11/20/06 Hand Papermaking
I have taken workshops here and there but I am mainly a self-taught papermaker. I learned my craft primarily by reading, from the Yahoo papermakers list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PaperMaking/ and from a lot of in-the-studio experimenting. I am definitely a “kinesthetic” learner.
One of the best workshops I have taken was the two-week paper and book workshops on Beaver Island, through CMU (Central Michigan University). We stayed in group dorms, ate cafeteria style and were staying right on the shores of gorgeous Lake Michigan in August. It was a hot, sunny and creative two weeks!
An intensive two-week workshop, the first week we learned how to set up the “pulp pit”, how to pigment and mix pulp, how to beat raw kozo into paper and we made handmade sheets of paper from dusk to dawn. The second week we made bookboard boxes covered with our handmade paper, learning the in’s and out’s of glue on paper. The small, 4″ paper covered box (business card size box) was the hardest thing I have ever made.
At the end of the workshop there was a student art show and I met a watercolorist who attends this workshop every year and sells enough watercolors to pay for her workshop. Smart girl!
I feel as if I have mastered the basics of sheet making and making paper with plants and I am now ready for my next challenge. Currently I am searching for a workshop on aramature. Because I’ll be in North Carolina visiting family in April of 2007 and in New York in August, I would like to combine a workshop with our family vacation. To this end, I visited the websites of 1) Penland www.penlan.com, 2) John C. Campbell and 3) Carriage House in New York http://www.carriagehousepaper.com/. I also asked to be alerted for the dates and locations of the next “Book and Paper Intensive” event http://www.paperbookintensive.org. So far, I have not found the workshop I need and want.
If you know of one that might interest me, please let me know!
It was from the Beaver Island workshop that I learned my current paper drying system using a frame of ripped 2X4’s with screen print materials stretched over the wooden frames. This photo shows several students working on making sheets of paper with a mold prior to dipping into the vat. They were participating in our White Oak ”Intergenerational Papermaking Workshop.”
