LuCKi

It’s been so long time I didn’t write a post. Actually, I had a plan to write my story from 1979 to 2010 in order but after 3 years trying, I realized that it was a quite impossible mission.
So I decided to write whatever I feel like from now. :P

Today, I’m gonna talk about handmade paper.
I had a lot of used A4 papers and it’s always quite sad throwing them away. So, I decided to make handmade paper with them. The method is simple but long.

First Day

1. Put used A4 papers in the water for 1 night.
2. Well, simple white handmade paper is also pretty. But the main advantage of handmade paper is that we can put in it whatever we like. This time, I wanted to have papers which have red petals and the green stems on it. So I chose carrot stem because I could get them for free at the weekend veggie market. But if you want to try home, it’s not necessary to use carrot stem. It could be corn leaves or grass on the road. But we should treat them in special way before use it not to let chlorophyll stain our paper all yellow. Firstly, cut the stem about 2.5cm long and leave in the water for a night.

Second Day

1. Crush the wet papers from yesterday with mixer till it becomes like porridge.

2. 

   Carrot tige

   Boil the stem from yesterday with Alkaline liquid for 2 hours.

   *Alkaline liquid : In traditional way, we used to put the ashes in the water for a day then the water became alkaline liquid (pH 10~12). But we replace it to sodium hydroxide (which we use for handmade soap) or baking soda which doesn’t include acid. But if you cannot fine any of these, at least put the soap water. (not neutral soap but normal old style soap)

   If the stems become very soft, wash it with cold water many times to remove the alkali and crush it with mixer as much as you want.

3. 

   dried Dahlia petals

   If you have dried petals, put them in the hot water for 5 min and replace with new hot water. Repeat this till the water color doesn’t change anymore.

   I used Dahlia petals for this. I went to biking with KiKi to the field a few weeks ago and we found a beautiful Dahlia field. There was a panel which said ’5 CHF for 1 bouquet, self-service’. Oh my gosh, how many flowers could be a bouquet? I chew over the sentence more than 10 min. However, if somebody believe you, you become good. That’s power of trust! I could pick the flowers until I cannot hold in my arm anymore but finally, I brought only one flower per color. They were still full of my backpack because the flower was huge like a sunflower :) They were shiny on my table for many days and it is useful even when it’s dead. How lovely they are !

4. 

   gold pearl textile ink

   Put the crushed paper, stem and flower in the big tub with a lot of cold water and mix them well. If you want some pearly paper, you can put pearl ink for textile usage on this step.

5. Ladle out the paper and plant from the tub with a net. The paper should spread equally everywhere on the net and ticker than you want to have to obtain the right thickness after pressing. * net : Cover oil painting canvas frame or photo frame with mosquito net. (left photo)

   

   empty net

   

   paper on the net

6. Put the paper on a piece of cloth gently and put another piece of textile on it and a paper. You can stack about 40 layers. If you use textile with special embossing pattern or frame with different form, it will give a style on your paper.

   

   paper on the cloth

   

   paper on the round frame

7. 

   pressing with weight

   Put some heavy stuff on the stack of paper and cloth. It will help to make the strong papers.

Third day

1. The papers from yesterday would stick well on the cloth. Hang them to dry.

Forth day

1. If you like natural style, use the paper as it is or if you like well plated papers, put a piece of cloth on it and after wetting them with water spray, iron them. If you want to print something on it, you should iron it first. Try to print something on it, it’s super pretty!

   

   the result

   

   detail, pearly surface

   

   with embossing cloth

   

   with round frame

   

   with christmad deco in stead of petals

   

   with red textile ink

   

   color paper with rose petal

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