Fiber Frenzy Friday - Making Paper From Junk Mail

Making Paper from Junk Mail

Above: Note card made from 100% Junk Mail

Last Friday we discussed all the necessary tools needed for handcrafting your own paper at home.  I did forget to mention needing a vat to hold your water.  You can do this in the kitchen sink, an old tote, or "New" kitty litter box as long as your mold and deckle fit.   

If you do use a plastic tote/other vat you just need to make sure your mold and deckle will lie flat within it while you are holding both sides of the mold and deckle.  You must have room for your hands as well because you won't let go of the mold and deckle until you pull it out completely to move on to the next step.

Let's get started!!!

• fill a bucket 80% of the way with water

• take your collected junk mail and rip into 1 inch pieces.  Be sure to remove all plastic. I prefer removing any of the shinier pieces of treated paper and keeping the flat, matte pieces. Throw your 1" pieces into the bucket of water and let soak.  You may need two or three buckets full to get more than a few sheets.  I find junk mail needs to mixed thin (or you can burn out your blender, I have been through many)so you will end up adding more to the vat to make a sheet than you would with higher grade paper-making fibers.  

• fill your kitchen blender about 85% of the way with water and add a handful of the soaked junk mail to the blender.  About 20-30 seconds is all you will need. As you pulp the junk mail in the blender you will want to grab an empty bucket to put your blended pulp into. When you have finished pulping all of your junk mail it should be the consistency of runny oatmeal and look very similar to photograph below.

Consistency of runny oatmeal

• Upon completion of pulping, you can begin filling your vat/sink with water.  If you can get at least 5-8 inches of depth at the minimum that would be good.  Then begin to slowly add your pulp.  You want it to be much thinner than in the bucket of pulp you mixed.  Mix pulp well by hand.

You may want to pull a few sheets and see what the thickness is like.  Too thin?  Add more pulp.  Too thick?  You may need to thin the vat out.  You can do this by adding more water or removing the pulp by bucket and then adding more water if you have way too much.  If it's too thin and you don't want to mix more pulp then pour your thin pulp through your mold over a bucket. You can even push gently on the pulp a bit over the screen and remove more of the water from the pulp that way.  Scoop pulp from the screen and add it back to your paper-making vat.  

                                         

 These are sinks at a local paper-making studio downtown Columbus, Ohio.These would make great paper-making vats or you can just use your sink in the kitchen.

I personally use a utility sink similar to above for 8 1/2 inch x 11 1/2 inch sheets and I use a kitty litter box for anything smaller.  It uses much less water than my utility sink.

I am still waiting on my husband to build me a vat so I can begin to pull larger sheets.  I have a 16x20 mold and deckle just itching to be used. :)

You are now ready to pull sheets of paper!!!

• place your deckle over your mold in both hands and submerge (at an angle) the front of the mold and deckle down into the mixture and then slowly submerge the rest of the mold and deckle as you slide the front forward and and the back down.  Pull up and out of vat with just a gentle shake to ensure the fibers cover your mold.  Gravity and the downward pull of the water reforms the fibers into a sheet.  Yes, a very mushy one.  So we need to move on to the next step.

Included is a short five minute video of a wonderful lady named Christina Fajardo.  Her tools look very similar to some of mine and the ones I instructed you on gathering or making.  It should be helpful.  

• Take the extra piece of vinyl screen I asked you to acquire.  It needs to be just a bit larger than the sheets of paper you are pulling.  Remove your deckle off the mold and lie the vinyl screen over the mushy sheet on the mold. Take a sponge and press.  Do not rub across the screen,   Always use a downward press. You do not want to clog the openings in the screen with fibers over time. 

• Once most water has been removed, remove pressing screen and flip your mold over onto a piece of the felt.  You may want to give another couple presses with your sponge from this side.  Push down on mold with a side to side motion and hopefully the paper will just release for you.  If it sticks give the screen a few flicks with the finger.  You may find it easier to flip as soon as you pull your sheet with no initial pressing but I find this much messier.  Do whatever is easiest for you!

• Lie this out to dry in front of a fan if you have one available.  I even have a dehumidifier in my studio going. It definitely helps in decreasing dry time.  

Presto! You have your first sheet of paper!  

I hope you enjoyed todays blog and are able to take some useful information with you.  If by chance you try this at home, I would love to see some photos or hear comments of your paper-making adventures.  :) Possibly, write my next Fiber Frenzy Friday about YOU!

Peace, Love, and Handmade Paper,

Erin