Fiber Frenzy Friday - Corn Husk Cover Progression

First of all, when cooking down corn husks you need to cut the material into approximately 1 inch pieces.

 Soda ash is needed to help break down the material you are cooking.  Soda ash is commonly known as baking soda.

Here are the corn husks as they are cooking down.  I let each back cook at the highest setting for 5 hours.

Once the corn husks are finished cooking they must be cleaned until the water run clear.

Once they are clean, soak a few handfuls into a 5 gallon bucket of water.

Next, it goes into the blender for about 15 seconds.  You want to do small amounts at a time so the fibers don't wrap around the blade and burn out the motor.

The mixture is now thinned out and ready to be poured into the mold and deckle to make the book covers.

I usually just pour the bucket of fiber straight into the mold and deckle and play with the fibers until they are even across.  I take a sponge and screen and hand press lightly some of the water out of the book covers.  

Once I have a number of covers made stacked onto white felt sheets they go into the press.  This press  exerts 2000 pounds of pressure.  

 After about 20 minutes in the press I then put the covers onto dry white sheets of watercolor paper.  Watercolor paper is very sturdy and thick.  A cover will get sandwiched between to sheets of the watercolor paper and then those are sandwiched between to pieces of cardboard.  I have a fan that blows through the corrugation of the cardboard and dries the sheets with slight pressure.  This way the sheets are less likely to dry wavy.  

 These are the covers dry.  I will still put a layer of varnish on what will be the exterior of the covers for increased durability and water-resistance.  I am excited to show the students these at our upcoming lecture on next Friday. 

I hope you found this informative.  : )

Peace, Love, and Handmade Paper, 

Erin