Paper is made throughout the world out of many different plants.  In Europe the earliest papers were ‘recycled’ papers; using cotton and linen rags, wood pulp was not widely used until 1870’s.  Paper is made from cellulose within plants that has been broken down into individual damaged fibres.  These are then re-formed into sheets whose strength is obtained by the interlocking of the damaged fibres.  Re-cycled paper is similarly made by breaking up waste paper into individual fibres dispersed in water.

Participants at the Forest School workshops are able to experience the process of recycling paper.  They do this by reducing scrap paper in water to paper pulp, and then, using a deckle and mould, ‘pulling’ a sheet of paper.  The fibres are caught on a mesh stretched over a frame (mould), and the water drains off.  To speed up the drying process the newly formed paper is transferred onto a ‘felt’ and a mangle can be used to extract more water.

As an artist interested in the multifarious uses of plants I have experimented with making papers; pulping various plants, but also making recycled paper with plant inclusions and dyed with plant pigments.

Currently I am keeping a ‘paper diary’; making a sheet of paper every day from mementoes of that day