Paper Making - Part I

Mold & Deckle

So, before I can make my paper, I need the mold and deckle. This is the tray and frame which sieves the wet paper slurry while forming it to the shape you desire. I have arbitrarily decided on a document size based on one of my favourite books, The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien. 

Typically the mold (tray) and the deckle (frame) are two separate pieces, but I am going to try and make an all-in-one. I am using a wooden box from a soap gift set I received at Christmas, a chunk of left over fly screen, a scrap of pigeon wire, and a sushi mat that I never use.  

The Result!

The Mo-Eckle Lives!

Paper Slurry!

Okay, so far so good! I am pleased with my all-in-one Mo-Eckle, and having admired it adequately, it is time to make the slurry :) So I grabbed some stuff out of the recycle bin and tearing it up, threw it into the blender along with enough water to cover it by double (so very scientific) and whirred it into oblivion. It was wonderful! Junk mail and scraps of to-do lists homogenized in a new (and better!) form of my own making - I feel powerful. 

Paper Research

China's Secret

Although its use has been traced as far back as 2nd century BCE and the original inventor is unclear, the making of paper as we know it today has been attributed to a courtier named Ts'ai Lun of China in 104 CE. Prior to this, information was recorded on expensive silk scrolls or heavy bamboo sticks; being lighter and less expensive, paper's attributes quickly made it the preferred solution. In fact, it was so revolutionary, China kept the ingredients and process of making secret for many years. 

Ts'ai Lun experimented with natural fibres and bits of old fishing net, but the bark from Mulberry trees (a resource of the silk trade) was both plentiful and available and so became one of the main ingredients in paper production.

He also came up with the "mold and deckle", essentially a sieve-like frame of thin bamboo slats which allows water to pass through while trapping the slurry fibres in a thin layer on top; this simple device greatly enhanced the consistency and speed of production. No wonder China kept it secret for 300 years! 

Eventually, through war and migration, the paper secret spread through the Muslim empire (793-1100) to Spain (1150), France (1189), England (1490), Mexico (1590) and finally the USA (1690).  

For a more detailed discussion, and to audit my sources for the above, please go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioDEYljT2c4 

One of the oldest surviving dated paper documents is the Diamond Sutra. The photo shows only a portion of the scroll - beautiful isn't it?

The next step will be to make my own mold and deckle. Here is a great video I found in my research; the narrator's voice adds a fabulously dramatic element! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)

Bye for now!