Guess who is finally making her own papers???

  First thing I did was get a NEW BLENDER!!  Why in sam hell could I not find one of the three we have?  Must be in the garage!!  It's COLD and DARK in the garage.. GUESS who isn't going in there ON PURPOSE!! Then ripped up some brown paper bags.. One about the size of stationary paper.  Until I am more comfortable in knowing what pulp textures, I will probably make small batches at a time,, 

Ok. you take those ripped papers.. (get them to about size of an inch if you can) and place them in the blender with about 2 cups of water..  TURN the BLENDER ON!!   Watching it all!!  Soothing.. isn't it?  Gonna get a video for you soon.. PAPERMAKAVISION.. yeahhh!

Prepare the contents of the almighty Arnold Grummer  Paper Mill.  Take the deckle (the thick wooden frame piece and remove the green velcro straps.. make sure your layer the deckle, screen (white) then the grid piece.  Wrap the velcro around that bottom and pull tightly.  You don't want the screen to slide while the pulp is poured.    The take a flat wash pan.. or any kind of flat container with sides that come equal to or higher then the deckle when flat.  Let the layered deckle be submerged in water like the picture below.. 

Pour the pulp (this was a lousy color to use.. but hey.. it is what it is.. ) into the deckles and take your fingers and swirl them around in the deckle, to move the particles around.  Make sure you DO NOT touch the bottom near the screen.  YOU CAN and I have.. thinned my paper in sections, because I did so.  

I skipped the next picture, because I needed both hands to remove the deckle from the basin annnnd my hands were wet.  No wet hands on electronics!! ::laughs::  In that process I carefully lifted the mold from the water, trying to keep it level. Removed the velcro and supported the grid with one  hand and remove it with the screen.  I then placed it on a flat surface/drain pan.  Now with the cover screen on top.. pulp.. hen white screen... on the pan.. i push a cello sponge into the paper to soak up extra moisture.  Be careful to press down and release then squeeze out water.. (back into deckle if you want..) If you press down and release and down again.. you are only putting the water back!!  

     

Once you have removed as much water as you can from the paper.. you can remove the screens one by one and slip the new made paper between couch (koosh) sheets (feels like a padded paper.. sorry no photo) By this time I was so in awe of what I had made.. I forgot all about taking pictures of the steps.  You can choose to let your paper dry naturally or you can use heat.. like from an iron.. not a #heatgun.. :) 

Below is the loveliness that follows the NOT so HARD after work of recycling and creating my own handmade papers.. I just sat in bed watching awesome videos from Arnold Grummer and loving the awesomeness that is.. MY OWN dang papers.. lol

Note.. the month of Jan 2015.. the discount code is Jan20!! 

Thanks for stopping by.. and if you want to see my first project with AG's DT.. click here!!