (Viola sororia), spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) and Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense).
All of these, with the exception of gill-over-the-ground, will make a decent paper without the addition of any other fiber.
Pulp on, people!
All of these, with the exception of gill-over-the-ground, will make a decent paper without the addition of any other fiber.
Pulp on, people!
Dracaena Paper
In search of green pulp, I was led to dracaena. I received some form a wonderful sharing papermaker in florida who affirmed that yes, what I only know as a houseplant grows to unimagined height and breadth in the warmth of the Floridian sun,
The draceana paper is yellow with an ever so slight green tinge. In truth, I'm not sure the green is there, or if it's just that the pulp appeared lime green, so I want to believe that the sheet still has green to it.
I began with fresh leaves, cooked them in washing soda, rinsed a lot. Cut them to one inch bits and blendered them, rinsed the pulp and blendered them some more.
I did not have success with the pulled and couched sheets. The dried in the mold sheets are feathery and soft, light as a feather. Not a great paper for writing, but the color and feel is very evocative. I think it would be fabulous for collages, artwork. I wonder if beating might change the character of the paper from soft and fluffy to a stronger/rattly paper. I used both formation aid and methylcellulose in the vat.
The papers shown were formed with a mold and deckle and with an inverted mould. Two were couched and dried on their felts, two were air dried on the mould.
The draceana paper is yellow with an ever so slight green tinge. In truth, I'm not sure the green is there, or if it's just that the pulp appeared lime green, so I want to believe that the sheet still has green to it.
I began with fresh leaves, cooked them in washing soda, rinsed a lot. Cut them to one inch bits and blendered them, rinsed the pulp and blendered them some more.
I did not have success with the pulled and couched sheets. The dried in the mold sheets are feathery and soft, light as a feather. Not a great paper for writing, but the color and feel is very evocative. I think it would be fabulous for collages, artwork. I wonder if beating might change the character of the paper from soft and fluffy to a stronger/rattly paper. I used both formation aid and methylcellulose in the vat.
The papers shown were formed with a mold and deckle and with an inverted mould. Two were couched and dried on their felts, two were air dried on the mould.
Pulp on, people!
Early Spiderwort
Early Spiderwort, shared by a peerless plant sharer from Kentucky, was cooked for 2 hours in a washing soda solution.
I had a lot of trouble trying to couch it and figuring out what to do.
Once it dried I knew what I could have and should have done.
I blame the heat for exacerbating my lack of fortitude and deficient attentiveness.
What it dried to was a vellum-like translucence for the sheets I pulled without a deckle and couched. The sheets I attempted with a deckle were just too thick but viscous--- every time I tried to couch, it was like squooshing jello.
I had a lot of trouble trying to couch it and figuring out what to do.
Once it dried I knew what I could have and should have done.
I blame the heat for exacerbating my lack of fortitude and deficient attentiveness.
What it dried to was a vellum-like translucence for the sheets I pulled without a deckle and couched. The sheets I attempted with a deckle were just too thick but viscous--- every time I tried to couch, it was like squooshing jello.
Image:
darkest pieces are sheets dried on the screen, others laminated-- using two couchless pullings with bougainvillea in between
Echinacea
Echinacea, blendered, made a so-so paper.
This was both over-wintered (as in left out in the elements) and fall-gathered (stored in plastic) stalks. They were chipper-shredded, cooked in soda ash.
It required intense blendering--long blender time. The longer the time in the blender, the better, though on seeing this, I didn't waste much time continuing to do this.
The sheets came out better than I expected. Pulling a consistent sheet was hard. Pouring one was easy. This could have been abetted by some formation aid, but for this first time , I didn't want to help it, as much as figure out what it required. Formation aid would have made pulling easier.
The wet pulp color was golden like straw and timothy, but it dried to a paper less yellow than either of these.
Beating this may greatly improve it.
A lye cooking may make blender use sufficient.
My next effort will be to beat it.
This was both over-wintered (as in left out in the elements) and fall-gathered (stored in plastic) stalks. They were chipper-shredded, cooked in soda ash.
It required intense blendering--long blender time. The longer the time in the blender, the better, though on seeing this, I didn't waste much time continuing to do this.
The sheets came out better than I expected. Pulling a consistent sheet was hard. Pouring one was easy. This could have been abetted by some formation aid, but for this first time , I didn't want to help it, as much as figure out what it required. Formation aid would have made pulling easier.
The wet pulp color was golden like straw and timothy, but it dried to a paper less yellow than either of these.
Beating this may greatly improve it.
A lye cooking may make blender use sufficient.
My next effort will be to beat it.
Gampi Paper
I soaked the gampi for a couple of day in a bucket. It had a very strong fragrance. It reminded me of kozo, but less delicate.
I cooked it in soda ash for 2 hours and processed by beating it for about an hour with a newly acquired wooden paddle. This didn't seem quite enough so I still blenedered it for veryshort bursts.
Garlic Mustard Paper
I driveway-dried blooming garlic mustard for about a week, cut it and cooked it in soda ash.
It was fiberful and blendered to moderately long fibers. Wet, it appeared olive green, though if I rinsed away the fine microfibers, there were longer tan/gold fibers.
This seems like a pulp that would toughen as the plant ages, so I think I've caught it at the right time. I was impatient so I ironed pressed and semidry sheets that were poured (in the Papyrus 21).
The paper is crisp and sturdy. It is similar to chicory. It is right between blendered chicory and beaten chicory in texture and character and similar in color. I like it.
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Dilleniidae
-
Order Capparales - Family Brassicaceae - Mustard family
Genus Alliaria Heister ex Fabr. - alliaria
It was fiberful and blendered to moderately long fibers. Wet, it appeared olive green, though if I rinsed away the fine microfibers, there were longer tan/gold fibers.
This seems like a pulp that would toughen as the plant ages, so I think I've caught it at the right time. I was impatient so I ironed pressed and semidry sheets that were poured (in the Papyrus 21).
The paper is crisp and sturdy. It is similar to chicory. It is right between blendered chicory and beaten chicory in texture and character and similar in color. I like it.
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Dilleniidae
-
Order Capparales - Family Brassicaceae - Mustard family
Genus Alliaria Heister ex Fabr. - alliaria
Goldenrod Paper
There are some 432 types of goldenrod, so if you're in the northwest hemisphere, there's probably one growing near you. I'm enamored of the USDA site for plants, http://plants.usda.gov/ showing locales and pictures and providing this chart:
Kingdom
Plantae - Plants
Kingdom
Plantae - Plants
Subkingdom
Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision
Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision
Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division
Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class
Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass
Asteridae -
Order
Asterales -
Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class
Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass
Asteridae -
Order
Asterales -
Family
Asteraceae - Aster family
Genus
Solidago L. - goldenrod
Asteraceae - Aster family
Genus
Solidago L. - goldenrod
Here are the kind of goldenrod in New York State :
Solidago squarrosa- stout goldenrod
Solidago arguta- Atlantic goldenrod
Solidago xasperula
Solidago bicolor - white goldenrod
Solidago caesia - wreath goldenrod
Solidago canadensis - Canada goldenrod
Solidago cutleri - Cutler's alpine goldenrod
Solidago xerskinei Boivin - [canadensis x sempervirens]NY only
Solidago flexicaulis - zigzag goldenrod
Solidago gigantea - giant goldenrod
Solidago hispida - hairy goldenrod
Solidago juncea - early goldenrod
Solidago latissimifolia - Elliott's goldenrod
Solidago nemoralis- gray goldenrod
Solidago odora - anisescented goldenrod
Solidago patula - roundleaf goldenrod
Solidago puberula - downy goldenrod
Solidago rugosa - wrinkleleaf goldenrod
Solidago sempervirens- seaside goldenrod
Solidago simplex- Mt. Albert goldenrod
Solidago speciosa- - showy goldenrod
Solidago squarrosa- stout goldenrod
Solidago uliginosa - bog goldenrod
Solidago ulmifolia - elmleaf goldenrod
Solidago arguta- Atlantic goldenrod
Solidago xasperula
Solidago bicolor - white goldenrod
Solidago caesia - wreath goldenrod
Solidago canadensis - Canada goldenrod
Solidago cutleri - Cutler's alpine goldenrod
Solidago xerskinei Boivin - [canadensis x sempervirens]NY only
Solidago flexicaulis - zigzag goldenrod
Solidago gigantea - giant goldenrod
Solidago hispida - hairy goldenrod
Solidago juncea - early goldenrod
Solidago latissimifolia - Elliott's goldenrod
Solidago nemoralis- gray goldenrod
Solidago odora - anisescented goldenrod
Solidago patula - roundleaf goldenrod
Solidago puberula - downy goldenrod
Solidago rugosa - wrinkleleaf goldenrod
Solidago sempervirens- seaside goldenrod
Solidago simplex- Mt. Albert goldenrod
Solidago speciosa- - showy goldenrod
Solidago squarrosa- stout goldenrod
Solidago uliginosa - bog goldenrod
Solidago ulmifolia - elmleaf goldenrod
First Try:
I cooked a steel pot full for 5 to 6 hours with washing soda. It was surprisingly tough to cut and I blendered it to rough straw-like bits. Now I'm debating whether to cook it more or to put it in the beater. The cooked fiber, hand squeezed of water weighs about a pound and 1/4-- a dense yield for my steel pot full of plant.
I used everything, flowers, stalks, leaves but I did not unroot them.
These plants were tall--- some of the goldenrod was at my head,
the rest at least chest level--- so they were 4 to 51/2 feet tall.
Goldenrod with more leaves, had no green stuff after cooking and rinsing. I tried processing it and re-cooked the blendered pulp to work it into some pliancy. It still resisted processing
One *can* make paper out of Goldenrod --- you need to use lye.
Big props and shoutout to Gin, as I've conquered my fear of lye.
I cooked one pot of the whole plant in lye and it seemed that the long cooking in lye was cooking some stuff away. Then I did another pot of just the upper two feet and all the leaves. I have the two- to three- foot stripped stems set aside for separate processing.
This paper is the whole plant pot plus a bit of the flower/leaf tender stem batch. It took intense ( 2-3 minute) blendering for the whole plant parts. Less time for the top/leaves and flower batch. I added a bit of methylcellulose to the vat. I pulled the paper thick, but the resulting sheet is not "thick" but it is heavy/stiff.
Lye cooked Goldenrod can be processed in a blender.... but... you may want to mix it with something else. It makes a marginal paper blendered.
Beating improves it. A bit of cotton helps (I pulled sheets t of it beaten with matboard and abaca, and they pulled like a dream).
Timothy
I cooked the fur-tail stalked grass for 5 to 6 hours in washing soda. I blendered it to fluffy, creamy golden pulp. It was short fibered but very very soft. The sheets drained quickly, couched easily It dires to a pale yellow tan and the sheet is smooth, flat, softly crisp like hosta, cattail.... wonderful!
This was a great find and easy to work.
Timothy - Phleum pratense L.
from PLANTS (http://plants.usda.gov/):
This was a great find and easy to work.
Timothy - Phleum pratense L.
from PLANTS (http://plants.usda.gov/):
Kingdom Plantae -- Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Class Liliopsida -- Monocotyledons
Subclass Commelinidae
Order Cyperales
Family Poaceae -- Grass family
Genus Phleum L. -- timothy P
Symbol: PHPR3
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae
Growth Habit:Graminoid
Duration:Perennial
U.S. Nativity:Introduced
i'm following Gin's example (plant documenter extraordinare,).Thanks to Gin and the papermaking list folks for reawakening me to the possibilities right outside my door.
Pulp on, people!
Ground Ivy Paper
I didn't realize that this ubiquitous creeper was the same "gill over the ground" that papermakers had mentioned on the Papermaking List. I gathered a batch. I cooked it in my large stainless steel pot for about 90 minutes hours in washing soda.
I blendered it and it made crisp green sheets-more refined than ragweed or dandelion.
Glechoma hederacea L. ground ivy
Symbol: GLHE2
Group: Dicot
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
I blendered it and it made crisp green sheets-more refined than ragweed or dandelion.
Glechoma hederacea L. ground ivy
Symbol: GLHE2
Group: Dicot
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Subkingdom Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Asteridae -
Order Lamiales -
Order Lamiales -
Family Lamiaceae - Mint family
Genus Glechoma L. - glechoma
Genus Glechoma L. - glechoma
Species Glechoma hederacea L. - ground ivy,creeping charlie, ground ivy, gill-over-the-ground, haymaids
This info from USDA Plants database.
This info from USDA Plants database.
Hemp Paper
I purchased a wonderfully clean raw hemp from Peter Hopkins who had a store on Ebay
"Industrial hemp is one of the finest papermaking fibers in the history of the craft. It is among the strongest, most durable of papermaking fibers, has a very high cellulose content and replaces the industry's obsession with cutting down our forests to make paper.....this beautiful bast fiber...has been expressly grown and processed for papermaking in Europe. Remember, we can't grow hemp here in the United States, unlike most other developed countries in the world, whose police forces have easily figured out how to distinguish industrial hemp from marijuana.
This hemp fiber is a beautiful blonde color because it has been retted very carefully, then decorticated to remove as much of the core fiber as possible.
This is raw hemp fiber, so to prepare for papermaking, it needs to be cooked in an alkaline solution, then beaten in a hollander or by hand.
This hemp fiber is a beautiful blonde color because it has been retted very carefully, then decorticated to remove as much of the core fiber as possible.
This is raw hemp fiber, so to prepare for papermaking, it needs to be cooked in an alkaline solution, then beaten in a hollander or by hand.
I weighed out 12 ounces of hemp, soaked the hemp for a day, and I cooked the hemp for about 8 hours in soda ash. It still felt... tough.
Blender Preparation
Blendered for 2 minutes. I pulled sheets from the blendered hemp. It reminded me of another new experience--- kozo. FLuffy, cloudy.... very soft after blendering....
Except the hemp loved hemp more than any other fiber I've ever seen. It clumped very actively. Formation aid helped a lot and it still drained quickly.
The other challenge was long strands...
I cut this smaller than usual--- Into bits 1/2 inch or less and still--- fiber tails would drape over the deckle, Other than that, it couched easily and puffy sheets were translucent on the felt. I adjusted my methods--- getting the deeper deckle and putting a bit more pulp in the vat.
They have a wonderful crispness just from blendering.... I ran each batch about 2 minutes in the blender. I'm enamored of this! Thanks Peter!
Beating the Industrial 8 hr Hemp
the other half of the batch I beat it for 8 hours. I used methylcellulose and formation aid and the beaten sheets .created a very different paper from the blendered pulp.
It's like fabric. Lustrous and luscious.
A bear to .... not pull or couch, but the long, super-fiberphilic fibers draped over the deckle or up the deckle...just really different stuff. It clumped a lot more in big wooly/cottony clouds and formation aid helped a bit but not much.
I already described prep, still it amazes me that 1/2 bits beat into these very long fluffy mounds of stuff. The differences can't be communicated by digipix, too well... the paper has a gleam, a slight sheen, and has more of a rattle pulled thin and feels like cloth when pulled thick.
Hydrangea Stems
Hydrangea Stems, the last of last year's cooked but not processed plant materials in the refrigerator, were intensely blendered and made marginal-- almost okay, light brown paper.
Beating may well have improved it.
I will henceforth save all trimmings from hydrangea-I really like the paper I got from mixing it with knotweed.
Beating may well have improved it.
I will henceforth save all trimmings from hydrangea-I really like the paper I got from mixing it with knotweed.
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons
Subclass Rosidae
Order Rosales
Family Hydrangeaceae -- Hydrangea family
Genus Hydrangea L. -- hydrangea P
Jerusalem Artichoke Leaf Paper
Jerusalem Artichoke leaf-only paper was very low yield to mass. I cooked it for about 3 hours in washing soda then blendered it. The paper was light and lovely but the yeild for a steel pot full for plant material was a scant 3 sheets.
If you want pictures of the plant and information on its habitat try: http://plants.usda.gov/
Kingdom Plantae -- Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons
Subclass Asteridae
Order Asterales
Family Asteraceae -- Aster family
Genus Helianthus L. -- sunflower P
Species Helianthus tuberosus L. -- Jerusalem artichoke
i'm following Gin's example (plant documenter extraordinare.
Thanks to Gin and the Yahoo papermaking list folks for reawakening me to the possibilities right outside my door.
Pulp on, people!
Pulp on, people!
Kudzu Paper
An invasive species that has overtaken the southern states of the U.S., kudzu was brought here, as was Japanese knotweed. Both make paper, though I find knotweed's dark brown and softer hand more pleasing than the tan/light brown and rough fibered kudzu.
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons
Subclass Rosidae
Order Fabales
Family Fabaceae -- Pea family
Genus Pueraria DC. -- kudzu P L.
Lunaria/ MoneyPlant as Inclusion and Papers
A paper is achievable with Lunaria/Money Plant stems in soda ash with a blender.
These papers show a range of refinedness--- the rough sheet was poured--- the remnants of the small vat. The other two sheets were pulled, all were hydraulic pressed and air dried. Not a great paper, but if this were weed in my garden, as it is for the person who yanked mounds of these, I would definitely work with it. This pulp was blender processed. This would definitely be improved with beating -- as in blendering it. it broke up quickly and easily, but extensive blendering (3 minutes) continued to ... do that thing that blendering almost does but beating achieves....
........ I stuffed the whole plants in a pot, cooked them in soda ash until some of it seemed tender. I pulled out the "silver dollar" seed pods and their stems and some of the stalks that seemed the most tender.
There was a wide range of cooked-ness/doneness between both the various plants and the plant parts. So some stalks were done as were the stems and seed pods. I did not take out a lot, as I decided to continue cooking most of it with lye.
Lunaria/Money Plant seed pods and their accompanying stemlets make a better paper than the stalks, using soda ash cooking and blender processing.
They were hydraulic pressed, air dried and then jack pressed.
............................
I (re)cooked the stems in lye and then beat them. I added a bit of methylcellulose to the vat. They drained with a whoosh-'not a good sign,' I thought. The paper was a glorious ruddy gold while wet and dried to a blondy beige.
However-- it's a nice paper. Softer and not brush mat as its pulp behavior suggested it might be.. It's exciting to get paper from its seed pods and their attachments and paper from it's stems as well.
From http://plants.usda.gov/
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Dilleniidae -
Order Capparales -
Family Brassicaceae - Mustard family
Genus Lunaria L. - lunaria
It's in the wonderful fiber full mustard family!
Though I enjoy papermaking with plants, I seldom use plant inclusions. Lunaria has changed that. The bleached outers look as lovely as the inners on this paper (narcissus leaves, hemp, NZ flax and abaca).
These papers show a range of refinedness--- the rough sheet was poured--- the remnants of the small vat. The other two sheets were pulled, all were hydraulic pressed and air dried. Not a great paper, but if this were weed in my garden, as it is for the person who yanked mounds of these, I would definitely work with it. This pulp was blender processed. This would definitely be improved with beating -- as in blendering it. it broke up quickly and easily, but extensive blendering (3 minutes) continued to ... do that thing that blendering almost does but beating achieves....
........ I stuffed the whole plants in a pot, cooked them in soda ash until some of it seemed tender. I pulled out the "silver dollar" seed pods and their stems and some of the stalks that seemed the most tender.
There was a wide range of cooked-ness/doneness between both the various plants and the plant parts. So some stalks were done as were the stems and seed pods. I did not take out a lot, as I decided to continue cooking most of it with lye.
Lunaria/Money Plant seed pods and their accompanying stemlets make a better paper than the stalks, using soda ash cooking and blender processing.
They were hydraulic pressed, air dried and then jack pressed.
............................
I (re)cooked the stems in lye and then beat them. I added a bit of methylcellulose to the vat. They drained with a whoosh-'not a good sign,' I thought. The paper was a glorious ruddy gold while wet and dried to a blondy beige.
However-- it's a nice paper. Softer and not brush mat as its pulp behavior suggested it might be.. It's exciting to get paper from its seed pods and their attachments and paper from it's stems as well.
From http://plants.usda.gov/
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Dilleniidae -
Order Capparales -
Family Brassicaceae - Mustard family
Genus Lunaria L. - lunaria
It's in the wonderful fiber full mustard family!
Though I enjoy papermaking with plants, I seldom use plant inclusions. Lunaria has changed that. The bleached outers look as lovely as the inners on this paper (narcissus leaves, hemp, NZ flax and abaca).
Lunaria Stem
Lunaria paper
Lunaria Seed pods
Lunaria stalk
Milkweed Paper
I cooked fall gathered milkweed in washing soda and separated the bast from the stems. I also cooked milweed pods and leaves separately, also from fall gathered plants. After blender processing the milkweed past, its light grey color was uninspiring, so I blender processed the leaves and pods as well, and mixed the two pulps together.
This yielded a soft green paper. The dark flecks are seeds. It feels nearly like cloth.
This yielded a soft green paper. The dark flecks are seeds. It feels nearly like cloth.
Asclepias L. milkweed
Symbol: ASCLE
Group: Dicot
Family: Asclepiadaceae
Subkingdom Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Asteridae -
Order Gentianales -
Order Gentianales -
Family Asclepiadaceae - Milkweed family
Genus Asclepias L. - milkweed
Genus Asclepias L. - milkweed
This information from plants.usda.gov
Milkweed Down Paper
I collected milkweed down from neglected pods languishing in my carport. Any unopened (but ripe) pod was opened in a pan of water. If it hadn't been 20 degrees as I tried to grab the gusting fluff and hold the water pan, it would have been much easier.... LOL! Other effort, separating the seeds... again I just let it soak and tugged seeds out. I soaked it for a couple of weeks in plain water, while I worked to separate seeds from it.
The strands were a pearly silky white. When I added washing soda to the water and strands before cooking, they turned yellow and remained that color throughout the cooking and post cooking rinsing.
Subkingdom Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
The strands were a pearly silky white. When I added washing soda to the water and strands before cooking, they turned yellow and remained that color throughout the cooking and post cooking rinsing.
Subkingdom Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Asteridae -
Order Gentianales -
Family Asclepiadaceae - Milkweed family
Genus Asclepias L. - milkweed
Paper Mulberry Paper
I soaked the strips of pale bark gathered from a friend's yard, for a couple of days and rubed the brown bits of bark that adhered. I cooked in washing soda. Rinsed, pulled the stripsinnto thinner strips, cut them.
I blendered it briefly.
I blendered it briefly.
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons
Subclass Hamamelidae
Order Urticales
Family Moraceae -- Mulberry family
Genus Broussonetia L'HŽr. ex Vent. -- broussonetia P
Species Broussonetia papyrifera (L.) L'HŽr. ex Vent. -- paper mulberry P
Peppermint Paper
I cooked fresh peppermint in lye. ( i tried some last year in soda ash and got wood--- i recooked this batch , too). After rinsing and blendering, it still was splinters and ugly. I added about .75oz of cotton to the batch and beat it for a couple of hours. I removed this from the beater, rinsed it, bleached it and beat it some more.
It behaved very strangely .... it was puffy and very floaty in the beater. In pulling it, it drained immediately. It required lots of agitation as the long fibers liked to clump together. I added some okra water, which helped, but I needed a more assertive dispersal agent.
After I pulled it , the couched sheets were far thinner than they seemed on the mould and the whiteness was golden and transluucent......
After drying the only consistent sheets were the ones I thought I pulled too thick..... the other ones were inconsistent. The sheets dried with lots of fiber bits--- rough and very soft.
This was a surprise as all I saw in the beater and the vat were these long fibers. They were too prevalent to have been from the cotton. In fact, I saw tiny white bits of cotton among the pearl.
Translucent. I rolled a one of the not quite dry sheets and it made fabulous beads. I also made a very small vessel with a couple of sheets an d while softer than i prefer, its pearl/oyster with the tiny bits looked nice.
So was it the root that was the source of the long fibers? The stems? Or does the plant have a bast that's fabulous and a bunch of stuff that isn't?
After drying the only consistent sheets were the ones I thought I pulled too thick..... the other ones were inconsistent. The sheets dried with lots of fiber bits--- rough and very soft.
This was a surprise as all I saw in the beater and the vat were these long fibers. They were too prevalent to have been from the cotton. In fact, I saw tiny white bits of cotton among the pearl.
Translucent. I rolled a one of the not quite dry sheets and it made fabulous beads. I also made a very small vessel with a couple of sheets an d while softer than i prefer, its pearl/oyster with the tiny bits looked nice.
So was it the root that was the source of the long fibers? The stems? Or does the plant have a bast that's fabulous and a bunch of stuff that isn't?
Mentha aquatica L. water mint
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
U.S. Nativity: Introduced
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Asteridae -
Subclass Asteridae -
Order Lamiales -
Family Lamiaceae - Mint family
Genus Mentha L. - mint
Family Lamiaceae - Mint family
Genus Mentha L. - mint
Species Mentha aquatica L. - water mint
( from U.S.D.A. National Resources Conservation Sevice http://plants.usda.gov/)
Pineapple-top Paper
I adore the paper resulting from cooking pineapple tops in soda ash and processing with a blender.
Summer 2005 has been excruciatingly oppressive and there was only an hour a day that I could bear to turn on the gas , so I have no idea how long cooking took.
........ I stuffed the tops in a pot, cooked over a week and half in soda ash until green brightened, then darkened. .
I was instructed to bash them a bit before cooking, but I received that good instrution after I had already started to cook them.
After a brief blending, the pulp was green and manageable. It pulled and couched easily. They were hydraulic pressed, air dried.
The paper dried to a darker green and is crisp but very very strong like extended beaten flax--- I say that because a sheet that left the felt dried to a tightly bunched and much shrunken version of its sisters... the thing is I could tug and stretch this sheet and it stretched and moved without tearing or breaking.....
It looks gorgeous in front of a light. .
I hope to be able to acquire bunches more from a catere or supermarket. .
My thanks to the intrepid spreader-of-information, Prue Townsend. .
Tracheobionta - Vascular plants Summer 2005 has been excruciatingly oppressive and there was only an hour a day that I could bear to turn on the gas , so I have no idea how long cooking took.
........ I stuffed the tops in a pot, cooked over a week and half in soda ash until green brightened, then darkened. .
I was instructed to bash them a bit before cooking, but I received that good instrution after I had already started to cook them.
After a brief blending, the pulp was green and manageable. It pulled and couched easily. They were hydraulic pressed, air dried.
The paper dried to a darker green and is crisp but very very strong like extended beaten flax--- I say that because a sheet that left the felt dried to a tightly bunched and much shrunken version of its sisters... the thing is I could tug and stretch this sheet and it stretched and moved without tearing or breaking.....
It looks gorgeous in front of a light. .
I hope to be able to acquire bunches more from a catere or supermarket. .
My thanks to the intrepid spreader-of-information, Prue Townsend. .
Superdivision
Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division
Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class
Liliopsida - Monocotyledons
Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class
Liliopsida - Monocotyledons
Subclass
Zingiberidae -
Order
Bromeliales -
Zingiberidae -
Order
Bromeliales -
Family
Bromeliaceae - Bromeliad family
Genus
Ananas P. Mill. - pineapple
(from USDA Plant site) .Bromeliaceae - Bromeliad family
Genus
Ananas P. Mill. - pineapple
Queen Anne's Lace Paper (Wild Carrot)
Queen Anne's Lace is plentiful this year, umbrella flowers waving everywhere.
It's a non native (to the U.S.) biennial wild carrot.
It's a non native (to the U.S.) biennial wild carrot.
Kingdom Plantae - Plants
SubkingdomTracheobionta -Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Rosidae
Order Apiales
Family Apiaceae - Carrot family
Genus Daucus L. - wild carrot
Species Daucus carota L. - Queen Anne's lace
I cooked a steel pot full for five to six hours in washing soda. I blendered it and made some sheets. The ones dried overnight inside are green. The ones put outside to drying the sun are duo tone, a dark beige on one side and green on the surface against the felt. I'm reminded of what Gin said about "fugitive" green. I wonder what the process is that makes this happen.....
The paper is sturdy, stiffer, than the paper pulled from the wild carrot I made a couple of months ago. A lighter green than burdock. Not crispy like burdock or dandelion. The green didn't not cook away nor rinse away in the sieve, though there is another fiber (inner vs. outer bast? leaf ? umbrels? ) Though these were tall - 3 to 4 foot-- stalky plants.
I beat the remaining pound plus of fiber for about 8 hours and got a much more pleasing pulp. The stack on the left is the blendered QAL, the stack on the right is the beaten QAL.
i'm following Gin's example (plant documenter extraordinare).Thanks to Gin and the papermaking list folks for reawakening me to the possibilities right outside my door.
Pulp on, people!
Smartweed Paper
I cooked freshly gathered (August 2003)smartweed, the whole plant , from flower head to root, for about 4 hours. It has a "bast" which I squooshed off vs. continuing to cook the tough inner stems. I stopped cooking when most of it seemed done, only to discover this inner and outer. However this wasn't true of all the stems, just of the larger plants.
I'm saving the tough inners, it may be the larger summer hardened ones take more effort.
I blender processed them. Wow, what a surprise at all the fiber it contained! The color is a dark brown, like knotweed or cattail head papers.
Polygonum pensylvanicum L.
Pennsylvania smartweed
Symbol: POPE2
Group: Dicot
Family: Polygonaceae
Growth Habit: Forb/herb Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Native
I'm saving the tough inners, it may be the larger summer hardened ones take more effort.
I blender processed them. Wow, what a surprise at all the fiber it contained! The color is a dark brown, like knotweed or cattail head papers.
Polygonum pensylvanicum L.
Pennsylvania smartweed
Symbol: POPE2
Group: Dicot
Family: Polygonaceae
Growth Habit: Forb/herb Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Native
Subkingdom Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Caryophyllidae -
Order Polygonales -
Order Polygonales -
Family Polygonaceae - Buckwheat family
Genus Polygonum L. - knotweed
Genus Polygonum L. - knotweed
Species Polygonum pensylvanicum L. - Pennsylvania smartweed
Info from USDA-NRCS. 2003. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov/plants). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
Spurge Paper
Another prevalent and ignored weed, prostrate or spotted spurge called to find a use beyond tugging out. I cooked it in my large stainless steel pot for a little more than an hour in washing soda.
I blendered it, and it turned to bright yellow-green foamy pulp that dried to a marginal green paper.
Euphorbia supine/ Euphorbia maculata /Chamaesyce maculata (L.)
Symbol: CHMA15
Group: Dicot
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Native
I blendered it, and it turned to bright yellow-green foamy pulp that dried to a marginal green paper.
Euphorbia supine/ Euphorbia maculata /Chamaesyce maculata (L.)
Symbol: CHMA15
Group: Dicot
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Annual
U.S. Nativity: Native
Subkingdom Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Class Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons
Subclass Rosidae -
Order Euphorbiales -
Order Euphorbiales -
Family Euphorbiaceae - Spurge family
Sunflower Paper
Tough stuff. I used overwintered sunflower stalks preprocessed with my handy dandy chipper, soaked them for a long time, and cooked them in lye.
Lye made it blenderable, though it is a pulp that benefits from beating. My sunflowers were mainly "Russian Mammoth".
Lye made it blenderable, though it is a pulp that benefits from beating. My sunflowers were mainly "Russian Mammoth".
Teasel Paper
I took a chance on this super teasel. As it didn't exactly resemble descriptions I saw online, nor of a report from one correspondent that it had a low fiber yield other-- I took a chance on this12 foot stalked plant, found in a local park. I cut the dead stalk about18" above the ground, just in case it would regrow.
Cooked the silvery grey stalk in soda ash for about 4 hours, rinsed, cut it up and blendered it. It became golden furry pulp.
Which drained swiftly to an only semi couchable sheet. So I let it dry on a screen. It drained very quickly. It is marvelously crunchy furry piece of paper unlike how the pulp felt wet-- they didn't seem burry/furry....
Cutting it up for blendering was a bit more difficult than I thought it should be-- so I cooked it for a couple more hours chipped it up and then give it to the Critter to beat on. The image shows the "flower" head, the uncooked stalk, the cooked stalk and the golden pulp.
I'm following Gin's example (plant documenter extraordinare, access her journal here) -- so this first sheet is just teasel, totally.
No formation aid--- I did add a couple of tblsp of methylcellulose to the vat.
I did another small vat with an equal amount of cotton by volume (a handful).When I added a handful of extended-beaten cotton and it became an extremely slow draining but easily couchable sheet.
That paper was a surprise. Really tough/strong , rattly. I had only done a foot press between two boards -just initial water removal (vs. in my screw press or for any length of time). It bonded tightly with the cotton.
For thistle (a relative?), Lillian Bell recommended formation aid and an Indian/Nepal method of sheet creation (should have read that first LOL!).
I had problems getting teasel to circulate in Critter. I blendered some to act as conveyer for the rest. Gin suggested that I add 10-15% abaca. I added a shade under 10% abaca. Approx. 1.3 oz abaca to 15 oz of teasel stalks. This helped enormously.
Blendering is easier than beating with teasel. It's certainly quick enough and after a couple more hours cooking, the stalk becomes fiber with ease. The beaten fiber makes a better paper, though a soft and fibrous one.
However, I'm still not quite comparing apples to apples. The shorter cooking time was my blendered fiber-paper. I then cooked it longer and beat it. I think lengthy cooking (6 to 8 hours) and then blendering may yield nearly the same result as my beaten paper.
Teasel drained in a whoosh and couched easily. When used as pulp in a casting, it was a light sand-beige and the fibers aren't apparent; as a sheet, it is an off-white beige. I recommend teasel as a bulkifier.
I generally do a press to remove water, change cloths, and dry under light pressure (a board) changing position of cloths and papers in the stack.
Teasel dries slowly. Despite 80 degree temperatures and a fan on the stack, the only dry teasel (after 3. 5 days) is the "fry screen" depicted in the jpeg.
Teasel Top Paper
Inspired again by Gin Petty, I cooked teasel heads and made paper. They appear to be the prickliest part of this enthorned plant, but the burr middle can be handled gloveless. You must avoid the long fringe or collar spikes (ouch!) and the dramatic mohawk spikes (ouch ouch) emerging from the crown otherwise they are touchable.
The pulp was much finer than that from the stalk and processed, after cooking in soda ash for a couple of hours, in the blender, made a crisp, light paper, with a tangible difference between felt side down and the other side. One side was slightly furry--- the other very smooth. The color is medium dark beige.
This was so much easier to process than teasel stalk, I'm now inclined to only do these heads and their stemlets--- glad I saved these. I saved them all only for their decorative attributes, but I don't think I'll do teasel stalks until I run out of other plants to process. Teasel stalk makes pulp but not a sheet of paper. It works best as a bulkifier.
So thanks Gin, for yet again, pointing out something else to try and leading me to new discoveries.
If you want pictures of the plant and information on its habitat try:http://plants.usda.gov/
Kingdom Plantae -- Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons
Subclass Asteridae
Order Dipsacales
Family Dipsacaceae -- Teasel family
Genus Dipsacus L. -- teasel P
i'm following Gin's example (plant documenter extraordinare).Thanks to Gin and the papermaking list folks for reawakening me to the possibilities right outside my door.
Pulp on, people!
Wheat Straw Paper
I was gifted by papermaker Gin Petty with a bag of "chipper" chopped and dried wheat straw. I cooked it in my large stainless steel pot for about 5 hours in washing soda.
I blendered it, and it turned to a nearly invisible water-fine pulp of deep gold that dried to light gold/yellow paper with a bit more texture than the pulp seemed to hold. Lovely, resembles Timothy.
Subkingdom Tracheobionta - Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta - Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class Liliopsida - Monocotyledons
Subclass Commelinidae -
Order Cyperales -
Family Poaceae - Grass family
Genus Triticum L. - wheat
Yucca Paper
I had no idea that yucca would be so easy and so fiber full! I definitely want to plant some of this. I chose the green and yellow leaves from the several bags I had (separating them from the dried material) and cooked them for about 10 to 12 hours in washing soda.
The fiber is very very soapy, requiring lots of rinsing. This is one of the highest plant to fiber ratios i have ever seen. I blendered some and it transformed into voluminous pulp quickly and easily. The pulp was a pale olive green, but the paper was a a sandy blond, flecked with gold and the occasional bit of green.
This is different from the other experiences reported on the Papermaking List, with the exception of Betty Pulver ( in Arizona). I did not see the plant itself, so can't tell you exactly which yucca it is, but the subspecies said to grow in this region (southern finger Lakes of New York State) s is Yucca filamentosa L., Adam's needle.
Kingdom Plantae -- Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Class Liliopsida -- Monocotyledons
Subclass Liliidae
Subclass Liliidae
Order Liliales
Family Agavaceae -Century-plant family
Prolific and diligent Gin Petty, my inspiration, created paper from yucca roots