Richard tells us all about how he came to make his own paper from old books and walks you through the process, so you can give it a go yourself. If you’re interested in buying some of Richard’s handmade paper, it is available to purchase in person from The Whitworth Shop

It can often happen when clearing out a cupboard at home. You find something. You get distracted and wonder what you should do next.

There it was…in the back of the hallway cupboard. A heavily damaged, large old book (circa 1900, yes around 120 years old!) why had I even kept it?

I then recalled that my mother had given it to me about 10 years earlier and she had bought it from a charity shop about 20 years prior to that. It was such an old book that I just could not bring myself to throw it away.

So about 9 months ago, I bought a couple of paper making frames called deckles, if you did not know. I watched a video on how to re-pulp and remake paper. It looked easy, how hard could it be? Just pulp the paper, suspend it in water, pull the frame through the suspension and hey presto a piece of paper! Simple right? Actually, that’s not quite what happened…it’s not that easy. my first attempt was a full and proper disaster.

However, over time and slowly, I got better. I developed and improved my process. There were lots of trial and error. Eventually though, I found that I had indeed taught myself how to make paper.

Since those first few sheets, I have now made my own deckles using old A4 pictures frames and some mesh sheets that I bought online.

The paper that I make is re-pulped and remade from pages of books that are at least 100 years old, so, I like to say that I am creating 100-Year-Old handmade paper.

As a further development, I started dyeing some paper with natural dyes like turmeric, plum and blackberry. Additionally, I decided to place the paper into bundles, so now, a bundle of paper is created by placing 4 sheets of paper onto recycled card, tying the bundles with string and adding a description label with a dab of wax to secure it.

The most recent development I have made is to make a type of paper. So if I re-pulp and remake pages from an old book on poetry, I call the paper poetry paper or if I re-pulp and remake pages from an old Bible, I call the paper Bible paper. The poetry paper bundle also includes a page of the original poetry book (for inspiration) and the Bible paper bundle includes a prayer card.

A Summary of the Process

When I make paper, as you now know, I always start off with an old book. In the example below, I’m using pages from a 1919 edition of a book of the poems of Robert Browning.

The first step is to rip a few pages of the book into small pieces and soak them in hot water for a short period of time. Then wash them in a diluted bleach wash. This helps to take out the dirt and grime from the old paper and after a quick rinse in water, we are ready to move to the next stage.

Using an old blender, blend the paper with a little water for a minute or two and then pour in into a shallow container with more water. This makes the paper pulp suspension solution, as shown in the picture below. Now one is ready to scoop the pulp out of the water with the frame and let the frame drip dry in a rack for an hour or so.

Finally, move the frames to another area where they can be safely left overnight to fully dry. Once this is done, carefully take the paper out of the frame, and there you have it a sheet of re-pulped and remade handmade paper!

Why not give it a try? I did and now I can say that I can make paper! I’m now selling my bundles of paper too.

On paper: It’s never too late to learn a new creative skill.

In reality: It’s never too late to learn a new creative skill.

–Richard

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