Determinate Hand Papermaking Fiber, Freeness, Papermaking Suppliers C Introduction A H Z R I T L T Y L R A A O Acknowledgments I O Y O A A C S C E C ON N T EL P E N A T A L I A TE L A T E C E M A R F Y T L EL N LI rotein rubbe A I L U A AR ID p r n L OR S A E C se atu T C O O M X ulo ra G A ll l L PO EST ID ce su l polymer g S LY ura a S L M ER nat rs A M S ER EL TR M I O AM LE D IN AC E R NO YL N IC c O r i LO e an i ID g n N m r o Y r X L y o Textile Fibers g A O l L N a F N o n Y TR p i P IL c EM H c OL i b EF IN t a E e UT J s h t PBI t O Z O K n PO LY EST ER y s c c) yntheti RUBBER (s e l l l e u RAN SA a l o f A BA X s C DE A SPAN e AR LF U l S SI a S r INAL s AL e e Text and illustrations by V n e ON i Y d m N I V h a Donald Farnsworth p r o i t e i n r C O T T s O t K a N p A l e t A PO n e m a l S B K E S T 2017 O S A C LP C A A L ASH MEL C M L S S V A W A I I I O K K L L CUN M OO H M A A E IR R L A E Overview Making a sheet of paper of predetermined content, weight, texture, & screen pattern Making large-format sheets of paper by hand poses numerous difficul- ties, since tools such as moulds, vats, hydraulic press, and felts must all be scaled up accordingly. On the other hand, the production of high-quality sheets of small dimensions is a relatively simple undertaking. Working 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 in this series. This series investigates: No. I: Introduction: fibers, describing hydration, fibrillation & freeness. No. II: Retting: lignin removal using mycilium. No. III: Calculating paper weight with a smartphone app. No. IV: Finding the surface area of an irregular sheet. No. V: Blender processing paper fiber. No. VI: Formulating pulp for color and content. No. VII: Making paper with a 3D printed deckle box and an AeroPress. No. VIII: Techniques for forming laid and wove paper without a vat. No. IX: Drying handmade paper. No. X: Sizing and burnishing. These techniques may all be selectively applied, modified, or recombined to suit the individual or project at hand. The tools used include standard or easily available items like an Aerobie AeroPress coffee maker as well as custom 3-D printed wove and laid paper moulds. All described processes are capable of making highly refined and beautiful sheets of paper. When making small sheet by hand one Western papermaking might wonder if sponging or a hand-op- erated coffee maker can provide enough When forming a sheet of handmade paper using a traditional mould and pressure to press a newly formed sheet. deckle, one dips the mould into a vat of furnish (pulp with additives) Here are some comparisons: 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 20-Ton Hydraulic Press sheet. As “white water” (the water that drains from the mould) drains 20 tons = 40,000 pounds back into the vat as pulp is removed, the vat concentration changes as 22 x 30 inches = 660 square inches the process repeats; this change in concentration results in papers of var- 40,000 ÷ 660 square inches = 60.6 psi ious weight, but not to exact specifications. In this series we will be using more of a redesigned “deckle box” approach, where we pour furnish into Vacuum table a confined space; all of the furnish we pour will become the sheet, allow- Many papermakers use a vacuum table ing us to accurately predict the finished paper’s characteristics. to remove water and press paper. If it were possible to pull a perfect vacuum at sea level, their psi = 14.7 psi (or 29 in Hg [inches of mercury]). Using Mag- A known quantity of furnish trapped nolia’s vacuum table we are able to in the deckle resulting in a specific achieve 23 in Hg = 11.3 psi (knowable) GSM weight paper AeroPress: A 2.25 inch diameter circle = 3.97 sq. in. 90 pounds hand pressure ÷ 3.97 sq. in. = 22.6 psi 2 Fiber, Western Raw material - Western In early Western papermaking, paper was made from linen and hemp rags that had been retted, often cooked in an alkali,1 and flushed with water while being pounded to a pulp. This is a fine 1. The “cook”– i.e., rags and other fibrous material boiled in an alkali – serves to remove place to start, but a bit equipment- and labor-intensive. We can lignin, a class of complex organic polymers skip all that hard work by turning to paper pulp suppliers who that fill the spaces in the cell wall between sell various fibers that have been partially processed and are ready cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin in plants. for blending or beating and sheet forming. Paper suppliers sell Flax has about 2% lignin whereas hardwood is comprised of approximately 29%, with lig- many varieties. Some need only be blended; others (like kozo) nin and softwood at 22%. need to be cooked and pounded. Western papers Today the list of possible fiber choices is long and daunting; after all, every plant has cellulose fiber that can be made into paper one 2. “Wet-lap” or “half-stuff” is available as way or another. We will steer away from the hardwood and soft- sheets, rolls, or bales, all generally dry; the wood so commonly used in commercial papers to focus here on name wet-lap comes from the Fourdrinier archival (lignin-free) content papers. Besides the aforementioned process of manufacture. Typically more re- linen and hemp, one can produce a wide variety of paper from flax finement is necessary to make various grades of papers. Half-stuff is well named as it de- roving, abaca half stuff, cotton rag, and cotton linter. Each has its scribes pulp (sometimes called stuff) that is own appeal, characteristics, and processing needs. only half-processed. Whereas linen is more likely to make crisp, rattly writing paper Textile Fibers chart: although all fibers can be with very little processing, fibers sourced from seed hair (like cot- added to paper for decorative, fire retarding and anti-forgery purposes, the upper right ton rag and linter, for example) can produce blotter paper when quadrant (bold text) includes beaten briefly; further processing is required to make some of the fibers used printmaking papers and even more for writing pa- in hand paper- pers. Cotton staple fibers (rag half-stuff2) can making. ME G P be robust and strong when a Holland-type X T LA E A O A M T L Z LLI S E A S F U H O beating engine is used to defiber, hydrate J C C K A B L A A C S and fibrillate the rags. To make such H P SI IT LA O a paper more dimensionally stable, SA s N N ar O ug ba TT s st al CO K r le retted and lightly beaten linen can u a PO at f A n K be added; this is more or less the r se e anic e b rg cel d b no lu h u i lo formula used to make the art pa- r r s a A e e i ZL r ON m n i y l e CA pers popularized by J Whatman, t o A ALP o p r l a p MEL r CA s England’s papermakers for the u t t RAYON a MERE a CASH e p s n p c l i e o r LYOCELL L l LAMA o Arts and Crafts Movement. Cot- n Textile Fibers u a t l e l g M TATE O r E i H AC e AIR n c o ton linter, the fuzz found closest TE ETA V AC ICUN I R T A l W a OO to the seed, is commonly used as m L r e C m e LI n i Y n e R t m r C a X l y a filler fiber to provide bulk, com- A E ID l N o A ID p M c i A R t E e S bined with stronger, longer fibers. AR h ILK R t EST E n y s O M T Y E S L L A O RI E L E P ST IN O A M IC OR L A L 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 N X B O ST 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 I P P S S (s S V R E B B RU 3 Fiber, Japanese Raw material - Japanese Obtained from the phloem or outer bark of jute, kenaf, flax and 3 3.