Seivers Workshop

This week our friend Joyce Seivers came to Liberty Paper Mill and gave a book workshop to me and Claudia. Since we have begun studying Japanese paper, we created a Japanese stab binding with a hard case. This kind of stab binding has a cover that wraps around the entire text block. It is sewn with an 8-hole binding and I chose to try sewing it with antique surgical thread, which had surprisingly good tension and a nice look. We made the hard case for the book out of davey board wrapped with paper (Ahead of time, I printed Canson paper with a scan of a quilt- and cut down a vintage map for the liner). Also, I learned how to attach a bone clasp on cords that are embedded into the book board and are completely hidden by the paper. It was a great lesson and Joyce is an amazing teacher. I value every minute I spend with her because I learn and accomplish so much in her guidance. (As Claudia says "Joyce is bookbinding royalty." She's so right.)

Kozo Fiber Processing

Claudia is an expert on how to make many different kinds of paper. Along with western style papermaking, Claudia is teaching me Japanese papermaking. This is somewhat similar in principle in terms of sheet forming: the pulp is suspended in water in a vat, is pulled, couched and pressed.

However, there are big differences which will prove challenging. The fibers used are longer and have the ability to create translucent sheets, so the paper must be pulled very carefully and evenly (thin layer atop thin layer) by swishing the mould and deckle quickly back and forth. Formation aid, which makes the mould and deckle drain much more slowly, is key. Instead of the usual mould and deckle, this method requires a sugeta -which is a hinged mould and deckle with a bamboo screen and mesh screen in between. This tool is expensive and many papermakers make one with found parts. The thin sheets are couched together in layers rather than in between felts and they are not put into a press, but pressed by adding weight.

One fiber used in Japanese papermaking is Kozo. Japanese Kozo is very expensive, so Thai Kozo is a cost effective substitution (at 4$ a pound rather than 30$). The fibers come in a dried bundle and are very hard. They are boiled with sodium carbonate (soda ash-- in proportion to the amount of water used) until soft. They pull apart quickly along with the grain, but they should pull apart against the grain when they are fully cooked. Then the fibers are hand beaten using wooden mallets.

The kozo I ordered from Carriage house was extremely tough. It took forever to boil. I am planning on boiling it again so I can assure it is fully cooked and hand beating it this week. (While we have been boiling fibers, we have been watching videos from the University of Iowa Center for the Book and I think Japanese papermaking is very intimidating after watching Timothy Barret's meticulous and authentic process.)

Claudia showing me her stainless steel turkey fryer which makes a great pot for boiling fiber:



















Checking the kozo:















The fibers in the kozo lighten as they lose their gums and waxes, turning the water brown and leaving behind only pure cellulose fiber:

German Accordion

One of the things I have been working with during my apprenticeship is digital printing on handmade paper. I have been experimenting with how to feed handmade paper through my Epson inkjet printer and how to mask off sections of paper as a resist. I have been doing digital printing on fabric for years and have found that the process translates well.

Below is the development of a sculptural book in the form of a German Accordion fold. I didn't think this book form was all that interesting until I started working with it- now I think it has so much potential. Claudia suggested that it would make a good a wall piece, and I totally agree.
1. I practiced the scale and the cut-outs with Canson paper.















2. I remade the form with digitally printed handmade paper, choosing the parts of the sample book that I liked. (The digital image is a color copy of a quilt that resembles topography.)













3. I then sewed signatures made of vintage maps into the cut outs.

Reina Hollander Beater

I had my first lesson in using a Reina Hollander beater last week. We started with one of the easiest fibers to work with: Abaca. Abaca comes in sheets that break up easily when sprayed with a hose and the conversion to pulp is so easy.

In the future, in terms of making pulp...
We will be making pulp in different ways: working with the original fibers, finding fibers locally (iris leaves, yucca, hosta, etc.) and taking cellulose fabric and cutting it down into tiny squares and recycling it into pulp. (I am saving bits of cotton, linen, rayon to see what works.) But now, I know how to safely use and clean a beater.

We used our abaca pulp in a deckle box. A deckle box has high walls that allow water to pool on top of the mould- allowing more hand manipulation with the pulp. Instead of pulling a sheet from dipping the mould under the water in the vat, we set the mould on top and poured the pulp into the deckle box.

Claudia showing me how to work with deckle boxes (while her dog Max keeps an eye on us).















































In Claudia's studio is another tool that I learned to use: a vacuum table. Like many papermaking tools, this can be put together using many common hardware store objects. The stacks of paper and felts are put on a plexiglass tabletop, a tube with holes for draining the water is placed along the stacks. (Here, our paper is pressed in between burlap instead of felts so that the texture of the burlap presses into the paper.) A sheet of plasitc is placed over the table and the suction presses the water out of the paper. It is surprisingly strong. The water collects in a tank and must be drained. The vacuum table is an alternative to a press.

Artist Visit: C. Cratty

Recently we visited the studio of Cherry Cratty who makes compositions entirely out of paper pulp. She sprays the pulp onto a surface, then applies bits of pulp like paint. Unlike paint, the pulp creates a highly textural surface and a completely unique mark-making language.















The pulp she uses is beaten quite a long time-- until it is extremely fine. (She uses a small portable beater called a "Critter.") She pigments the pulp and makes little cakes of basic colors (like a set of paints) and then blends colored pulp together to get the desired color.

So few people paint with paper pulp that there is very little information and no "right" way to do anything. This pushes her to be creative with her tools in addition to her visual creativity. The technique she uses most often is picking up the pulp from a vat with a small sharp stick getting just the right clump for the right stroke of color. The sticks she uses to grasp the pulp are (no joke) the quills of a South African porcupine. She says that no other object works quite as well- and after demonstrating other stylus-like objects of different textures, I believe it. (The quills themselves are very beautiful: different sizes and lengths with black and cream stripes. They look like magical objects.)













In a very recent technique innovation, Cherry whips the pulp with a milk-shake blender to create a frothy mixture. She then applies it to a dry pulp-covered surface with a brush. It is thin and translucent like watercolor, creating a surface that is light and ethereal, but retaining the beautiful texture of paper.













I am excited to see what happens in her workshop at the Appalachian Center for Craft in May.

Artist Visit: J. Seivers

Claudia is connected to an astonishing number of book and paper artists in the south and many are near the Nashville area- not far from where we live. One thing Claudia decided would be an integral part of the Master/Apprentice program was visiting paper and book artists and talking to them about their process, their perspective on their work, as well as their larger outlook on the field of paper and books.

For our first field trip, we visited Joyce Sievers. Her studio is within her house which is located near Smithville, TN. She is an accomplished book artist and shared her collection of books with me. She had many works that were completed museum quality pieces, some pieces in progress, and many many ideas about the nature of bookbinding. She is a member of Book Babes- a group that meets at the Liberty Paper Mill, and she also teaches workshops on bookbinding.

Joyce's work really is exactly what bookbinding can be when it is at it's best. Her materials are well chosen and meaningful. She spoke about how books are about containing and revealing content, that opening and experiencing a book is what it is all about. A good book artist controls how that content is revealed to the viewer: the process of experiencing the physical, tactile materials and the visual information in time. (Until meeting with Joyce, I never realized the importance of time in the experience of a book.)
















Me and Joyce, Joyce's studio:

Work Makes Work

Claudia and I have our 30-day evaluation via conference call tomorrow-- a check-up for the grant we received. We are excited to report how well things are going. We got off to a rolling start because about a month ago, Claudia taught a workshop at her mill and there was a lot of pulp left over and I was able to crank out a lot of paper with the leftovers. In the process, I learned how to operate the restraint dryer and how to mix formation aid, I refreshed my memory of how to use the press (which uses a 6 ton bottle jack), and I experimented with moulds and deckles. So.. already we have a lot of material made and a lot to report.

After making all that paper, we have yet to clean the studio. We are waiting for the wood stove to be put it before we get back in there. In the meantime, I've been learning simple book forms from Claudia. I'm very good at doing my homework.















This is Jemima. She and another cat and three dogs live at the mill and are great companions.