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yet another busy week though an extremely joyful one

the little ones were here with their mom and it was a whirlwind from when they arrived last Saturday until today when they left

our daughter often wants her children to experience things we did during her childhood... and this trip it was all about making paper

I first learned to make paper almost forty years ago - we made it by recycling used paper, sometimes adding flower petals, leaves, onion skins etc.

it was great fun

this spin around the paper-making blender I started with cotton linters, a new to me process that was easy with decent results

my grandson pulled two sheets and decided that was all he wanted, leaving me to work with the remaining prepared pulp

six sheets later I called it a day... I'm keen to make paper with other materials such as cattail leaves, reed canary grass and corn husk leaves, combining them with either cotton or abaca linters so for me this was more about learning how the cotton linters perform and how the paper would dry rather than making numerous usable sheets

'

after pressing out the first sheet I grabbed a bowl of water and, using my fingers, flung large drops of water hard at one end of the formed sheet

you can just make them out on the left hand side

a better look below, there are three near the bottom of the page

it works though its a bit more subtle than I was hoping for... more experimentation is needed for this one

next was to try making lines with a fork

that worked very well though there is a way of holding the fork where it will glide smoothly across the pulp forming clear lines,  and another way that tears it... I want to experiment with both 

so, a good beginning, and next week I'll try the abaca linters on their own in order to compare the two

the reed canary grass and corn husk leaves are gathered and dried, just cattails to pick and then I'll be well-supplied ready to go

I also want to try paper casting, have a play with adding sizing so the paper can take ink and paint 

without bleed... and I need to figure out how to press the pages as they dry so they stay flat

the ultimate goal is still the same. making books with paper I have made, lettering the words by hand and making the illustrations myself

its been a long time in the wanting but the doing is finally in full swing