One of the most interesting and unique looks a scrapbooker can aim for is to use
homemade paper, and while the thought may be daunting, it is not as difficult as
it may seem.
Paper is, essentially, compacted fibres that have been forced to weave together,
and that is the basis of making homemade paper for use in your scrapbook.
The paper you make will not be fine and letter quality, and will probably use elements
of already existing, ready to be recycled, paper, too, but it will be unique and
as individual as can be.
The way to do it is not to work in bulk, but to make a few pages at a time, and
to remember that what you put into the mix will determine how your paper looks,
how it feels, and what texture and colour it has.
Making the mix
Take some old, used paper, and tear it into bits, putting them into a cup or small
bowl to start with. You can use different papers at this point to add to the feel
and look, and also add some other ingredients into the mix, too.
These can be many, but try and add some leaves – pick them from the garden – or
a few petals, thread or cotton is a good addition, and maybe some other packaging
goods such as tin foil – but only add small amounts of these, as you need the paper
to bind, to hold together.
Now you need an old picture frame, or four lengths of wood nailed together to make
a frame, and a piece of the wire mesh that is used to cover windows. You need only
a small amount of this, just a little bigger than size of the page you want to make.
Blending to a pulp
Next, you need to blend the paper into a pulp; if you have a mechanical kitchen
blender it will do the job perfectly, but otherwise it can be done by hand, but
will take longer.
Add the mix to the blender, and add water – four parts water to one part substance
is the recommended mix- and blend until the water is a clouded colour. At this point
add any little extras – glitter or strands of tinsel, say – that you may want to
feature in your paper.
Fill a wide bowl with water – a washing up bowl or a sink basin will do – and tip
in the pulp blend that you have made, stirring the mixture until it appears evenly
spread in the water.
Screening the pulp
Next, take your ‘screen’ – the wood square with the wire mesh – and dip it into
the water, moving it backwards and forwards until you see a film of the pulp settle
on the mesh. When this is evenly spread across the mesh, lift the frame directly
upwards out of the water.
This is the start of your first sheet of homemade paper.
The next step is to remove the water from the pulp, and we do this in the following
manner – lay a cloth out on a flat surface, and tip the frame over quickly so that
the pulp falls flat onto the cloth. Lay another cloth – flat – over the top, and
then use a rolling pin – or other heavy item – to squeeze the water out of the pulp.
Repeat this action – squeezing out the water – several times, as this is the process
that forces the fibres closer together, and helps the paper to stick together.
Squeeze out and leave to dry
When you are satisfied that you have squeezed out all the water that you can, gently
remove the upper cloth. You can now take – very carefully – two corners of the sheet
of pulp that is lying there, and it should life, with a little help, off the lower
cloth.
Hang it somewhere warm and dry – with ordinary clothes pegs – to dry for a few hours,
and there you have your first sheet of homemade paper!
Having followed the process once, you can now experiment with different types of
paper, or different colourings, and create an entirely unique selection of your
very own homemade paper for use in your scrapbook!
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