Here you will find information about tools used for making paper
About Tools and Materials
One thing to consider, is many of the things you need for making paper, when you are just starting out, you may well have at home.
🙋♀️ However, please dedicate items that you have used for making paper, ONLY for crafting and don’t put them back in the kitchen drawer, for use with food.
WHY? There are all kinds of chemicals used in the inks and comercial paper making process, and you don’t want to be injesting them. 🤢
My tools so far
To get started, I went with a little kit on Amazon Huiguli Paper making kit 18 x 12.5 cm. The kit has the deckle and frame, some paper pulp to try out, a small whisk and spoon, tweezers and some dried flowers. Huiguli-Papermaking-Handcraft-Teaching-Silkscreen At just under £11, it was pretty good for the price and I’ve made some brilliant paper with it. So to give the process a try, its not the biggest investment.
To help the wood to last longer, before ever using this kit, I gave the woodwork on it, a coat of wood preserver, the kind you have for outdoor furniture. Mine is now a pretty blue colour and the water runs right off it. Its been brilliant and Im going to get a spare as its been such a joy to use.
- When you make your own pulp, you need to soak paper before its ready to blend or use, so you need a container you can soak shredded or torn up paper in. I used a little plastic pot that was meant to decant paint into. Size is up to you depending on the amount of paper you want to soak. I’ve seen you tubers use empty coffee jars. So use what you have and start small, while you figure out what works for you.
- A jug will be handy for adding water and moving things around.
- A blender is very handy, if you want smooth paper. mine is Philips Blender 3000 series with 450w of power. Its light to move around, and the plastic jug was easier to move. So far it doesn’t like more than one third full, and I’ve needed to keep my hand on the top when its running as for some reason there is a hole in the top of the lid which would spurt contents out otherwise. but its doing the job so far, 2 scoops of paper pulp that soaked for a few days, topped up to 200ml with water and 15 seconds later pulp.
- Plastic sieve. to sieve out any lumps in the pulp after blending.
- You need two other containers.
- One to hold the paper pulp you have put through the blender and the sieve
- Another larger container is needed that will fit the size of your frame and deckle with room to spare each side for wiggle room.
What size of mould and deckle to choose?
If you are choosing a size of mould and frame in a starter kit, my personal choice was A6 (this is the size of paper that the mould and frame will create. Im REALLY glad I went for that small size. The small size is easier to handle and bearing in mind you will need a vat (flat bowl/box) with water twice the depth of your frame, and space all around it for you to swoosh things around. The A6 size meant an (UNUSED by animals), large cat litter tray, was big enough to pull paper from.
I tried to make my own mould and deckle, from photo frames in a larger size, lets just say it didn’t go so well. So for my current skill level, the A6 is about right and easier to handle. If you have LOTS of space and dexterity, choose whichever size works for your projects. But the smaller pairings, are great to experiment with and need less water, less pulp and smaller containers to create in.
Talking of the sizes of frames; the principle is that the size listed for any frame, is the measurement of the inner, mesh covered area. The frame itself will be larger than this. How much larger depends on the thickness of the woods used.
Bear in mind the larger sizes of mould and deckle, although will be making larger sheets, you will also need a larger container to pull the paper from, and larger sheets to dry on and more space for them to dry as well.
Its down to space and dexterity as well as the size you would like your paper to be. As Tim Holtz often says ‘You, do you’.
Please visit the Paper Making Home page for lots more information to links about Paper Making.
Best wishes and thanks for reading
See you soon
Billie