Beat those fibers!

Hi, Sarah Levine here. I’m the newest edition to the Crafty Bastards Blog and work at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Silver Spring as the Office Manager/Publicity Coordinator. Pyramid Atlantic is a non-profit contemporary arts center dedicated to the creation and appreciation of hand papermaking, printmaking, digital arts, and the art of the book. We have extensive studio space that artists can rent as well as workshops, residencies, and a beautiful gallery. We invite artists from all different backgrounds to check out these traditional art forms and use them in their own contemporary work. Find out more about what we do at http://www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org

I started working at Pyramid Atlantic in January and am exploring all the art forms we offer. But up until last week, my closest experience in the Papermill was my mini dachshund peeing on the floor. Luckily Gretchen Schermerhorn, my co-worker and director of the papermill is forgiving of pups and an excellent teacher. Along with some fun classmates, I took Gretchen’s “Hollander Beater Unveiled” class where we learned how to make a variety of pulp, pull paper sheets, and press them.

After learning about different fibers and some background on papermaking we prepared to make a cotton rag pulp. We cut up orange, red, and white fabric into 1″ pieces, a pound total, which is a lot of cutting! I will skip the explanation of how exactly the Hollander Beater works because it’s somewhat extensive and it’s been a long day. So dot dot dot, after about 1/2hr in the Hollander beater we took it out and strained the pulp. Next we “pulled” the pulp through deckles/moulds (often made from picture frames). It was really fun and a bit wet and I think the whole class enjoyed the feeling of dipping our hands into vats and pulling sheets. I am excited to see how the different sheets come out. The class used about 4 different types of fiber to make our pulp. The different types of fibers and the length of time that they are beaten leads to a variety of paper thickness and appearance. Some of the pulp was thinner and very difficult to work with, sticking to the mould, but produced beautiful translucent paper. There was a bunch to clean up but we all pitched in and got it done.

Since I’m among crafters I probably don’t have to explain why someone would want to take the time and effort to make their own paper when they can just buy it. Even though computers and the digital age has done away with lots of paper, when you think about it, paper has been very essential to society. We record our history, beliefs, hatreds, loves, cures, stories, etc on paper. Even though I recycle like a fiend, I gotta have my paper and am not a fan of digital books and I don’t keep my diary on-line. There will always be something special about the tactile experience of books and written letters, and making your own paper makes it even more unique.