How to make homemade paper

Making paper by hand at home can be a pretty simple process. It’s also a fantastic way to use up your old receipts, scrap papers, junk mail, and copy paper that you were about to throw in the recycling bin, and instead create a thing of glorious handmade beauty.

Have those recycled papers hanging around? Some sort of plastic storage tub, and a kitchen blender? With a few supplies and these basic instructions, you’re well on your way to making handmade paper and being ridiculously friendly to the environment.

What you will need:

  • Large Bowl
  • Two sheets of blotting paper (about 6 inches square) (or a newspaper)
  • Sheets of Used Paper
  • Egg beater or kitchen blender
  • Instant starch (two teaspoons in a cup) will provide what commercial papermakers call ‘size’.
    This will help to stiffen your paper
  • Wire gauze or fine mesh
  • Water

Step 1

Tear the paper into very small pieces (not more than 1 inch square) and place in the bowl/kitchen blender.

TIP

Drawing, printmaking, and watercolor papers are best because they are generally made from stronger fibers (such as cotton rag, and not chemically treated tree fiber). Your fiber/scrap choice and its characteristics dictate the quality of the final sheet.
Why not experiment with junk mail, office paper, paper bags, the yellow pages, rejection letters, and more. Remember NO PLASTIC!

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