Tag: paper

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Pressing Handmade Paper

In a previous post titled Handmade Paper I mentioned my process of pressing the paper I make:

Once the sheets are fully dry that’s when I press them. I put each piece between a sheet of 3mm thick Baltic Birch plywood and then put the stack between two steel plates in a hydraulic press. (Here’s a press similar to the one I have.)

At least one person has asked about this so I figured providing a bit more information might be helpful. I’ll try to outline the things I use and the process below.

The mould and deckle I use makes sheets of paper that are just shy of 7″ x 7″. I make the paper, let it dry, and then peel all the pieces off the couching sheets. I then place each sheet between a piece of 3mm thick Baltic Birch plywood. (The pieces of wood are 8″ x 12″ so the paper fits with some room to spare.) I then place the stack of wood (with the paper between each sheet) between two 12″ x 12″ steel plates.

Here’s all the stuff:

This whole “sandwich” goes into the hydraulic press, and I crank it down hard. I let it sit for at least half a day, though it’s usually a full day, and if I remember I’ll go crank the press tighter if possible. After time has passed I remove all the paper and marvel at how flat and smooth it is.

The things you need (besides a hydraulic press) are the paper, which should be just dried, sheets of wood, and two pieces of steel.

The steel goes on the bottom, then a piece of wood, then the paper…

Repeat the process of stacking wood with paper in between each piece…

End with one piece of wood on top of the last piece of paper, and then put the other piece of steel on top of all that.

Stick the whole thing into the hydraulic press and crank it down! Wait a while (a few hours) and then come back and try to crank it down even further. I tend to make thick paper because it does get compressed down a bit thinner in this pressing process.

This is DIY handmade paper made with junk I have in my workshop, there’s no professional equipment or methods at work here. Still, I get some good, flat, smooth pieces. Not all of them, but most of them for sure. If I can find new ways to refine and improve the process I’ll let you know.

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Modern Papermaking [Book]

I picked up the book Modern Papermaking by Kelsey Pike because I wanted to learn more about making paper. My first real papermaking adventure was back in May of 2023. Then I made more, and more and more and even made my own 3D Printed Mould and Deckle. (I actually made a few of them along the way.)

I should point out that I learned enough to try my first batch of paper by watching a lot of how-to videos, and read a number of posts online, and sort of fused all that together into something that would work for me. I think in whatever creative endeavor you pursue you need to do what works for you. For me that means using things I already have, trying to avoid purchasing new supplies, material, and equipment if I can get away with cheap alternatives or things I already own. At least to get started… If I find that what I have is not adequate I can always update and buy things if needed later on.

So the question is, could you as a beginner, get started making paper with just this book, Modern Papermaking? I think so. Kelsey covers the tools she uses in her studio, but also talks about the tools you could use at home to make paper. There’s also a lot of good knowledge in the book I did not get from videos or posts online, and for that alone I’d recommend it for beginners.

I don’t know for sure, but I feel like the Modern in the title might be a reference to another book. Arnold Grummer’s Complete Guide to Easy Papermaking. Grummer is a well known name in papermaking, and his book was published in 1999, so it is a bit dated… in some ways. I mean, making paper is an art that is over 2000 years old, right? Grumer’s book is good (I checked out a digital copy from my local library) but it feels very DIY and hacky, more about weird experimentation and trying anything, which I of course really like, but in contrast Kelsey’s book seems aimed more towards people who want to make nice paper.

Kelsey sells nice paper in her Etsy shop, and that means she’s making paper that is consistent in color and quality, since people are buying it to make nice things. (Check out Kelsey’s site at Sustainable Paper + Craft for lots of great items for sale and other good resources.

In contrast, I will probably never sell paper. I do like making it because I can use it for my printmaking practice and it helps recycled a lot of the paper in my own household. I will be making a batch for a friend who does daily drawings. I don’t know how it will perform yet but it will be interesting to see the results.

So yes, I would recommend Modern Papermaking by Kelsey Pike if you are interested in getting into making your own paper. Start with it, and then fill in with other resources (videos and posts you find online) and if you get stuck, get in touch and I’ll offer any advice I can!

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Handmade Paper

If you read the previous post you saw the mould and deckle I made, and the start of the process of making paper using the mould and deckle. Well, once the paper dries it looks quite different!

Here’s a stack after the pieces have dried. They are not exactly flat, as they curl up while drying. I couch them onto cut up pieces of an old bed sheet. I don’t press them when they are wet, I just let them air dry while laying flat, which takes about a day or so.

(Most people will tell you to press the paper when wet to remove the water and to flatten it, but I just sort of do it the way I’m doing it and so far it seems to be working fine.)

Once the sheets are fully dry that’s when I press them. I put each piece between a sheet of 3mm thick Baltic Birch plywood and then put the stack between two steel plates in a hydraulic press. (Here’s a press similar to the one I have.)

I’m still experimenting with the right amount of pressure. If I totally crank the press down hard I can get some very flat (and sometimes very thin) paper. One batch was actually a bit too thin! This batch is a bit thicker (since it was made better) but I also didn’t apply quite as much pressure, so it would retain some of the texture. Either way, one side is going to be much smoother (the side that dried face up) and the side that was against the bed sheet will have some texture to it.

Wait, bed sheets? Yeah, this is all pretty DIY, and I’m mostly using materials I have available and not purchasing a bunch of stuff. As I mentioned in the mould and deckle post I am using old window screen material because I have a bunch of it.

To make the pulp I am using paper shreds create by our home paper shredder. I’m making sure I don’t shred any envelopes with plastic windows or other strange matter (though my first batch did contain plastic!) The paper is never white because the ink/toner/whatever from the paper mixes with the water and pulp and turns it gray, which is fine. I do plan to experiment with some colorants. If you notice the brown speckles in this batch that comes from a bunch of dried up leaves I harvested from the garden. I crunched them up and added them to the pulp when blending it. I think it adds some nice character to the final product.

I was able to make a total of 16 sheets on the attempt, which isn’t bad, as I am somewhat limited in space. I’m starting to get to the point where I know how much pulp and water to use and how much it will make, so that’s good. I should probably measure things and write it down but at this point I’m still just screwing around to see what works and what the outcome is… Stay Tuned!

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3D Printed Mould and Deckle

NOTE: STL files are now available. Scroll to the bottom of this post.

Back in May 2023 I 3D printed a mould and deckle in an attempt to make my own paper. It worked, but was not optimal. I tried again, and wanted a slightly larger mould and deckle to make larger paper. It worked, but I didn’t love it since I had to print it in two parts and glue it together. Design is about iteration, right? I think I’ve got a good one now…

For this version I got the model just right. I did a number of test prints to make sure the wall thickness for the inside grid was correct, and I spent some time getting the magnet holes right. Yes, the magnets. Lots of mould and deckles are just two wooden frames you hold together in your hands, but I figured since I was designing my own I would add in magnets that would tightly hold the mould and the deckle together with a piece of metal screen between them.

So I added magnet holes in the four corners of each part and press-fit magnets into place. This time I made the pockets deeper so the magnets press in further down, which means they have really good holding strength when put together. You’ll notice the holes aren’t just holes, but have some little ridges, or “crush ribs” as well. The idea being that with 3D printed parts it can be difficult to get a perfect hole, so instead you just make the hole a little wider than needed, and add in some ribs so the magnet (or other round thing) just needs to slide against those, and if needed, can crush them a bit.

Hey, I guess I’m not the only one who likes the magic of magnets! Check out this video of Stephanie Hare and the mould and deckles she made with… magnets! (Or see them on her site.)

Of course you can always just glue the magnets in place. Since I’m now on my third fourth mould and deckle I wanted a way to remove them easily if I ever retire one and want those 8 magnets back.

I’ve mentioned before that you can do much much more than a simple square or rectangle, and you can 3D print a mould and deckle in any shape. I still want to experiment with that, as well as some other neat stuff. I like a plastic mould and deckle because (besides being easy) you don’t have to worry about warping like you do with wood, or having to use spar varnish or polyurethane to waterproof the wood. (I’ve talked about 3D printing versus using wood before.)

Oh, I should note one more thing. The reason I use window screen material is because I have a bunch of it from our old windows that we’ll never use for anything else. But, using a flexible screen material also makes it easy to remove the paper from the mould and deckle during the couching process by just pulling the screen off (after removing excess water with a sponge). (BTW, it’s pronounced ‘coo-ching’ not ‘cow-ching’.) I’ve found this a simple method of couching, though there are other methods and some special tools to assist with it if you want to explore other routes.

3D printing is a good fit for papermaking because it’s one of those things where you may need to build your own tools, and being able to rapidly iterate through ideas is handy. Okay, time to go make more paper!

Update! Files are now available.
Grab the STL files to print your own at Printables.com – Mould and Deckle.

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Paper Making (Again)

I made some paper… again. The first attempt used a small 3D printed mould and deckle, and this time around I made a new (slightly larger) mould and deckle.

I also experimented a bit more with the paper, this time using paper from our paper shredder and mixing in a few “raw” pieces to some sheets. The results are definitely interesting.

I tried a new technique with the hydraulic press after they were all dry as well. Last time I stacked them all and flattened them in the press, and you can see the screen texture in those. This time I did that, and then followed up with pressing them with a piece of wood between each individual sheet. Some of them came out incredibly flat and smooth! I’m curious to see how they take ink when printing on them.

Some of them are a lot more ragged around the edges. (That’s the “deckle edge” you know.)

Here’s a few I added shredded paper to that was not blended or soaked, just tossed onto the pulp before drying. It seems embedded really well and certainly gives a look.

A bit more closeup view… you can see and read some of the type, which I think could be really interesting since I used shredded (and potentially sensitive) documents. There’s probably a whole project there all on its own.

Because I printed this larger mould and deckle on my (small) Prusa MINI+ I split it in half in OpenSCAD, printed the parts, then glued them together. When assembled this one is about 165mm x 224mm and the paper comes out around 145mm x 204mm.

Printing in halves and gluing together mostly worked. I had to print small shims on the side to make it more rigid, but now I really want to make an even larger one! (Though I will need a larger pulp bucket then.)

Magnets embedded into the corners of the mould and deckle work to hold the whole thing together with the screen between the two parts. I’m happy with how this turned out. I just made holes and stuck 1/4″ cylindrical magnets into the holes (making note of polarity) and then shot some hot glue in the holes to hold them in place. (Yeah, sometimes hot glue is quicker and easier than perfectly modeling a hole with friction bumps.)

Despite a few issues combining the halves to make a whole, I’m quite pleased with how the mould and deckle turned out, and I’m sure I’ll experiment with others in the future, especially since it’s trivial to make any shape… round, hexagonal, triangular? No need to be confined to a rectangle. (And yes, I’m very happy with the paper as well!)