Techniques for predetermining and making paper of known specifications and qualities

ISBN: 978-0-9799164-8-9

MAGNOLIA EDITIONS 2527 Magnolia St, Oakland CA 94607 www.magnoliapaper.com Text and illustrations by

Copyright © 2018 Donald Farnsworth, all rights reserved. Any person is hereby Donald Farnsworth authorized to view, copy, print and distribute this document for information- al and non-commercial purposes only. Any copy of this document or portion 2018 thereof must include this copyright notice. Unless otherwise noted all photo credit: Donald Farnsworth. Version date: August 14, 2018. Contents

I: Introduction: fibers, hydration, fibrillation & freeness and suppliers 4 Raw material - Western 5 Raw material - Japanese 6 Cellulose & lignin, Additives 7 Hemicellulose & fibrillation 8 II: Retting: lignin removal using mycelium 10 Retting Overview 11 Retting : Worm Farm & Compost 12 Retting: Turkey tail mycelium 13 Making half-stuff 15 III: Calculating paper weight with a smart phone app 18 Describing the weight of paper in grams per square meter 19 PaperWeight examples 20 IV: Finding the surface area of an irregular sheet 22 Finding the square centimeters of an irregular sheet 23 V: Blender processing paper fiber 26 Pulp & furnish preparation 27 Hamilton Beach blade reversal 29 Hydropulper-inspired blender blade 30 Grinder Mill 31 Micro Hammermill 32 Cooking and hand beating kōzo bark 33 VI: Paper color matching 36 Calculating and blending half-stuff to match a target paper color 37 VII: Making small paper with 3D printed deckle box 42 Modifications & screen/felt preparation 43 Forming a 6.7cm square sheet using a 3D printed Deckle Box 45 Forming a 5.7cm circular sheet using a modified AeroPress 47 VIII: Sheet forming on ribbed mould without a vat 50 Determinate papermaking with a ribbed mould and deckle 53 De-watering newly couched paper by hand 53 Efficient de-watering using hydraulics 54 IX: Drying handmade paper 56 Air drying 57 Determining the dryness of paper 58 Drying under pressure 59 Stack dryer 61 Drying strategies for different textures 67 X: Sizing and finishing 72 Sizing 73 Finishing 75 Acknowledgments 78 introduction

I

Introduction

eterminate paper refers to the production of a sheet of hand- made paper that reliably manifests a given set of characteris- Dtics, whether weight, texture, color, content, or other criteria.

In the Western papermaking tradition, one forms a sheet of hand- made paper using a traditional mould and deckle, dipping the mould into a vat of furnish (pulp with additives) with a scooping motion; some furnish spills off and the remaining stock drains, caught on the sieve-like surface of the paper mould, forming a sheet. As the process repeats, the vat concentration changes due to “white water” (the water that drains from the mould) draining back into the vat. This change in concentration results in papers of various weight, but not to exact specifications. In this volume we will be using a redesigned “deckle box” approach, where we pour furnish into a confined space; all of the furnish we pour will become the sheet, allowing us to accurately predict the finished A known quantity of furnish trapped paper’s content and weight, and to influence factors such as sur- in the deckle resulting in a specific (knowable) GSM weight paper face, dimensional stability, and water absorption.

Whereas producing large-format sheets of paper by hand poses numerous difficulties – particularly the cost and scale of large Couching Japanese paper (washi) - from ‘A Guide to Japanese Paper- moulds, vats, hydraulic press, and felts – the production of making’ www.magnoliapaper.com high-quality sheets of small dimensions is relatively simple. Work- ing at a small scale, the determination of complex criteria such as content, weight, watermark, and texture of the finished sheet can be simplified as described herein. All of the techniques discussed may be selectively applied, modified, or recombined to suit the individual or project at hand.

3 4 fiber: western fiber: japanese

Raw material: Western Raw material: Japanese

1. The “cook”– i.e., rags and other fibrous n Renaissance Europe, paper was made from linen and hemp ozo, mitsumata and gampi are the three main fiber species material boiled in an alkali – serves to remove rags that had been retted, often cooked in an alkali,1 and flushed whose inner bark (bast) fibers are used in Japanese -paper lignin, a class of complex organic polymers Iwith water while being pounded to a pulp. This is a fine place to Kmaking (washi). If you elect to use these amazing plants, the in- that fill the spaces in the cell wall between cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin in plants. start, but a bit equipment- and labor-intensive. We can skip much ner bark (with the outer bark already stripped) is available from Flax has about 2% lignin whereas hardwood of that hard work by turning to paper pulp suppliers who sell var- papermaking suppliers. Preparing these fibers for papermaking is comprised of approximately 29%, with lig- ious fibers that have been partially processed and are almost ready requires soaking for a day or two and cooking for half a day in a nin and softwood at 22%. for blending or beating and sheet forming. Paper suppliers sell mild alkali-like soda ash to remove lignin; rinsing; and pounding many varieties. Some need only be soaked and blended (like cot- with a mallet. In this papermaking paradigm, harsher alkali and ton linter); others (like abaca) needs to be cooked and still others longer cooking produces softer paper while shorter, gentler cook- need to be cooked and pounded (kozo). ing yields harder paper, as a longer cook and harsher alkali both diminish the fibers’ natural binder, hemicellulose. Today the list of possible fiber choices is long and daunting; after Beating paddle and cooked kozo all, every plant has cellulose fiber that can be made into paper one Hemicellulose (polysaccharides of simpler structure than cellu- (Cooking and beating see p.33) way or another. We will steer away from the hardwood and soft- lose – see p.11), a natural binder not found in abundance in seed wood so commonly used in commercial papers to focus here on hair fibers like cotton, is very important both in Japanese papers, archival (mostly lignin-free) papers. Besides the aforementioned and in the linen and hemp papers of the Western tradition. Ob- 3. Bast fiber is the fibrous material from the linen and hemp, one can produce a wide variety of paper from flax tained from jute, kenaf, flax and hemp plants, bast fibers3 are very phloem (living tissue of a plant) –- the inner bark “skin” fibers that surround the stem. Bast roving, abaca half-stuff, cotton rag, and cotton linter. Each has its durable, due to length, wall thickness, degree of polymerization, fibers are soft with nodes for flexibility. Cotton own appeal, characteristics, and processing needs. crystallinity, wet compactability, hemicellulose content, cohe- contains little hemicellulose and no nodes. siveness, elongation and tenacity. The presence of hemicellulose Whereas linen is more likely to make crisp, rattly writing paper contributes decisively to a paper’s strength and tenacity. Treat- with very little processing, fibers sourced from seed hair (like cot- ed properly, bast fibers can produce a crisp, rattly sheet of paper ton rag and linter, for example) can produce blotter paper when without a prolonged process of beating and hammering. beaten briefly; further processing is required to make printmaking Cotton lacks hemicellulose’s critical bonding capaci- papers and even more for writing papers. Cotton staple fibers (rag ty, distinguishing cotton papers from the typical- 2 ME G 2. “Wet-lap” or “half-stuff” is available as P X half-stuff ) can be robust and strong when a Holland-type beating ly dimensional stable and crisp papers made LA T E A O A M T L Z LLI S E A sheets, rolls, or bales, all generally dry; the F S U H O J C C K engine is used to defiber, hydrate and fibrillate the rags. To make of bast fibers such as linen and flax or the A name wet-lap comes from the Fourdrinier B L A A C S H such a paper more dimensionally stable, retted and lightly beaten mulberry fibers used in Japanese paper- I P SI process of manufacture. Typically more re- TO LA

SA rs N N ga TO finement is necessary to make various grades linen can be added; this is more or less the formula used to make making. su bast T l O ra le C K u a PO of papers. Half-stuff is well named as it de- at f A the art papers popularized by J Whatman, England’s papermakers n K

scribes pulp (sometimes called stuff) that is r se e nic e b rga ce d for the Arts and Crafts Movement. These days cotton linter, the b o ll n u h u i lo only half-processed. r r s a A e e i Z r LO N m n fuzz found closest to the seed, is commonly used to produce art i y l e CA t o A ALP o p

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LU Y ID EL R F C O N M A L O L D O L I O N Y TR IN O N F BI M Y R ) A N E P E c N L i S T t N X B O S e A E E E h R AR D F S Y t ON NAL L L T I Y SA O O yn U V AN N P I S (s P S S V Textile Fibers chart: although various fibers can be added to R E B paper for decoration, fire-retarding, and anti-forgery purposes, B the upper right quadrant (bold text) includes some of the fibers RU used in hand papermaking.

5 6 lignin, additives hemicellulose

Cellulose & lignin Hemicellulose & fibrillation

Plant fibers are comprised largely of cellulose (polysaccharide Overview: Fibrillation and hydration are the results of pulp processing consisting of chains of glucose monomers) and lignin, (a natural in a beating engine; pulp’s freeness indicates the effectiveness of this process- polymer that lends rigidity to the plant’s cell walls). The presence ing, measured by how freely the pulp surrenders its water. Hemicellulose in of lignin in processed fibers will yield a sheet that is not archival. the raw material imparts similar characteristics without processing. Many commercially available fibers like abaca (whether bleached or unbleached) contain residual lignin and should be cooked with he hemicellulose content of a given fiber type plays a critical soda ash in a stainless steel pressure cooker to disolve and reduce role in determining the behavior of a pulp or sheet made from the lignin content. Bleaching can disguise the presence of lignin; Tthat fiber. Hemicellulose is embedded in the cell walls of plants and even pure white fiber can release the dark brown liquor of lignin consists of polysaccharides like cellulose, but arranged in shorter, in a cook. Artists, conservators, and others concerned with lon- branched chains. The hydroxyl groups in hemicellulose contribute gevity and archival quality are advised to remain vigilant of lignin to the strength and continuity of the paper’s fiber network, creating hiding in their linen rags and bast fibers, concealed by bleaches a stronger, crisper sheet without additional beating. Tear and tensile and optical brighteners. indices are directly proportional to the cellulose/hemicellulose ratio. Cellulose Fibrillation is the internal and external fraying of a raw material’s cellulose fibers during processing. Increased fibrillation results in more bonding potential between the fibers, making a stronger, hard- er, and eventually a more translucent paper: highly fibrillated pulp Additives makes a sheet with fewer interstices, allowing light to pass through the translucent cellulose fibers.As water is removed during sheet for- Japanese and Western paper: mation, pressing, and drying, the pulp’s fibers “zipper” together due 4. For a detailed explanation of this process, to hydrogen bonding between hydroxyl groups (oxygen and hydro- see “Contribution of Hydrogen Bonds to Pa- per Strength Properties” by Przybysz et al: Calcium carbonate (raises the pH, and acts as a buffering agent gen atoms) in the cellulose and hemicellulose. The electrostatic inter- http://journals.plos.org/plosone/arti- to improve longevity); magnesium carbonate (an anti-oxidant and action of polar water molecules with hydroxyl groups of contiguous cle?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0155809 buffering agent); titanium dioxide (a whitening pigment); clay (for fibers is the key to understanding why paper is paper and not just and http://www.upce.cz/fcht/uchtml/ a smoother and more opaque paper); and methyl cellulose (a mild tangled fibers (i.e., felt).4 odcp/zamestnaci/connectivity.htm paste) – as well as colorants and inclusions – can be added to both Eastern and Western paper.

Unique to Japanese papermaking: “Zippering” during dewatering: Hydrogen bonding between H-O of the cellulose fibers as paper dries Tororo-aoi is used to make neri, a starchy substance crucial to the manufacture of washi. This slimy, viscous additive is blend- ed with the pulp to make a more even sheet (aka formation aid). Tororo-aoi (neri) is derived from the Abelmoschus manihot root, a flowering plant in the mallow family Malvaceae; aids in the sheet formation – the uniform distribution of long bast fibers. Although Tororo-aoi a starch, neri does not size the paper. Tororo-aoi is always used in Japanese papermaking, but can also be added sparingly to West- ern bast fibers like flax and abaca.

7 8 freeness

Hydration, linked to fibrillations, is the swelling with water of the tu- bular cellulose fibers caused by the constant pounding in the beating and processing stage; this not only makes slow draining pulp, but II causes shrinking during drying. More hydration produces a less di- mensionally stable paper. Retting and Half-Stuff Freeness is measured as the speed at which a pulp drains, which tells us its degree of hydration and refinement due to beating or process- ing. Using a Canadian Standard Freeness tester (CSF) we can mea- Lignin removal and sure freeness to determine the effectiveness of the refining process, i.e., the swelling of the pulp fibers as a result of beating. A freer pulp rag decomposition drains faster on the mould; more refinement causes more swelling, yielding a slower draining pulp. Fillers and cellulosic microparticles (“detritus,” “fines,” or “crill,”) can skew CSF results. Straining fur- nish prior to papermaking can remove fines (making a freeer pulp).

Canadian Standard Freeness tester

Inoculating sterilized 3% solution of malt and dextrose with mushroom culture mycelium

9 10 retting retting

Retting Overview Retting : Worm Farm

ith the advent of the Hollander Beater, the method of orms seem to possess the enzymes necessary to break down pre-processing rags using retting techniques has been dis- new linen cuttings. Our worm farm bins were supplied Wplaced by harsh, high temperature chemical cooks and bleaching, Wwith the usual healthy table scraps, minerals and an abundance combined with the physical cutting, fraying, and swelling action of of coffee grounds and linen cuttings. In about 8 to 12 weeks, linen the beating engine. The paper made is faster to produce, easier to scraps (once so strong as to be humanly impossible to tear) soft- standardize and seems (to some) like the real thing, (handmade or ened and ripped with little effort. The soiled and darkened cut- otherwise). In my analysis, cutting exposes oxidation sites, while tings, now looking and feeling like rags, needed to be washed and swelling makes for a dimensionally unstable paper and therefore cooked in soda ash (preferably under pressure) for sterilization a substandard fine art paper. and deep cleaning. Some batches of soil and coffee darkened rags were bleached in sunlight while immersed in an 8% solution of Making paper from old, worn linen rags was preferred in the past; hydrogen peroxide solution made slightly alkali with a pinch of today this option appears to be out of the question. While attempt- soda ash. The production from a three bin worm farm has been ing to procure old linen rags, the numerous vintage “pure Irish very small to date, so we blended these rags with linen and hemp linen” table cloths and the like I purchased on eBay were loaded from other sources. Worms give enough time will eventually “eat” with tenacious, irreversible optical brighteners, deposited in their the cellulose, reducing our yield as the rags become holy like a manufacture or through the use of Tide and other modern laundry modern-day Shroud of Turin. detergents. This leaves no option but to use flax roving or the cut- tings and scraps from eco-conscious producers of specialty hemp and linen products which are not optically brightened. However, early European papermakers found that such scraps resisted retting and could not be processed into fine paper. The scraps were instead Retting : Compost relegated to the making of coarse papers or wrapping paper. A worm farm used to break down linen. ith patience, a compost bin made of linen and hemp textile I agree with early papermakers: I, Wmill cuttings kept moist for one year was able to develop the too have found fresh linen difficult mold and fungus necessary to break down our indestructible linen to ret. Whereas according to some to a point suitable for papermaking. The process took about one accounts, old rags would ret in less year. Of our three bins, the most successful was kept very moist than a month, leaving new cuttings with six inches of standing water at the base. The smell became for six months in a compost bin did putrid and the white, green and black molds and fungi growing not catalyze the softening necessary on the surface rags seemed to indicate success. Once rinsed and for papermaking. washed, we sorted the rags as the retting’s enzyme breakdown of our cloth was not even: those needing more time went back into Luckily, we have Internet access to the bin, while those that ripped or simply fell apart easily were studies and experts who, for their cooked, beaten, and made into paper. own various reasons, also desire the removal of lignin from plant fiber. Af- ter testing worm compost (with some success), I now believe that White Rot Fungus seems to be what the ancients were looking for to process newly manufactured linen scraps. Composted linen fabric and associated microbes Unfortunately they did not have ac- cess to sterilizers, filters, and syring- es. Retting may be the key, and my- A worm farm used to break down linen. cology buffs are the suppliers.

11 12 retting retting

Retting: Turkey tail mycelium

Raw Materials: Use “natural” linen and hemp fabric that has not been optically brightened. Wash, soak and leave in the sun to dry.

From a mycology supplier purchase inoculation bags, dextrose, and syringes of turkey tail mushroom (Trametes versicolor) cul- ture. Soak the linen rags in dextrose, fill the bags with these soaked rags and seal. Sterilize filled bag(s) in a pressure cooker at 15 lbs pressure for 20 minutes. Let cool overnight. The next day, inject the culture through the self-sealing injection port.

Turkey tail mushrooms grown by Nora Scully. After 3 or so days, when the mycelium have taken hold, tum- ble or massage the bags to disperse the mycelium. After 2 to 4 weeks the mycelium will have eaten the lignin in the rags and softened the fibers. Rinse and boil the rags in urea, let sit for June 27, 2017: inoculating sterilized June 27, 2017: one jar was Aug 21, 2017: mycelium thrived in the jar (at left) that was a few days, then rinse again; boil in soda ash if desired. Your 3% solution of malt and dextrose stirred for 48 hours stirred for 48 hours retted rags are now ready for pulping into half-stuff or further processing for sheet formation and paper making.

Turkey tail mycelium growing on new linen cuttings and sawdust; started May 9, 2017, opened June 27, 2017. (Nora Scully)

Transfer spawned mycelium to sterile bag of linen rags in a sterile envi- ronment like a glove box.

Autoclave: used for sterilizing jars containing a Alternatively, inoculate bag of linen (I soaked the linen in dextrose-malt solution). 3% solution of malt and dextrose and inocula- tion bags filled with torn linen scraps.

13 14 half-stuff half-stuff

Making half-stuff

Paper pulp stages and nomenclature: alf-stuff refers to partially refined paper pulp, intentionally to dry my half stuff for long term storage, I dry it Hunder-prepared so that it may serve as raw material for studio into a fluffy, feathery matrix grid where less of the •Rags: Linen, hemp and cotton rags papermaking. Half-stuff can be further processed and made into normal hydrogen bonding has taken place. are sorted, dusted then washed and paper or stored for later use. In a studio or laboratory setting, how retted (composted). the half-stuff is made has a direct effect on work flow and the pa- The process came about in the normal unexpect- •Half-stuff: (aka first-stuff or wet per’s viability and repeatability. ed way – by accident. While testing grid paper lap) Composted rags, rope or other pulp ideas with the artist Chuck Close, I stum- fibers are beaten to a coarse, imper- Cotton rag, linter, abaca, kozo and flax are commercially available bled upon an excellent process for forming wispy fect pulp. The equipment for this is half-stuff worth having in inventory (though cotton linter, kozo and half-stuff sheets. To reproduce my lattice work called a washing engine or a breaker. abaca are not suitable for recreating early European paper). Missing half stuff, (once half stuff pulp is in the vat), dip a from this list are linen and hemp: until a source for linen and hemp •Second-stuff: Half-stuff further pro- light diffusion grid screen (or smaller 3D printed cessed using a beating engine. half-stuff is found, we are compelled to make our own. In doing deep grid) and scoop as you would while form- so, we also gain more flexibility and control. For 19th century or ing a sheet. Multiple dips for a thicker catch of •Stuff or Furnish: Second-stuff blend- Arts & Crafts Movement-style paper, a beating engine and paper fibers work best. Then wet dry vacuum the back, ed with additives ready for sheet for- studio are required. For the recreation of earlier papers, however, underside. Let air dry and peel off. The resulting mation. such equipment may be an impediment: the beating engine cuts, half stuff grid has feathers of wispy fibers, and swells, and abrades the fiber, creating oxidation sites and rendering thankfully less hydrogen bonding, that are easy the paper less dimensionally stable. In contrast, retting and gentle to tear for weighing and blend easily. Because the fibers are fluffy processing yield a better raw material, leaving a larger percent of and were not pressed or otherwise consolidated, there is more of a the fibers wholly encapsulated as Mother Nature made them. That random alignment of fibers that do not seem to be hydrogen bonded is, of course, unless you make the mistake of chopping and cutting – perfect half-stuff. the rags and raw fibers; ripping and retting are preferable and less harmful to the fibers. Once the pulp is made it can be refrigerated for later use. Avoiding hydrogen bonding (solvent exchange) If fume hoods and toxic hydrocarbon solvents don’t put you off, Refrigeration of wet pulp is not always convenient due to lack of there is a way to prevent most of the aligned ‘zippering’ action of refrigerator space and energy consumption. Unfortunately, normal hydrogen bonding as paper dries, through solvent exchange, also Commercially available fibers: kozo bark drying of studio-made half stuff pulp into balls or thick sheets cre- known as liquid-liquid extraction. This will replacing bipolar mole- and abaca half stuff ate weaker paper when re-hydrated. (Due to the zippered hydrogen cules (water) with aromatic hydrocarbons. Straining your pulp and bonds being impossible to separate back into pulp). So, when I want flooding it with alcohol to exchange one solvent (water) for another (alcohol) then flooding with methyl ethyl ketone, to exchange the alcohol, gets water out of the process without the normal process Water’s four hydrogen bonds opti- of drying. This way we can produce dry fibers and half-stuff with a mally arrange themselves tetrahe- more random bonding pattern (i.e., less bonding) to store for future drally around each oxygen molecule. use. While hand-beaten kozo will survive in the refrigerator for some time, it is helpful to have dry pulp and non-bonded fibers when try- ing to measure out quantities for color matching or for making a specific weight of paper.

To avoid the creation of hydrogen bonds when drying paper: 1. Squeeze (or vacuum) water from pulp. Note: Alcohol and MEK are flamma- 2. Under a fume hood, flood with alcohol and stir. ble, and their vapors dangerous. Han- 3. Wearing protective gloves, drain (and vacuum) alcohol. dle with care in a safe, non-sparking 4. Under a fume hood, add methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), soaking fibers. (explosion-proof) fume hood. 5. Drain, vacuum and allow the MEK to evaporate (flash off).

15 16 III

Describing the weight of paper in grams per square meter

ON:OFF SAMPLE PRINT NET

ZERO MODE RE-ZERO

Weighing small quantities of dry pulp Weighing a sheet of paper to determine paper’s weight expressed in g/m2

Using PaperWeight app to determine a paper’s weight, expressed in g/m2

18 weight of paper paperweight Describing the weight of paper in grams per square meter

aving the ability to determine the “weight” of a sheet of paper gives PaperWeight examples: PaperWeight us the data necessary to calculate the pulp needed for the creation Hof a paper of the same weight. For example, in the case of a paper con- servator wishing to make paper for an infill, knowing the weight of the document to be repaired is critical to determining the quantity of dried fiber necessary to form a matching sheet.

GSM: Paper weight in the metric system is expressed in grams per square meter (gsm or g/m2): that is, if any given sheet could theoretically be en- larged to a 1 x 1 meter size without changing other variables such as den- sity, what would it weigh?

To find the gsm(g/m 2) of a rectangular sheet, use this straightforward equation:

(mass (g) x 10,000) ÷ sq cm = gsm

PaperWeight: We have created a free web-based app called PaperWeight Enter mass, diameter to Enter mass, height & Enter mass & surface area Enter gsm & caliper to find to make calculation of gsm and density fast and easy. (The app was made find gsm width to find gsm to find gsm density using the open-source code.org, with coding help from Jordan Grelling).

Access the app on your desktop or mobile browser: PaperWeight Menus

https://studio.code.org/projects/applab/sxTKu3jShSOxDjsMHmhR_YKZKe8nOzmW2_3qSO_zCaM

Enter gsm, diameter to find Enter gsm, height & width Enter gsm & surface area Enter gsm & deckle depth grams of dry pulp required to find grams of dry pulp to find pulp needed to find pulp concentration for the given gsm required for the given gsm

Simply enter the variables of mass, height & width (or in the case of cir- cular paper, mass & diameter) and the PaperWeight app calculates the corresponding gsm. In the GSM to Pulp Required menu, enter the vari- ables of gsm and dimensions to calculate the required quantity (mass) of raw material (fiber) needed to make the specified weight sheet.

Instructions for installing PaperWeight on your smartphone home screen

19 20 IV

Calculating the Square Centimeters of an Irregular Sheet

22 calculate sq. cm. calculate sq. cm.

Determining the size of an Histogram; if not, click on Histogram and the Histo- 8. Next, deselect the document (Control+D on Win- Note: the PaperWeight app makes irregular sheet gram palette window will appear). dows or Command+D on a Mac). Now select the this calculation simple: use menu 1 cm square using the Marquee tool or the Magic o find the weight (gsm) of a docu- option Manual Area Entry to GSM. Wand tool and note the pixel count: ment, we must first determine its size Tin square centimeters (sq cm). If the doc- ument is irregular, with holes and miss- ing parts, discovering the sq cm can be 6. Click the pull-down menu of the Histogram palette challenging for even the most dedicated and click on Show Statistics, expanding the palette. mathematician. This Photoshop tech- nique greatly simplifies the process.

The steps: 1. With a digital camera or smartphone, photograph the document on a black background; be sure to include a 1 cm square piece of white paper in the bor- 7. If an exclamation mark is visible in the upper right der. (See example at right) had corner of the Histogram window, this indi- cates that the pixel count is not accurate and the Re- In this case, the 1cm white square = 14,396 pixels. fresh button must be clicked to get an accurate pixel count. This step is critical. 9. Divide the number of document pixels by the number of pixels in the white sq cm to find sq cm for the document. 2. Open the photo in Photoshop. In this example: 3. Select the document: use the Magic Document pixels to sq cm calculation: Wand tool to select the black area sur- 7,578,667 ÷ 14,396 = 526.66 sq cm rounding the document and any black Now we have the square centimeters of the docu- showing through holes in the document.* ment. For the formula we also need to measure the mass of the document. For this I use a balance beam. The mass of the document is 3.1 grams. Next, add to the selection the 1 cm white square using the Marquee tool. (To do this, hold down the Shift key while you drag a square around the 1 cm white square.) Take notice and write down the accurate pixel count; in this case, pixels = 7,578,667 (below): iPhone 7 photograph of a document on a black background with a 1 cm square piece of 4. From the main menu, choose Selec- white paper in the border. Note marching ants (marquee) dots around the document but not the 1 cm square (Step 3). tion/Inverse to invert the selection so that only the document is selected. *Magic Wand Palette Settings: At this point, a marquee (“marching Now the accurate weight (gsm) can be discovered: ants”) should be moving around the pe- Photoshop’s Magic Wand selects pixels based on tone and color. With Anti-alias and Con- rimeter of the document – holes and all. tiguous checked, choose a tolerance that selects all the black while not selecting into the doc- (mass ÷ area x 10,000 = gsm) ument. Increasing or lowering the tolerance will make the wand choose a larger or smaller 3.1g ÷ 526.66 sq cm x 10,000 = 58.86 gsm 5. Next, open the Histogram palette range of values. Click areas while holding down the Shift key to add to a selection; click ar- (from the main menu, choose “Window” eas while holding down the Option key to remove from a selection. Command+D deselects all. Alternately, if the black is sufficiently different than anything in the document, uncheck and note if there is a check mark before Contiguous and all blacks will be selected with one click.

23 24 V

Processing Paper Fiber in the Studio

Beating kōzo

26 processing processing Pulp & furnish preparation for “Paper is made in the beater” blender processing

ydration and fibrillation occur during fiber processing, when As previously described, it is pos- Select & weigh fiber: use the PaperWeight app to calculate the the heavy hammers of a stamper and the fly bars of the beat- sible to predetermine the grams 1 weight of fiber needed for a specific gsm paper. Hing engine pound onto wet shards of linen and hemp rags, causing of raw material needed to make the fibers of the cloth to stress, fray, and swell with water. Various a specific weight (gsm) paper. For degrees of hydration and fibrillation are responsible for produc- example, to make a 60 gsm sheet ing the wide variety of papers we have come to enjoy. Expertise for a 5.7 cm diameter paper (2.25 and experience at the processing stage will confirm the axiom that inch) we can calculate using this “paper is made in the beater” rather than during sheet formation method that 0.15 grams of dry at the vat: it is at this stage, as fibers are hydrated, fibrillated, sepa- fiber will be needed. (i.e., pro- rated and made shorter in the beating engine, where the character- cessed abaca, flax, or cotton lint- istics of the finished sheet are actually determined. While shorter er, or a combination of the three). fibers articulate laid lines and are desirable in some watermarked Dry half-stuff fibers are best if hy- Hollander Beater (beating engine) for paper, folding endurance and tear strength are eventually dimin- drated for an hour or more before processing fiber. ished by prolonged processing. blending. Soaking overnight is Soak the fibers overnight before blending to increase the recommended and will increase 2 tear and tensile strength of the resulting paper resulting paper strength. Blender modifications 3 Add water and any additives, then blend until fibers Prior to blending, always soak fi- are separated.* Not always having access to laboratory beaters or stamper mills, bers for at least one hour – Soak- most small-scale paper studios rely to some extent on kitchen and ing will increase the tear and ten- commercial food processors and blenders. Unfortunately, the stan- sile strength of the finished sheet. dard thin, sharp blades of this type of equipment catch the fibers, Next add a few grams of CaCO3 creating knots and tangles; they can also harm cellulose fibers by and/or MgCO3 as buffering shortening and cutting the fibers, thereby exposing oxidation sites agent and antioxidant. For a more which weakens the paper and shortens its life expectancy. opaque and harder paper, add kaolin, (aka China clay) and or In a series of experiments, I substituted the knife-sharp blades of white pigment (titanium dioxide). a commercial blender for a bladeless device with hydropulper-in- Retention aid can be added at the Illustration of fibrillation and fines (from spired vanes. This durable plastic rotary propeller, created using end of blending to attract clay to top: fibrils, cut cell ends, and flaky gran- a 3-D printer with PLA filament, hydrates and fibrillates without fibers, thereby losing less of your ular material) being released from a fiber noticeably cutting or entangling the fibers. additives in the “white water.” and fiber wall. By design, kitchen blenders are made to cut, pulverize, whip and Blend for 2 to 3 minutes in a Processing creates fines and abrades cel- lulose fibers causing fibrillation so that chop ingredients for our culinary pleasure. Their sharp cutting blender with blades reversed (see Use caution and be safe with the spinning blades of mixer. Use a GFCI outlet (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) to avoid electrocution. frayed fibrils extend from the main fiber, blades are always the leading edge of their (counter-clockwise) next page). After blending, add increasing the fiber’s surface area, and rotation. A simple modification to the blender blade assembly of 10 ml to 25 ml of tororo-aoi (PNP therefore its bonding potential. Increased a Hamilton Beach commercial blender disables this cutting edge: formation aid) for slower drain- *Blender Notes: In a freeness test of flax and abaca pulp processed in a kitchen type processing (longer beating times) creates simply disassemble, invert, and reassemble the blades so that the age, smoother paper formation blender, we found that 5 minutes of blending (whipping) reduced freeness from 400CSF to 350CSF and another 5 minutes blending (total 10 minutes) reduced freeness another more fibrillation, “wetter” pulp, and hard- cutting edge is the trailing edge and the blunt edge is the lead and a well-formed sheet. Briefly er, more rattly paper with more tensile and 50ml to 300CSF. Folding strength rose in the first 5 min and then diminished after 10 tear strength in the finished sheet. How- edge. This easy switch (brought to my attention by artist Guy Die- blend again with added forma- min of blending. One strategy to make a kitchen blender more like a commercial hydro- pulper is to change out the blades for a flat plate with pulp impeller vanes for more hy- ever, at a certain point, extended beating hl) produces more “beating” and less cutting during processing. tion aid (1 second), decant, and dration and fibrillation with less cutting or if the blender model design permits, detach, weakens the sheet, makes a progressively Freeness tests done with this inverted blade produce results com- stir or shake vigorously to break invert the blades and reassemble (see opposite page). translucent paper and a paper with less parable to the hydropulper blade. up the knots settle air bubbles dimensional stability. caused by blending.

27 28 blender modification blender modification Hamilton Beach blade reversal Hydropulper-inspired blender blade

Standard, default assembly: Hamilton Beach commercial blender blade assembly Rotation

Blunt edges Trailing

Cutting blades leading Fabricating hydropulper-style blade on a 3-D printer.

Reversing blade orientation: Inverted blades make the blunt edge the leading edge:

Rotation

Cutting blades now trailing Blunt edges leading Hydropulper modified blender blade

Invert blender blades for less Blender modification cutting action Hydropulper-style blade (detail) with pulp impeller vanes

29 30 grinder pump micro hammermill

Grinder Pump: In my quest to find unconventional beating en- Glen Mills Culatti MHM-4 Micro Hammer Cutter Chopper gines that might more closely approximate the stamper engine Grinder Mill: Another possible candidate as a laboratory pulping of the past, I tested a BURCAM 400700P 3/4Hp Sewage Grinder processor, a hammermill is designed to crush aggregate materi- Pump. This is a sump pump that is designed to pump sewage and al into smaller pieces by the repeated blows of small hammers. associated flushable material by grinding as it pumps. The mill employed for these tests is designed with three hinged, swinging hammers that spin and hammer on whatever is inserted I submerged this pump in a 30 gallon garbage bin filled with wa- in the hopper. Certainly the name gives us hope that it may mimic ter. Next I slowly added soaked abaca and retted linen rags. The the process of a Renaissance stamper mill. pump churned up a storm and made quick work of abaca and ret- ted linen rags. Testing the freeness along the way, this device seems I attached a 1” interior diameter hose to the output and looped to de-fiber without hydrating or fibrillating. In test after test over a it around to the input hopper - a five foot circumference. Testing period of 25 minutes of preprocessing the freeness seemed frozen with water, the hammering action acts like a pump, moving 1 lt of at 740CSF. To this free pulp I added blended MgCO3, CaCO3 and fiber and water fast and efficiently around the five foot loop. titanium dioxide for the furnish.

Sheet formation was fast – very fast – sheets formed and drained in 3.5 seconds. I couched onto very coarse Navajo-Churro natural felts with fleece diameters of up to 65nm. After pressing the sheets to 50 tons I dried the sheets individually, unconstrained, hung on horsehair rope. The dyed waterleaf sheets were sized in a 3% solu- tion of rabbit skin hide glue at 130° to 145.° The resulting paper was cloudy but strong with some show through of the laid screen (mostly due to the titanium dioxide). The free pulp and attendant dimensional stability (lack of shrinkage) made for amazing and clear felt hair marks.

I believe this is a viable processor for de-fibering half stuff for the creation of a dimensionally stable finished paper. It may also pos- sibly be useful for making cotton pulp for casting. The lack of hy- dration using this recirculation “grinder pump” was not sufficient to produce viable hand formed sheets. The sheets made with fur- nish from this device were cloudy and uneven.

31 32 hand beating kōzo bark hand beating kōzo bark

Cooking and Hand Beating Kōzo Bark

ooking and cleaning kōzo bark to a large extent he cooked, rinsed and cleaned kōzo must next be determines what the finished paper’s charac- beaten to further break down the bark. As this Cteristics will be. Bark cooked with more or stronger Tbreakdown occurs, the fibers separate. This enables chemicals for a longer period at higher temperatures the fibers to disperse when stirred into water. It will produce a softer paper. Bark processed with a is a somewhat noisy process. Thick, firm beating minimum of chemicals for a shorter time will pro- surfaces help minimize the din. duce crisper and stronger paper. These processes call for the use of soda ash, a caustic substance which 1. Select a quantity of pulp equal to requires careful handling. that needed to make a loaf of bread. Squeeze out the excess water and place 1. Soak kōzo bark overnight in fresh water the pile on a sturdy and not-too-cher- to soften fibers, then drain. ished surface.

2. Fill a stainless steel or enamel pot with 2. Pound the pulp using a beating stick, water and bring to a boil. Never use an wooden mallet or the like. aluminum vessel as it will react with caustic solutions. 3. As each blow strikes the bark, notice how the impacted strands expand un- 3. Slowly stir in approximately 4 to 8 ounc- der the force. If this does not occur, the es of soda ash per pound of dry bark. blows are not sufficiently forceful.

4. Carefully add bark to the boiling water. 4. After flattening the pile of pulp with consecutive blows, push pulp back to- 5. Bring mixture back to a boil and simmer gether, rotate 90 degrees and continue immediately. beating. From time to time, invert the pile and fold in the ends. 6. After two to three hours of cooking, test a length of bark to see if the fibers 5. Continue beating for 10 to 20 minutes. will separate. If by pulling on a short, narrow piece of bark it separates with a slight tug, the bark is done. If not, continue cooking and test every 15 minutes. The longer the cooking time and the easier the fibers pull apart, the softer the resulting paper. Beating kōzo on a solid butcher block table: flatten the pile of cooked bark with alternating blows of the beating paddles, then gather the flattened mass and rotate it 90° to ensure all bark is evenly 7. Rinse cooked fibers by pouring them pounded. into a colander and flushing with water until the runoff is clear.

Safety: Alkali chemicals such as soda ash can burn the skin and eyes, and should always be added to water and not the reverse, as spattering can occur. It is also a good idea to wear rubber gloves, a vinyl or rubber apron, and safety glasses when handling such chemicals. Even in a diluted state these chemicals have a drying and cracking effect on the skin, sowear rubber gloves. Caustic soda (NaOH) is not recommended: it is dangerous to handle and very harsh on the fibers.

33 34 VI

Paper Color Matching

Naginata beater used to separate cooked kōzo, mitsumata and gampi – a modern day machine designed to defiber paper mulberry.

35 36 color matching color matching Calculating and blending half-stuff to visually match a target paper color

Spectrophotometer Settings: On the X-Rite Creating a paper of the same color (value and hue) of a target sheet Use the spectrophotometer to measure the Lab value of the Sphere spectrophotometer, I use D50-2 (a is often done by trial and error or in-painting/tinting after the fact. 3 target sheet, sampling from non-image areas where the pa- human viewing color in a 5000° light at a 2° To make a paper with a more accurate infill paper color, a spectro- per is not stained. Within Photoshop (in 8-bit RGB mode) make angle-of-view). “Analyze” is selected in the photometer and Photoshop can be used to calculate the relative menu of the device; “Spectral highlight” is and fill a 10 pixel x 10 pixel rectangle with the Lab value of the percentages of available dry pulp (half-stuff) needed to create a off. I set the preferences to average 3 sample target sheet. Note: In a 10 x 10 pixel square there are 100 pixels; although this small reads to get a more accurate Lab result. specific paper color when blended. size is sufficient for our purposes, a 100 x 100 pixel document would be more accurate, giving 2 decimal places in your pulp-blending percentage formula. Note: For these tests the half-stuff pulps were sourced from handmade paper suppliers. Whereas Lab color is designed to approxi- Additionally, I found various sources for raw fiber and textile cuttings that I processed mate human vision and is device-indepen- Next, select from the main menu: Image > Mode > Indexed into dry half-stuff; shredding, retting, cooking dent, RGB is the color space for computer in soda ash, washing and beating/breaking in a 4 Color. To load your Pulp Palette use the pull-down menu: monitors and CMYK is the color space for Valley Iron Works beater. Additives: MgCO3 and Custom > Load; find your PulpPalette.aco that you made of your process printers; hence my use of Lab. CaCO3 were added during breaking. I made the pulp colors. Within that dialog box, change the settings to: Dither furnish in an inverted-blade-blender for 2 to 3 = Pattern, Forced = None and click OK. Photoshop will choose the minutes and added formation aid prior to sheet closest colors in the PulpPalette.aco to render your target color. formation. X-Rite Sphere Spectrophotometer Note: The more colors of pulp in your palette, the more accurate your result. Photoshop’s limit is 256 colors (8 bit). Make and document test pieces of paper from available 1 pulp half-stuff you have on hand. (Use the fast and efficient 5 Your small square is now “indexed” into the colors of your AeroPress techniques for making small sheets). With the spectro- PulpPalette.aco. Zoom in so you can see the pixels. In this photometer set to “Analyze,” measure the Lab values of each test test, Photoshop chose three of the seven colors of pulp to best paper. match our target color: Hemp, Bleached Abaca and Lt Linen Rag.

With the Magic Wand Tool set to a tolerance of 1, Anti-alias unchecked and Contiguous unchecked, choose one of the values with the magic Lab values: 88, 2, 11 = Hemp (84) 92, 1, 8 = Abaca bleached (12) wand. All colors of that value will then be selected. Paper color test sheets made from natural 90, 1, 7 = Lt. Linen Rag (4) fibers with the addition of MgCO3, CaCO3 and formation aid (made with an AeroPress) 6 As you select each of the 3 differ- ent sets of color pixels, the Histo- Documented Lab values of the sample sheets gram dialog box will show the number of pixels selected, which represents the In Photoshop, delete old swatch percentage of pulp that should be used 2 of each fiber type. colors and make a new Swatch Palette propagated with the Lab val- Note: To discern which fiber type a pixel value ues of colors obtained from your sam- represents, open the Info Dialog box (from the ple sheets. Swatch colors are made one Window pull-down menu). From the dialog’s at a time by clicking on the Tool Pal- pull-down menu select Palette Options and set ette foreground color and editing the the CMYK space to show Lab values instead. Lab values in Color Picker. Now, when you mouse over a pixel, you will see a Lab value of a pixel which you can compare to When you add a color to Swatches palette: “Pull Down your master pulp list. swatches it will be the fore- Menu” & “New Swatch” circled ground color you created. When all colors have been named and added to Swatch- For this test, the fibers will be blended in the following proportions: The result of this test: AeroPress laid paper es, click the palette menu and choose Save Swatches. made in test proportions, photographed on our 84% Hemp • 12% Bleached Abaca • 4% Lt. Linen target page from a 1547 manuscript. Save as PulpPalette.aco Expanded Photoshop Swatches palette with seven colors of pulp 37 38 color matching color matching

Making subsets of pulp color palettes: Example: an AeroPress test sheet reveals the need When working with a more extensive pulp color library, colors to remove Sisal (color 17) from the palette: representing unwanted fibers may be turned off to eliminate the In the test on the left (paper disk), my sisal half- selection of those fibers. For example, when making a 16th cen- stuff (made from coffee-retted bean sacks) was part tury paper repair, the bright whites of cotton rag and cotton lint- of the color formula but added many speckles that er might not be desirable. Since we are indexing to a palette of were not appropriate for the project. After remov- available colors, we must remove the unwanted color(s) from the ing that swatch and re-indexing to the limited pal- palette and then re-index, per the steps below: ette, I had a new recipe with which to work, sans sisal. Photoshop compensated by adding more 1. In the Swatches palette drop-down menu, choose “Replace swatch- and less of other swatch colors, resulting in a color es” and select your saved pulp color palette. Be sure you are view- blending formula that was nearly perfect. ing swatches in list view: in the Swatches palette drop-down menu, choose “Small Thumbnail” or “Large List” view. If you labeled your colors, the name of each fiber will appear alongside its swatch color in “Large List” mode.

2. Open Preset Manager from the Swatches palette drop-down menu.

3. Within this dialog box, right-click (control-click) on the swatch and delete the undesirable fiber color(s). Alternatively, set their Lab value to 0,0,0 (black).

4. Select “Save swatches” from the Swatches palette drop-down menu. Take note where you are saving and choose a unique name, Expanded Photoshop Swatches palette in Large noting removed fiber(s). List view

Swatches palette in Small Thumbnail view Cotton linter, cotton rag and sisal have been set to black to prevent them from being chosen.

39 40 VII

Making paper with a 3D printed Deckle Box and an Aerobie® AeroPress®

42 preparation preparation

Modifications & screen/felt preparation

When making handmade paper at smaller scale, it is possible to make custom wa- Wove screen: To make wove paper, use 38 mesh polyester screening; use two of these termarks and laid screen patterns on wove screen surfaces using silkscreen or UV for wove paper to interrupt the pattern of holes in the end cap. Copper or brass screen inkjet printing. We design our laid lines and watermarks using Photoshop, creating may also be used. files at 300 ppi and printing them on 140 mesh polyester. For improved results, we printed each file multiple times to build up ink thickness (possible using a UV Laid screen: A laid pattern or watermark can be made by using a UV acrylic printer to printer). Between printing passes, we modified the Photoshop file, reducing line print a pattern onto a 140 mesh polyester screen used in silkscreen. thickness so that the ink build up was pyramidal, mimicking wire curvature.

Watermarks & Laid screen printed on a UV Inkjet printer: Laser or hand cut the perimeter of For the AeroPress, the Deckle Cyl- the screens: for UV printed circular inder lip must be sanded to ac- screens, to a 6.3cm diameter; for commodate two or three layers of Deckle box square screens, to an 8.3 screen. Use a sanding block and cm rectangle. take 0.03 or 0.04 of an inch off the top plane of the lip to hone it down to 0.635 cm stand-off (0.25 inch proud). Too much sanding is better than too little.

AeroPress and Deckle box instructions are very similar, besides the fact that the Aero- Press is cylindrical and the Deckle Box is rectangular. That said, it is easier to form Affix a 5.7cm diameter felt to Aero- Felt: Use 50 to 60 micron fleece to approximate an even sheet using the deckle box, as the waves created are linear and have more in Press (or a 7.6 cm square of felt a 16th-century texture. Use 20 to 30 micron common with a traditional mould. to Deckle Box) using a minimal fleece felt to make a paper with a smoother sur- amount of spray cement. face texture. (Woven felts with finer fleece be- came common in the 18th century, eliminating the felt-hair textures of earlier centuries when papermakers used a non-woven, coarser fleece felt.)

43 44 sheet forming forming/pressing Forming a 6.7cm (3 inch) square sheet of Couching & pressing using Deckle Box paper using a 3D printed Deckle Box and felt tipped block

Small Deckle Box parts 1 Using the app PaperWeight, this small Insert felt tip block and 4b. To retain felt hair marks: 6.7x 6.7 cm (3 x 3 in) deckle box allows us to make a 7.6 4 press hard, compacting Press felt tip block into newly formed cm square sheet of paper of predetermined sheet early, just before the sheet com- the fibers and squeezing out weight, content, color and texture by virtue of pletely drains. For 16th century paper- the confined elongated deckle frame which has water. Apply as much pressure makers tasked with making 2000 sheets a volume of about 500ml. Here I demonstrate as possible. a day, draining the sheet even five sec- making a 95 gsm (g/m2) sheet. In the app onds longer than necessary was a luxu- (left), I entered my desired paper weight and ry they could not afford. Couching and the dimensions of the deckle frame to find the pressing early allows us to mimick their amount of dry fiber needed to blend my fur- hasty technique, which unintentionally nish. 5 Invert and remove end yielded sheets with galaxies of felt hair cap and screens. Leav- mark texture. Wood ing the newly formed paper pressing on the felt. After pressing, remove the screens care- block fully, leaving the paper on the felt of the Insert screens into the 2 block. Use blotters to partially dry the end cap then rinse paper on the block felt, giving the fibers a in water so the screens lay chance to solidify the felt hair marks into flat. Inserting Deckle Box the paper prior to a hot iron for speed Felt Frame; check that the frame drying. is pressed all the way down To maximize felt hair marks: and not buckling the screens. • Use linen/hemp-based rags Submerged assembled Deck- • Ret thoroughly until rags easily torn le Box in an inch of • Hydrate minimally to a freeness of at water and pour in least 500 CSF measured, blended • Couch onto coarse heritage felts pulp (furnish). • Couch early with minimal drainage Deckle Box • Use 50 tons pressure; press on felt over- Frame night if possible • No pack pressing • Air dry individually (unconstrained)

Lift deckle box from the shallow basin and shake side to side 6b. Optional: To speed drainage, vacuum with wet-dry shop vac. If this is done prior 3 and front to back as the water drains, “weaving” fiber align- to plunger pressing, texture from the felt ment into a cross pattern. Shaking in will not be as prominent. Screens only one direction creates a unidi- rectional fiber alignment – a “grain” 6 direction in the finished sheet. After 5 to 10 stronger shakes, finish with a Press the moist sheet onto blot- few seconds of gentle shakes (vibra- ters multiple times, switching tions). Wait 15 to 30 seconds for final to dry blotters - more blotting drainage with no shaking. results in less time with evap- oration drying. Note: Drainage time varies according to End cap furnish hydration and paper weight. (press fit)

45 46 sheet forming forming/pressing Forming a 5.7cm (2.25 inch) circular sheet Couching & pressing using an AeroPress of paper using a modified AeroPress

1. Use two of the coarser 38 mesh polyester back- 5, 5a. Drain and stir with AeroPress provided ing screens as the bottom screen; insert this into 1 Select Screens to make wove, laid or watermarked paper. Allow water to Insert Plunger into stirring device as deemed necessary. the End Cap. This separates the forming screen 5 6 Cylinder, and press and keeps the end cap from leaving a polka-dot drain from pulp. pattern that will be visible in your sheet when very slowly. held up to light. For wove paper, use two 38 mesh polyester screens simultaneously; for even smoother wove paper, combine two coarse screens with the finer 140 mesh screen.

2. With the two or three selected screens insert- Laid Wove ed, twist the end cap onto the Deckle Cylinder. (If it does not twist on, more sanding of the lip 5a is required.) Check to be sure that the screens did not bulge; if so, they may need trimming. A bulge in the screens will make a uneven sheet. 5b. Optional: Vacuum with wet-dry shop vac prior to plunger pressing for faster drainage 3. Submerge assembled deckle cylinder into an and texture variation. inch or so of water before adding the furnish. The layer of water acts as a buffer, allowing the furnish to disperse evenly. Continue pressing on a 4. Pour pulp (furnish) from a distance to facili- 7 tate even distribution of the pulp. You can lift the sturdy surface. 5b Deckle Cylinder out of the water as you pour. 2 Twist the end cap & screens onto the Deckle Cylinder. Note: The diameter of the finished paper is about 5.7cm depending on shrinkage. Therefore, 0.25 grams of dry fiber will make a 102 gms (g/m2) weight paper. Use the app PaperWeight at www. magnoliapaper.com to calculate other weights. 8 Remove the End Cap When making small sheets by hand one continue pressing with might wonder if sponging or a hand-operat- cylinder onto a blotter. ed coffee maker can provide enough pressure to press a newly formed sheet. Here are some comparisons: 6. Slowly press the Felt-tipped Plunger down against the pulp. Too much pressure too fast 20-Ton Hydraulic Press Pour blended pulp into the 3 4 creates ridges in the paper. 20 tons = 40,000 pounds submerged Deckle Cylinder. 22 x 30 inches = 660 square inches 7. On a sturdy surface, continue pressing as 40,000 ÷ 660 square inches = 60.6 psi Submerge the the Felt-tipped Plunger squeezes water from assembled Deckle the newly formed sheet. For most types of pa- per, apply as much pressure as possible. Vacuum table Cylinder into an Many papermakers use a vacuum table inch of water. 8. Unscrew and remove the End Cap and to remove water and press paper. If it screens from the partially pressed sheet. Press were possible to pull a perfect vacu- the wet paper directly on a felt or blotter. um at sea level, their psi = 14.7 psi (or Carefully move to another location on the blotter and press again; this step may be re- 29 in Hg [inches of mercury]). Using At this stage the sheet, although still moist, should tolerate handling. peated multiple times to remove more mois- Magnolia’s vacuum table we are able to ture. Then, leaving the paper on the blotter, re- achieve 23 in Hg = 11.3 psi move plunger from cylinder and if necessary press again. AeroPress: A 2.25 inch diameter circle = 3.97 sq. in. 90 pounds hand pressure ÷ 3.97 sq. in. = 22.6 psi

47 48 VIII

Sheet Formation on Ribbed Mould without a Vat with a predetermined quantity of furnish

50 ribbed mould forming/couching

Determinate papermaking with a traditional ribbed mould and deckle A rectangle of mylar, cut to fit the inner frame of the deckle, in- *Formation aid slows drainage, allow- orming a sheet on a traditional Western mould involves dip- cludes a tab protruding from the long side. When the mylar is ing more time to make a well-formed sheet. After blending half-stuff for 2 to 3 ping the mould into a vat of furnish, scooping an estimated placed on the mould and covered by the deckle, the tab protrudes F minutes, add 25 ml of formation aid and quantity into the boundaries of the deckle, and forming a sheet. from under the deckle, through the slot, towards the far side of blend for another 1 second; with more Experience increases the likelihood of making a sheet that hews to the mould. blending, foam becomes a problem. Stir- an intended weight. To make a determinate, known-gsm-weight ring, shaking or pouring from beaker to paper on this type of mould requires a re-design of the deckle, per With the mylar blocking the drainage of the mould, furnish (with beaker helps agitate the furnish just prior below: a traditional mould outfitted with a modified deckle. formation aid or tororo-aoi to slow drainage)* is poured into the to filling the deckle. It is easy to notice when too much formation aid is used: deckle, filling the deckle area. Then, like the magic trick where a drainage seems to take forever. table setting remains in place when a tablecloth is pulled from the Traditional vat sheet forming table, the mylar is quickly pulled (via the tab) from the mould, Note: When using PNP (granular) forma- Modi ed deckle allowing the furnish to drain and the maker to form a sheet. tion aid, mix the solution at least one day in advance. Formation aid has a long shelf life in After draining, the deckle is removed and the paper is couched liquid and granular form. onto a felt, then pressed and dried as previously described.

Slot for Mylar barrier removal Mylar barrier Pull tab Removable laid or wove screen A

Fill deckle with furnish Use PaperWeight to determine fiber mass for target gsm B In one quick motion, pull the pro- Ribbed mould 3-D printed traditional mould and deckle truding tab to remove the mylar bar- 3D printed ribbed mould with a modified deckle, rier. While holding the mould level, slide-out Mylar barrier and removable laid or wove screen immediately shake forward, back, and from side to side to make a well- formed sheet.

*Our modifed mould, deckle and laid Using a 3-D printer* we printed a 14.5 cm x 21.5 cm (5.75” x 8.5”) Drain and remove deckle. screen were printed on a Type A (PLA) standard ribbed mould and a modified deckle. We increased the printer. Our design is based on a 3-D height of the inner wall of the deckle to create a confined area, en- model design generously provided to us by hand papermaking inventor Bri- abling us to pour and trap a measured quantity of furnish for each C an Queen. Brian modeled his mould sheet of paper. Additionally, a slot was created on the long side of using Geomagic. Magnolia Master the deckle’s bottom edge for a plastic furnish barrier. Couching onto felt with a ribbed mould Printer Nicholas Price imported Bri- (per traditional Western method): an’s .stl file into Fusion 360 and made Place one long edge on a moist felt and roll the necessary modifications. through the couch as illustrated. With the first sheet of a post it is best to stop and press hard on the ribs while the mould is flat, then lift up the first edge that was planted. Italian paper- makers in particular seem to prefer a curved surface for couching, though it is not usually necessary with smaller moulds.

51 52 de-watering de-watering

De-watering newly couched paper by hand: Efficient de-watering using hydraulics: Individually couched sheets can be pressed and water removed using a sponge. Although a stack of formed paper and felts (a post) can be pressed in a book press, better results are gained by using a hydraulic platen With paper safely between felts or polyester interfacing, gently sponge press. Many years ago, desperate for more pressure, I inserted a long water from the moist sheet. Once the paper is more compressed and pole into the crank of an arched frame, standing book press for more solidified, switch to using as leverage; while I did achieve more pressure, I also managed to crack much pressure as you can the cast iron arch, rendering it useless and unrepairable. muster. This takes a few min- utes and requires wringing Hydraulic presses come in all sizes, since the size of the press must out the sponge at regular in- scale both in size and strength according to sheet and felt dimen- tervals. sions.

The sponging process can be The sheets in a post are traditionally pressed multiple times before be- helped along by switching ing dried. The paper’s firstpost pressing, between felts, removed the from the sponge to pressing bulk of the water and required the most pressure (50 psi or so). In the on dry blotters. second pressing, called pack pressing, the damp sheets are separated (parted) from the felts and are gently pressed while stacked and in contact with one another (at about 5.5 psi). For finer, less textured pa- per, the sheets are separated while still wet from the second pressing, shuffled, and re-pressed. With each additional shuffle and re-pressing the paper becomes incrementally smoother. De-watering with a book press:

It is possible to press paper in a book- With numerous felts cut slightly larger than the paper being made and two boards a bit larger that the press. The pressure developed will not felts, but able to slide into the opening of the hydraulic press, couching may begin. Couching builds be ideal, although it will get the job up a layered, carefully aligned stack of alternating felt and paper. Couching becomes more natural started. The pressing can be augment- when the post develops a natural curve, allowing for a quick, arcing transfer of paper from mould to ed by inserting dry blotters top and felt. When your supply of felts is exhausted, insert the post and center it in the hydraulic press. Bring bottom after the initial pressing and the press up to pressure slowly to allow water to drain at a slow even rate. As the pressure builds, less then repressing with fresh blotters sev- water will squeeze out. It is best to use the full (maximum) force of what ever device you choose to eral more times. use. I have never overpressed a post of paper; our current press is regularly taken to 50 tons pressure. Let the post set for approximately 15 minutes after full pressure is reached.

Parting: Release the pressure and remove the pressed post from the hydraulic press. Peel off the top felts, exposing the top sheet on the interleaved post. Lift the sheet from two corners of one end. With about ¼ of the sheet lifted, slide a slice (wooden stick) under the lifted sheet and lower the sheet onto the slice; lifting the slice lifts the sheet. Nearby, have a board and single felt at a 45° incline waiting for the pressed sheet on the slice. With a flick of the slice, the sheet is laid onto the felt. The next felt is removed and a sheet exposed; this sheet is lifted on the slice and becomes the second sheet of the pack. With a flapping motion the sheet is “thrown” and lands with a slight cushion of air, making it somewhat easy to align accurately on top of the previous sheet.

Pack pressing: Where the felt interspersed post was pressed to maximum pressure, the pack is pressed to only 10% of the of maximum. Once the pack is pressed , at one corner of the pressed pack, lift sheets one at a time, counting to 6; peel all 6 from the pack to make a spur (more sheets for thinner paper, fewer for thicker paper). For paper with a maximum degree of coarse texture, skip the pack pressing and dry the sheets individually and unrestrained.

53 54 hanging paper

Hanging sheets after pack pressing: A. Place T off center on spur B. Fold the top sheet of the spur over T C. Lift the single spur sheet off spru D. Hang sheet on rope or pole IX

A B Drying Handmade Paper

C D

55 56 air drying determining dryness

Air drying Determining the dryness of paper

Determining dryness of paper: Using an Infrared Digital Temperature Gun Thermometer with laser point, take the temperature of drying paper and com- pare its temperature to a dry sheet to determine if the sheet is completely dry. If the temperature reading of the air drying paper is cooler than a dry sheet’s temperature reading, the paper is still damp.

When water goes from a liquid to a gas (evaporation), it absorbs latent heat. So a wet sheet whose water is in the process of evaporation is cooler than a sheet that is completely dry. This same Dry paper principal is effective when using a stack dryer (p. 66) with a dual digital remote Sized sheets hung on rounded pole to dry: probe thermometer: one measuring the room temperature and one measuring hether hand-sponged, hydraulically pressed or having had the exiting air temperature. Wmoisture removed with a vacuum, paper must be dried fur- ther, to about 2 to 10% moisture depending on the relative humidity In the example at right, both tempera- in your environment. tures read 73°, therefore the foreground sheet (the sheet in question) is dry. There are many paths you can follow to dry paper. The easiest is just to let sheets air dry: simply lay the paper down on a clean surface, or hang it to dry and wait for nature to take its course and the mois- ture in the sheet reach an equilibrium with the relative humidity of your environment. (see Determining the dryness of paper, p.58)

The speed of evaporation depends on the temperature of the wet pa- Speed drying (heated surface drying) per; the air temperature; air humidity; and air velocity above the pa- per’s surface. Raising the air temperature and velocity will speed dry- A hot iron works for a quick test for small sheets, like an Aero- ing time but, if unconstrained, will make for a cockled sheet, curled Press 5.7 cm circle. After sheet forming, pressing and blotting, iron Individual sheets or spurs can also be hung on unevenly due to the differential in shrinkage between the damp and rounded pole to dry sample between blotters. Next, carefully invert the iron, using it dry areas of the paper and the differential surface grain of the wire as a hot plate; allow the disk to slide around, flipping it regularly and felt sides created when the sheet was formed. On the other hand, as if toasting flatbread or a tortilla. As the sheet dries and starts to high humidity and slower drying will help minimize the cockling. Air cockle, resume ironing between dry blotters. drying unconstrained sheets will likely produce a pronounced surface texture and a cockled sheet. This cockle can be flattened over time, first by lightly re-moistening with an atomizer, coaxed flat then placed (one or more sheets) under a felt to dry slowly. The sheets will retain the surface texture, but will dry flatter. Then, pressing or weighting groups of (twice dried) sheets with increasing pressure rotating the sheets regularly, will result in beautifully textured, flat sheets. This method of single sheet, unconstrained drying or loft drying produces the maximum degree of surface texture. (see Sizing and Finishing p. 72)

Spur drying the paper in groups (pack pressing and separating 4 to 8 sheets at a time) constrains the sheets in the spur, producing less cockling and less texture. A variation of this traditional approach is to Above: tortilla/flatbread style. Slide sample around on the sur- couch and press the paper onto a felt or polyester blotter and let the The iron is perfect for quickly drying small test sam- face of a hot iron, flipping frequently, alternated with ironing sheet and interfacing felt air dry together; the polyester interfacing will ples; Japanese papermakers also dry large sheets on between blotters (right). Be careful with this process. Gravity-assisted marble paper drying rack constrain the paper to some extent smoothing the texture and keeping hot surfaces. 57 the sheet more or less flat. Simply peel paper from felt when dry. 58 constrained drying constrained drying

Interestingly, paper swelling properties are diminished via addi- Dry under weight between blotters for medium texture. tional drying processes: repeated wet and dry cycles make for a more dimensionally stable paper. This is why older papers that have been through multiple humidity changes over time tend to expand, contract and cockle less than a newly-dried sheet. Multi- ple wet and dry processing cycles can make your sheet more close- ly match the minimal swelling of an antique sheet.

All air drying techniques benefit from a less hydrated stock, mea- sured as freeness (see p. 12). A freer pulp makes for a more dimen- sionally stable paper that is less likely to cockle and less likely, for example, to pop off a drying surface before completely dry. In Plexi general, more freeness produces a less cockled sheet.

Drying under pressure (constrained drying) Blotters

Damp paper rying paper under pressure, so it is constrained as it dries, maintains flatness as the humidity equalizes during the migra- Dtion and evaporation of the moisture from a newly formed sheet. Force dry under weight with heat in a dry mount hot press Constrained drying helps maintain a distance between the fiber as Heat forces moisture down to air passage where blown air removes mois- they dry making for a more dimensionally stable paper. ture. Note: This “Hot Press” method, although smooth, fast and forceful, can over-dry paper.

One common technique for drying paper under pressure is to Heat (hot press) place the damp paper between alternating layers of blotters (cot- Mat board ton, polyester or another absorbent material) under weight. The Wet paper blotter is changed 3 or 4 times at increasingly longer intervals until Corrugated or Breather Mesh the paper is dry.

Drum dryers and hot presses can dry a paper flat but can also be hard on the paper if allowed to over-dry, as the prolonged applica- tion of heat during drying drives the moisture out of the inter-fiber spaces, capillaries, and lumens of cell wall in each fiber. This lost moisture is important to paper’s flexibility and tenacity. Normal, dry paper has a moisture content of between 2 and 10% depending on the paper and the relative humidity of its environment. Avouid overdrying your paper. Forced drying of paper via hot press has its place, but is no panacea.

59 60 constrained drying constrained drying

Stack dryer

irst introduced to me by Crown Point Press in 1973, the stack dry- er has my vote for ease, efficiency, and effectiveness when a Stack dryer, drying under pressure Fflat, smoother surface texture is desired. It is based on the princi- while removing moisture ples of evaporation, and equilibrium. Wet sheets are constrained under pressure, trapped between alternating layers of blotters, mat board and cardboard – moisture migrates from the wet paper through neutral pH blotters and mat board to fluted air passages in cardboard or breather mesh and evaporates until a stack and the

wet paper is dry, reaching equilibrium with the relative humidity corrugated cardboard mat board of the local environment. blotter

Stack drying for small dimension paper has the added advantages of being compact, efficient, and easy to implement. Additionally, the paper surface will depend on the texture of the material in con- tact with the sheet in the stack dryer, as paper dried under pres- AeroPress deckle box sure conforms to the surfaces between which it is dried. damp paper damp paper

2b. Place the damp paper between alternating layers of blotters, 4-ply acid-free mat board, and corrugated cardboard. Force air through cardboard flutes with a fan

2c. Use a book press, a lever press or a heavy weight to apply pressure to hold the paper flat under a firm surface; next, position a crossflow fan to blow air through the corrugated flutes. The moisture will mi- grate up through the blotters and mat board to the cardboard while the moving air will evaporate the moisture. In 4 to 12 hours the paper will be dry and flat, but never overly dry.

Other paper drying techniques include friction drying, stretch drying (i.e. watercolor stretching), humidification chamber dry- ing, and screen drying (between two stretched screens).

Book press stack dryer with crossflow fan

Weighted stack dryer

61 62 constrained drying constrained drying

Box or Stack Dryer Configuration Drying under pressure while removing moisture

With precisely cut sheets of double-wall acid free corrugated cardboard, blotters and mat board a multi-layered high rise stack of air permiable layers interlaced with damp sheets will dry paper under pressure (constrained). Pressure is needed to keep the stack firmly held in place as air is blown through the flutes drying the paper overnight.

corrugated cardboard mat board blotter

damp paper

Box Dryer built by David Reina Insert stack (alternating acid-free and buffered corrugat- ed double-wall board, mat board, blotters and damp pa- per), apply screw pressure and turn on fan. Expect paper to be dry by the next day.

63 64 constrained drying constrained drying Alternate stack drying system 8 x 10 inch paper, dry in 1 hour with no heat

4cm rying paper under pressure4cm and flat without the use of heat can be done using a stack dryer with easily procured mat Dboard and cardboard components. However, use of corrugated cardboard in the stack as described has some disadvantages in- cluding fluted texture transfer, possible pH migration, and slow drying time. A more efficient stack dryer can be built with rubber mats, breather mesh and polyester blotters, using a fan to pull or blow air through the veins of the stack. The stack described below is very effective: a 50gsm hand-sponged, 8 x 10 inch paper dried flat in one hour. Fine Breather Mesh Determining when the paper in the stack is dry: 4cm 4cm Using a digital thermometer, place its probe in the path of the exit- ing air to monitor air temperature (see illustrations below and op- posite page). Moisture evaporating from the sheet(s) of wet paper cools the exiting air; when evaporation has ceased, the thermome- ter indicates room temperature and the paper is dry.

Distributed weights or Drying stack illustration Coarse Breather Mesh book press

Pressure on the drying stack ensures that the paper dries flat. De-

4cm [Repeat fine breather mesh and paper stack] 4cm pending on sheet size, distributed 5 kg weights may be adequate. Thermometer probe Coarse Breather Mesh On the other hand, excessive pressure (for example, in a book Fine Breather Mesh press) can transfer breathing mesh texture or interface texture to Aluminum window screen the sheets being dried. Take care to test and analyze your stack Heavyweight interfacing, blotter and/ composition and pressure. Add to the moisture-permeable buffer or felt between paper and bumpy textures of the airflow passages (by Moist paper Heavyweight interfacing, blotter and/ adding interfacing, felt, 4-ply and/or window screen) to compen- or felt Aluminum window screen sate for added pressure. Be sure to use archival materials which Fine Breather Mesh will not transfer acid to your sheet.

Air Flow

Further reading: Rubber mat with Study of the Effect of Drying Methods on the Physical, Chemical, and Microbiological Properties of Various Kinds of .5 cm high cones Paper, National Library of the Czech Republic, Prague State Central Archives in Prague: spaced .8cm http://www2.caslin.cz/fondy/e_suseni.htm

Stack dryer without the use of corrugated cardboard Fundamentals of Paper Drying – Theory and Application from Industrial Perspective: http://cdn.intechweb.org/pdfs/19429.pdf

65 66 drying/texture drying/texture Drying strategies for coarse texture

f coarse felt hair textured paper as per 15th - 16th century Italian paper is desired, use coarse heritage wool felt (on the tip of the Ipressing block if using the deckle box technique). Insert and press felt tip block (couch) early, before the pulp completely drains. Use shorter drainage times after forming sheet, essentially couching as soon as possible. Press hard, removing moisture to get the sheet dry as possible.

Remove end cap and deckle sleeve, leaving paper on the felt tip block. Then blot repeatedly to remove moisture, getting the sheet as dry as possible to retaining felt hair marks. Peel from felt and air dry. (For traditionally couched paper, couch early, press over- night and air dry.)

Do not rotate or reposition felts: leave them in the same position throughout the pressing and blot, then air dry.

Criteria for maximum felt hair marks: Press, remove screen and blot • Linen/hemp-based rag pulp • Thoroughly retted • Minimally hydrated - a freeness of at least 400 to 500 CSF (beat 20 min. or less) • Couched a little early (minimal drainage) • Leave in press on felt overnight if possible Air dry sheets unconstrained for maximum surface texture: • Air dry individually, unconstrained (lifted from the felt it was pressed on. • High humidity, slow drying minimizes cockling. A simple tech- nique for increasing the humidity as the sheet dries is to lay the sheet to dry on a damp felt, so that the felt and paper dry together (but not stuck together).

For a more opaque paper with a less porous surface, add kaolin clay, magnesium, and/or calcium carbonate and titanium dioxide to the furnish. (Blend in retention aid if you feel that too much of the additives are falling out in the white water.)

Cockled with surface texture

67 68 drying/texture drying/texture

Drying strategies for smooth texture

Board drying

Using lightly processed (free-draining) bast fiber, the Japanese have a simple board drying technique (karibari): press (roll or brush) the moist paper onto a flat board, plexi sheet or any clean, flat surface and paint a light coat of very diluted rice paste around Board dry for smooth or woodgrain texture. the edges of the paper so the drying paper will not lift as it dries. If If lifting occurs, use a dilute rice paste or methyl done correctly, once dry, the paper will pop off the board smooth cellulose around the perimeter. If using heavely and flat. The drying boards are scrubbed with a wet cloth before beaten, hydrated pulp, dry under pressure. the next paper drying cycle.

Paper has a memory in the form of the millions of hydrogen bonds Air dry with wood that form when the sheet is pressed and dried. These types of po- or Plexi texture on lar covalent bonds between H-O (with an ΔEN of 1.4) are strong one side enough that recycled paper, for example, does not release its Plexi or wood Couched, pressed (sponged) and bonds; if it did, we could boil old paper in water to get back to the air dried adhered to felt or poly- original pulp and recycle paper forever – but we cannot. Instead, ester blotter. I still consider this reprocessing cuts paper fibers to shorter and shorter lengths each method “constrained drying” as time the paper is recycled, requiring most papermakers to add the shrinkage is limited by the “virgin fiber” to bolster strength. temporary adhesion to the felt/ interfacing. Therefore, the tex- ture will not be as pronounced This network of bonds within its constituent cellulose fibers de- as unconstrained air drying fines the shape of the paper. Putting the variables of hydration and (above). fibrillation due to the beating engine aside for a moment, let us simplify and say that if a sheet is dried flat it will tend to be flat all its life; if dried curled, it will tend to want to be curled all its days. Air dry paper Therefore drying under pressure is a preferred method where flat couched on screen paper is the desired outcome. to dry perfectly flat Couch paper directly onto a with medium rough polyester silkscreen frame, use texture on one side a wet-dry vacuum to remove Air drying with vacuum and screen and wove screen tex- excess water; then let air dry. ture on verso In the 1980s, Nance O’Banian, a paper artist and colleague at California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA), intro- duced me to a fast and foolproof method for air drying pa- per flat. It involves couching directly onto a stretched screen. After couching, sponge or vacuum the wet sheet and let it air dry while stuck to the screen. This will produce a wove texture on the screen side and a rough texture on the other side. Burnishing or calendering can modify these textures when the paper is dry.

69 70 drying/texture sizing and finishing

Drying strategies for laid texture

For a noticeable laid texture, apparent in the finished sheet when held up to a light, a shorter-fibered furnish creates more detail. (Sharper beater blades and added titanium dioxide also contrib- X ute to laid line visibility.) For more surface texture, leave the laid screen in contact with the paper and press again onto felt and/or blotter to remove more moisture; remove the laid screen and peel Sizing and Finishing off the moist sheet for drying.

The “laid” pattern is caused by the copper wire screen (below) on which the paper is formed, leaving a shadow of chain and wire lines in the fin- ished sheet.

Laid lines from UV-printed screen on pressed paper

71 72 sizing sizing

Sizing, Curing and Finishing

Dissolve the glue crys- As we will put into practice below, paper is made stronger and Sizing multiple sheets: tals in water heated to more water resistant and therefore better suited for pen and ink, 140º to 150º: by dipping the dried sheets in hot animal hide glue. Many flaws The traditional method for sizing multiple sheets are likely to occur during this process, causing early European pa- at a time is to hand clamp 8 to 12 sheets between permakers to referred to the sizing room as the “slaughter house.” two slices and lower them into the hot size as a unit. Once submerged, slack off on the slices and Once dipped in hot gelatin, the warm, aromatic sheets were gently let the pack of paper soak in the hot size for a few “pack pressed” to remove excess size, allowed to rest for a day, then minutes. Next, reposition the slices into the same hung on rope to dry or dried flat on stretched open-weave fabric. position as when lowered and lift the pack out, holding the group above the tub and allowing Once dry, the sized sheets were weighted and cured in a standing the sheets to drain. Carefully lay the group flat press where an increasing degree of pressure was applied over avoiding wrinkles. Cover the sheets with Pellon, Saturate paper with the hot hide glue: time and the sheets shuffled to remove the cockle and smooth the and blotters. Press the pack gently (no more than paper’s surface. 5 psi) to remove excess size and let sit overnight.

After sheets have been made and dried, they are referred to as The next day, separate the damp sheets and air waterleaf or unsized paper. These sheets will soak up water like dry individually hung on a rounded pole, on a blotter. Sizing will impart resistance to liquids on the paper sur- horse hair rope or lay flat on a porous surface face, creating a paper that slows water and ink penetration. (e.g. a stretched coarse silkscreen). Waterleaf paper being dipped into size tub

External sizing is done with dilute hide glue (such as rabbit skin glue). Other external sizing includes starches. These days various unseemly chemicals, aluminum sulfate, activated rosin, and syn- Caution: Be safe around hot liquids. thetic alkaline resins are added to the pulp before sheet formation. This type of sizing is called “internal sizing.” Air dry sized paper and press to cure and flatten: To size with rabbit skin glue, use a 2 to 5% solution by weight of solids to water6 (e.g., 40g of hide glue crystals for 1 liter of water for a 4% solution). Dissolve the glue crystals in water heated to 140º to 150º. Heating at higher temperatures degrades the efficacy of the size. Adding a pinch (.1%) of alum (potassium aluminum sulfate) to the hot size bath will make a more water-resistant pa- per, but too much added can negatively affect the paper’s pH. Sized sheet hung on rounded pole to dry

Once brought to temperature and the hide glue crystals have dis- solved, submerge the paper into the hot liquid, soak for 15 to 30 Board (longer if multiple sheets are sized at a time), lift from the tub and let the sheets drain, then set on a blotter or porous surface. Air dry, moving the paper from time to time to stop it from sticking to the blotter. Pellon & Blotters

Gradually increase pressure 6. There are various recipes and methods of sizing; several are documented here: every 12 to 24 hours. http://imcclains.com/productinfo/documents/SizingPaper.pdf Let sized “pack” set overnight

Let “rest” overnight moist with sizing and hang sheets (individually) to dry the next day 73 74 finishing finishing

Curing & Flattening

Once sized and dried, place the paper under weight or in a book press to cure the paper and coax it flat. Start with gentle pressure, shuffle the papers every 12 hours and gradually increase the pres- sure. Repeat the process 3 or 4 times until flat. (see p. 76)

Finishing & Calendering

Curing paper under gentle pressure with weights

Hand burnishing

For additional textural possibilities, burnish the finished sized pa- per with a smooth turned hardwood burnisher, a polished stone, or between platens in an etching or litho press.

Traditional calendering Curing paper under pressure in a standing press

75 76 acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

Text & illustrations: Donald Farnsworth Editor: Nick Stone

Magnolia Editions Staff: Directors: Donald & Era Farnsworth Master printers: Tallulah Terryll & Nicholas Price Artist in residence: Guy Diehl Tapestry finishing: Alyssa Minadeo Interns: Arlene Kim Suda, David Wild, Willem Smith-Clark, Sam Pelts PaperWeight coding: Jordan Grelling

with thanks to: 3-D Printed mould files: Brian Queen, Nicholas Price Consultation: Tim Barrett, Nick Pearson Woodworking: Miguel Mendoza Felt supplier: Lana Dura Mycologist: Nora Scully Italian felt making: Cristina Biccheri Italian research & assistance: Elizabeth Wholey Consultation: Curators from the Paper Conservation Department, Sherman Fairchild Center for Works on Paper and Photographic Conservation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Pure linen: Rough Linen, Marin, CA Pure linen: Jacquard Fabrics, Healdsburg, CA

MAGNOLIA EDITIONS 2527 Magnolia St, Oakland CA 94607 www.magnoliapaper.com

Copyright © 2018 Donald Farnsworth, all rights reserved. Any person is hereby authorized to view, copy, print and distribute this document for informational and non-commercial purposes only. Any copy of this document or portion thereof must include this copyright notice. Note that any product or technology described in the document may be the subject of other intellectual property rights reserved by Donald Farnsworth and Magnolia Editions or other entities. AeroPress is a registered trademark of Aerobie, Inc.

77 78 MAGNOLIA EDITIONS