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journal |
September 2001 |
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9-1-01 As of this morning, all that was left to do to get the Hollander beater up and running was wire the motor. It has an eight wire industrial motor, something I’m not willing to tackle. Ever tried to locate an electrician on a Saturday? Easier to locate a six-legged dog. Thank goodness for friends with sons who are electricians. The motor is wired and tomorrow is set aside to learn just how this doggone thing works. 9-2-01 I’m more than pleased with the beater. Set it up on the deck this morning, filled it with water and strips of cotton and linen from two shirts plus half a t-shirt, turned it on and watched it beat the stuff into lovely, soft cotton rag pulp. Amazing! I did learn two valuable lessons today. Do NOT set a beater up on a wooden deck. The deck becomes a sounding board for every thump-bump of the beater. Second, be sure to rinse fabric in vinegar before putting into the beater. Otherwise, the critter becomes a frothing mad dog in less time than it takes to turn around twice. Pulled a couple of test sheets of the cotton rag pulp. Feels weird in the vat, much like the feeling when a stray hair gets into the pulp, only multiplied many times. 9-4-01 Made envelopes and cards from the cotton rag with just a touch of wheat straw added for color and contrast. Lovely. Washed some denim in vinegar and cut it up to beat tomorrow. 9-5-01 Set the Hollander up on a pad on concrete this time. (I’m a quick study.) Beat the denim for a couple of hours, but probably should have beat it another half hour or so. It looked okay, but when I put the pulp in the vat to pull a couple of test sheets, it seemed that the denim almost needed a formation aid; there aren’t quiet enough fine fibers. Denim paper is also going to be too soft. Need to add something to give it some body. I’ll rebeat the denim at some point, but I had other plans for the Hollander this afternoon. I had three batches of fibers — white oak sapwood, catalpa bast and tomato plant stems — that I had cooked some time ago and processed in the blender but couldn’t break down enough for paper. Combined those three in the Hollander and beat them for an hour and a half. Made lovely pulp, golden tan with flecks of reddish brown fibers. Paper is sturdy and crisp. 9-6-01 Made cards and envelopes from the three fiber pulp from yesterday. I used those experimenting with drying techniques. Made stacks of twelve each of the cards and envelopes with nothing between the paper sheets and pressed the heck out of them. Took those stacks out of the press and laid them in the sun. My plan was to let one stack dry completely as it was, but to separate the individual paper sheets in the other stack, place between dividers and dry as usual in the press. I left the cards as they were, but divided the envelopes. The surface of each appeared rougher than when pressed as I normally do between dividers, but when I repressed them (with dividers between), they smoothed out beautifully. Left them to dry in the press overnight. The stack of cards was not dry by evening, so I brought it inside and laid it on a Z made from cardboard on edge. I haven’t the foggiest idea if they’ll even separate in the morning, but we’ll see. If they don’t...what the hey, they’ll just go back in the vat. 9-7-01 The stack was dry this morning without any cockles or curls, and the individual sheets did separate easily enough, but pulling them apart softened the paper and made it flexible. Not good. And I’m not really happy with the outside texture of either surface of the cards. They’re rough where the fibers of one card imprinted on the next. Scratch the idea of letting them dry in a stack. Initial pressing in an undivided stack does work well, though. I’m able to remove far more water than is possible with dividers. Cleaned some black willow bark and cooked it to try tomorrow. 9-8-01 Set up the Hollander and processed the willow bark. The inner bark broke down into heavy fibers that will make a deep reddish brown paper, but will require a formation aid in the vat. (I understand that the Japanese term for flecks of kozo bark mixed in with pulp is “chiri,” or something to that effect. Looks like I’m going to be doing a lot of chiri picking with the willow bark. I thought I had almost all of the outside bark cleaned off before I cut and cooked, but I most definitely didn’t. Lots of chunky black outer bark mixed with the processed inner bark.) Pulled most of the willow out of the Hollander, then added abaca to what was left and processed. Pulled a test sheet. The abaca lightened the color more than I want, but it still makes a nice paper. Set that aside for another day. ** Carole Pierce, a local weaver, came over and played in the pulp with me. I showed her how to pull cards and envelopes from the three fiber mixture, then after she mastered that, we switched to a vat of the cotton/wheat mixture. It was a little more difficult for her to pull, but she mastered it and went home with three cards and envelopes from each vat. 9-9-01 On nice days, I pull paper on the back deck, but it was way too windy to pull paper today. I would have been collecting felts and sheets from all over the neighborhood. I did cook up some barnyard grass this morning just to see what it would do and pulled four test sheets. It’s an interesting paper and can be pulled tissue paper thin. **I am molting and have been for two months. (Molting is the only term I know with a close enough definition. The wonder is that I have a hair left on my head.) It’s bad enough when I find them in food; it’s a major issue when I find them embedded in paper, particularly after the sheet is dry, but I absolutely refuse to wear a hairnet! 9-10-01 Mixed day. Ran three batches of under processed denim through the Hollander adding abaca to give the paper some body. Took a walk down by the creek and cut a couple of mulberry branches just to see if they’d still strip. Strangely enough, they would, though not quite as easily as in the spring or early summer. Bittersweet vines growing on the Silver Creek bridge caught my eye. I’ve been wanting to try it, but thought I’d wait till next spring. Probably should have, but I had a feeling someone was going to cut them off the bridge before spring. Cut about fifteen 4-5’ vines, probably 2-3 year old growth, brought them home, coiled and put in the canner to steam. They stripped easily enough, but getting the outside bark off was the devil, and after stripping all the vines and cooking the fibers, I only had a handful of pulp. Mind you, it’s lovely, but that’s a heck of a lot of work for such a little return. May try some larger vines in the spring when they’ll likely strip without steaming. I’ll pull what little pulp I have tomorrow and see what the paper looks like. 9-11-01 The World Trade Centers were destroyed today by terrorists 9-12-01 I cannot sit in front of the television any longer. Sun dried pulp today. Dried denim, white cotton rag, black willow and a mixture of white oak, catalpa and tomato stems. Chunks and crumbles seem to dry better than compacted sheets and give me more flexibility when it comes time to rehydrate. Pulled sheets from the bittersweet. Fibers clumped so badly that I had to stop and take time to wet cut the pulp. (Now have one very scissor sore thumb.) After I shortened the fibers, the sheets pulled beautifully. Bittersweet makes a lovely creamy white paper with very subdued tan flecks of something, along with more prominent dark brown flecks of bark. Reminds me a great deal of white mulberry, both in texture of the pulp and in color of the paper. Now, if it just weren’t so hard to process and if it only yielded more. Why do the best things come hard? Just before dark, I slipped out for a walk and cut two 8’ lengths of older bittersweet, one the size of my little finger in diameter, the other about thumb size. Steamed, then sat in front of the TV and removed the bark, then cleaned the outer bark from the inner. I want to know what effect the age of the vine will have on pulp. 9-13-01 Cooked the bittersweet bast for two hours with washing soda. Processed nicely in the blender, but the pulp is nothing like that from the 2-3 year old vines. And the larger, older bittersweet makes a totally different paper from yesterday’s, which was made from the young vines. It appears that as the vines grow older, the soft, subdued tan flecks have become hard and reddish brown, and they give the paper a rough texture. The pulp yield on the older vines isn’t any better than the young ones. Also gathered common violet stems, cooked, processed and pulled a couple of test sheets. Interesting paper. The violet has a central fiber that runs the length of the stem. You can often see a part of this when you pull the stem from the base of the plant. This is the white fiber visible in the picture. Cut some purpletop, cooked it for 2 1/2 hours in washing soda and ran through the blender. Too late to test it today. 9-14-01 The paper from purpletop is rather bland and uninteresting, a washed out brownish green with fibers and seeds visible, but no real redeeming feature. Cut up a colored knit cotton shirt to see what the Hollander with do with it. (Somewhere earlier I bragged that I was a quick study. Apparently, I’m not. I forgot to wash the shirt in vinegar. Suds, yet again.) Knit seems to take longer to disintegrate than does plain weave. Ran the beater for 3 hours, but the pulp wasn’t quite ready. Stopped the beater, since I need to tighten up the motor mount bolts. I’ll finish beating the pulp tomorrow 9-15-01 Repositioned the Hollander motor, tightened the bolts a bit better and finished processing the cotton knit. As the cloth has been beating, I’ve pulled sample bits out to see the progress. Before all the cotton or linen that I’ve done has been a single color. This was a three color double knit—white, blue and green—and I had no idea what would happen. The final pulp is a nice soft bluish gray with bits of black threads from the seams still visible. (The pulp in the picture is still wet; it dried lighter.) I had added about 4 oz of bleached abaca about an hour before the pulp was finished to give some body to the pulp. That may have lightened the color somewhat. 9-16-01 Stripped four or five small elm limbs, about the size of my little finger. Dropped peeled bark in boiling water, turned it off and let it steep for an hour. Cleaned the outer bark off, cut the bast in 1” sections and cooked in washing soda for an hour and a half, then processed in the blender. Pulp was a dirty looking tannish brown, so I bleached it. Needs a formation aid in the vat unless you shorten the fibers. Paper doesn’t rattle, but elm makes a nice, tough, cream colored paper. Yield is good and would be better on larger limbs or even a tree, but after the bittersweet debacle of the 12th and 13th, I know better than to think older stuff will make the same paper as the young limbs. But...with elm bark, if it won’t make paper, it will make a basket. :) 9-18-01 Pulled envelopes and cards from the cotton double knit that I beat on the 15th. Husband says the dark seam threads look like worms. This worries me. He is a wise man. (Last week looked at the turnip greens cooking on the stove and asked in all honesty, “Is this supper or potential paper?” Gotta love him!) Took time this evening to pull and cook strawberry stems...for paper. Makes a very interesting sheet, but pulp return for gathering time makes this one iffy. (Do not include leaves, if you try this. Little fiber, much mess.) 9-22-01 Took a few days away from paper for various reasons. (May end up taking a few more. We’re having the bathrooms remodeled. <sigh>) I had saved the cooking water from the strawberry leaf stems and used it to dye some cotton rag. The water was a lovely rich burgundy; used as a dye with alum, it resulted in a rather washed out tan. I didn’t want to bleach the cotton back out, so I pulled a few envelopes and they don’t look half bad, sort of on the tan end of off white. I added just a little daylily pulp and pulled cards to go with the envelopes and they look good together. 9-23-01 Went rambling looking for possible paper sources. Brought home some Joe-Pye weed (had read somewhere that it makes paper), milkweed, elderberry and goldenrod. Of the four, milkweed and elderberry seem to be the best bet. The bast stripped from them after steaming was hefty and fiber filled. Didn’t bring home enough to process into paper, just enough to see if it would be worthwhile pursuing. The Joe-Pye weed has me buffaloed (temporarily, I assure you). Whoever made paper from it must have used the whole stem rather than the bast, which is negligible. I broke up a couple of six inch sections, and they’re high in fiber, so that may be what was used. I’ll break up the rest of it to cook tomorrow to see what it will do. Discovered a bag of daylily pulp in the crisper that needed attention before it expired. Just before dark I pulled sixteen sheets from it. Hate pulling paper that late in the day because drying becomes more of a hassle, but I have plans for tomorrow. 9-24-01 I sometimes wonder if other papermakers have made arrangements with true and trusted friends to empty their crisper and freezer when they die. Rain and much cooler today. Cooked the Joe-Pye weed for a couple of hours in washing soda. Sure didn’t look like it would make paper, but I pulped it through the blender just to see. Surprised me a bit. Though the paper is coarse and heavy, the pulp does make paper. Doesn’t clump in the vat, but the fibers are coarse enough really to need a formation aid. Pulled one sheet of pure Joe-Pye, then added a little gampi to the vat to see what difference it would make. Easier to pull and could pull a much thinner sheet with the additional fiber. 9-25-01 Took a minute this morning to reblend the Joe-Pye pulp, thinking that it would break down more and I was right. Pulled another couple of test sheets and they were much finer and better in quality. Took a walk this evening and cut six or eight mulberry branches. I’ve promised myself never to do that again this late in the year! They would not strip. Had to cut each branch into sections and steam to remove the bark, then the outer bark was a bear to remove. Never again! George (next door neighbor) brought his tomato plants over at dark. Looks like tomorrow is spelled out for me. 9-26-01 Bathroom renovation began. Spent the day alternately steaming/stripping the tomato plant bast and retreating to the far end of the backyard to escape the beating and pounding coming from the bathroom. Cooked the mulberry just before dark. Probably pull paper tomorrow from that, the tomato bast and some river cane pulp I’ve been putting off. 9-27-01 Best laid plans of mice and men… When I stopped at the Guild office to sign checks this morning, I found that someone had cut the bulrush and cattails growing across the street. Really hadn’t intended to try cattails until next year, but… Gathered up an armload and brought them home. Cut up only the upper 2/3 of the leaf and cooked it in A&H washing soda. Blended into a green, gooey mass of very fine fibers. 9-28-01 When Gary, the plumber, showed up this morning, I had two pans of paper pulp on the kitchen counter - one lumpy whitish one of mulberry pulp and the other the greenish, gooey mess of cattails. I saw him look at them rather doubtfully, but it wasn't the time to explain. He went on about the bathroom renovations and I went outside to pull tomato bast paper. Later, when I was pressing the paper, he stopped at the workroom door to ask a question about the bath fixtures. I ended up explaining about papermaking, how I made pulp out of odds and ends things from nature. He looked puzzled a minute, then it was as if a light went on. "Oh! That stuff in the kitchen...it's for paper! Huh! I thought it was mashed potatoes and some weird creamed green vegetable..." I showed him the stack of paper made from natural materials, and he got a real kick out of the Thoroughbred horse poop paper. A bit later he came back to the door and said that he had something I could make paper out of. He led me back to the bathroom and showed me the metal drainpipe he had just pulled from behind the washing machine, completely clogged with a dark, gooey, fibrous mass. "See," he grinned, "and it can't be any worse than the horse manure paper." Great sense of humor. **Pulled a few sheets from the cattail pulp before I rinsed it just to see what the difference would be, then rinsed the rest of the pulp and pulled a few more sheets from the rinsed pulp. The unrinsed pulp drains very slowly through the mold and makes an extremely thin olive green sheet of paper. Pulp that is rinsed drains almost too quickly and produces a sturdier, light tan sheet. I suspect that partial rinsing would produce a more interesting and serviceable sheet that could be pulled more easily. May try that with the lower 1/3 of the leaf later. Had a dab of common violet stem pulp left from a previous batch. Mixed a little white mulberry pulp with it, and the two together made lovely paper. 9-29-01 Went to the Frankfort Folklife Festive. I had hoped that there would be a molasses making demo so I could get some crushed cane. Not there this year. However, I did come home with a dozen or so tobacco stalks to play with. 9-30-01 Cooked the remainder of the cattails. The lower 1/3 of the leaf seems to yield a bit more fiber than the rest. Only logical, I suppose. Thoroughly washed about 2/3 of it after blending and reserved the rest, unwashed, to mix back with that just to see what that mixture will do. Tomorrow is the first of October. Hard to believe. It’s also hard to believe that I’m looking forward to the first hard frost. That will be “harvest time” for several things I want to try, but don’t dare cut the plants until after frost, like the hydrangea. The purple bean plant growing at the end of the deck is another candidate. The stem skin pulls away in long strips easily without any cooking, and the larger stems seem to yield enough to make it worthwhile. We’ll see. |
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