Intro to Papermaking @ Make-It Springfield

** This class is held at Make-It Springfield in Springfield, MA (286 Bridge Street). Free street parking all around the venue on evenings & weekends. Check out the Make-It Springfield website at https://makeitspringfield.org/ for more information.

Would you like to learn the art of Paper Making? Paper was first created over 2000 years ago by Ts’ai Lun, an official attached to the Imperial court of China, who created a sheet of paper using mulberry and other fibers along with fishnets, old rags, and hemp waste. The history of papermaking is quite amazing and has helped civilization grow & expand through the centuries. Can you imagine a world without paper products today?

The cell walls of all plants contain cellulose fibers, an organic material with high strength and durability which makes up one-third of the structural material of annual plants and about one-half that of perennial plants. Until the introduction of wood pulp in 1843 the prime source of paper making ingredients were recycled textiles like cotton, hemp and linen along with pure plant materials. The fibers combine to give paper a strong & durable smooth surface and the ability to soak up ink to allow it to maintain words and images.

The basic paper making process is fairly straightforward and can be done by hand using both recycled materials and direct plant material and simple tools. First you need CELLULOSE FIBER which can be obtained from cloth rag, plants and scrap papers. Our focus will be the use of recycled scrap papers and cloth that would otherwise head to landfills. Then a PULP IS MADE by placing the fiber into a blender and beating well. This breaks up the fiber and allows it to tightly bond with the other included fibers to provide the PULP needed to create sheets. Interesting items like different colored recycled papers, dried flowers, paint, glitter, etc. can be added to give your paper additional charm. Next we FORM SHEETS using a MOLD & DECKLE and a process called COUCHING (coo-ching). Our paper sheets are finished by PRESSING & DRYING. We’re here to guide you through this process so you’ll end up with great looking paper sheets at the end!

This is a basic introduction to paper making. The paper we create will be somewhat rough and wavy but can have very nice looks for writing, cards and a base for drawing and painting. Come learn this amazing process and have lots of fun making your own paper from recycled materials that is yours to keep!