I did a pour method with 100% Abaca last night at the CS Shop. They were exceptionally thin and had a wonderful beige color to them. I am so excited to see them dry next week! I did a few 16 x 20's for sketchers, painters, and anyone interested in bookbinding. I also did some 12 x 12 sheets for those wonderful scrapbooks out there! Although, I think the 12 x 12 would do well for smaller pieces for painters and sketchers. Sizing was added to these sheets to reduce feathering and bleeding of inks and paints.
Abaca
One of the strongest of the hard fibers, commercially known as Manila hemp. Abaca is obtained from the leafstalks of a member of the banana family, Musa textilis. The plant resembles the fruiting banana, but is a bit shorter in stature, bears small inedible fruits, and has leaves that stand more erect than those of the banana, and that are slightly narrower, more pointed, and 5–7 ft (1.5–2 m) long. The plant was domesticated long ago in the southern Philippines. Abaca prefers a warm climate with year-round rainfall, high humidity, and absence of strong winds. Soils must always be moist but the plant does not tolerate water logging. Abaca grows best on alluvial soils in the southern Philippines and northern Borneo below 1500 ft (450 m) elevation. The plant is best propagated by root stalk suckers. There are about 75 varieties grown in the Philippines, grouped into seven categories, each of which varies slightly in height, length, and quality and yield of fiber. The fiber ranges 6–14 ft (1.8–4.2 m) in strand length, is lustrous, and varies from white to dull yellow. As one of the longest and strongest plant fibers, resistant to fresh and salt water, abaca is favored for marine hawsers and other high-strength ropes. Abaca is also used in sackings, mattings, strong papers, and handicraft art goods. Abaca is affected by several diseases, of which the chief are bunchy top, mosaic, and wilt. Bunchy top is caused by a virus spread by the banana aphid (Pentalonia nigronervosa). Mosaic is also caused by a virus spread by aphids (chiefly Rhopalosiphum nymphaeae and Aphis gossypii). Abaca wilt is caused by a soil or water-borne fungus, chiefly attacking plant roots.
