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Lesson Plans


Natural Fibers - Papermaking

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
Melissa Enderle (enderlml.wi.us)
Fri, 29 May 1998 21:56:51 -0500

>Has anyone used natural resources for paper making. Off subject.
>Coffee works great when you are making paper.
In college I had the opportunity to make Eastern paper (a.k.a. "rice"
paper) in my Fibers class. This type of paper primarily uses natural
fibers as a resource. Living on a farm, I made some out of the bast
fibers of the weed, the burdock (known to some as burrs). The bast fibers
on the burdock are the fibers in between the core and "bark". Other
natural fibers commonly used are kozo and gampi(plants from Japan), and
even common materials such as the corn plant, cattails, and a variety of
vegetables.

Personally, I would probably not recommend using burdock. It was
difficult to get the bast fibers and was more of a bugger to get the
fibers to break down. I was tenacious (and perhaps stubborn) and was
determined to make it work. The paper was used as part of my artist's
book, entitled "Old Mac Donald HAD a farm", a story based on the tragedy
of the loss of my parent's farm, complete with woodcut images printed on
the paper.

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Melissa Enderle
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