Six New Sheets

July 28, 2005

After I signed off last night, I looked at the cigarette packs I smoke. They're green on the outside with black copy, and white on the inside. Since they're about a 10-point heavy paper, I figured I'd try one pack to make one sheet. I tore several up. As an afterthought I kept the silvered paper on the inside, too.


Tonight I started with the cigarette packs. I poured four sheets. One pack made a nice sheet, a pale green speckled color. I had to put the second piece back into the blender, because it didn't completely pulp. The second time I poured, it was much better. I ended up leaving the blender on for 60 seconds, and the third and fourth sheets came out nice and clean.

I moved on to a four-color direct mail piece. It was about 100-pound cover weight, and I divided it up into four sheets. I poured one, and it came out a nice gray color, with very few speckles. It must have been water-soluable ink. It left a ring around the deckle, which rinsed right off.


The last sheet for tonight was one of the Netflix preps. It made a fabulous cranberry speckled sheet. With the green sheets above, I'll have some really great Christmas cards.

I wonder...If I divide the deckle in half with a piece of cardboard, fill half with red and half with green, lift the deckle and mold out of the water and then remove the cardboard as the water drains, will I get a strong enough sheet to make a card? I'll have to try using the same amount in each half as I did with tonight's full sheets.

On for this weekend is playing with the cookie cutters to make deckled shapes.

And I have some cigarette filters soaking. I'm going to try blending them to make a sheet alone and including them in the pulp for recycled paper. I'm worried the sheets will smell like burnt tobacco. I'm hoping they will make a nice tan sheet.

First Pages

First Pages: July 27, 2005
Ah, well. "The Inside" isn't on, but I got a "Wiseguy" disc from Netflix.

Last night I tore up several sheets and stored them in large pill bottles, ready to go. I got set up and made my first sheet within minutes.


Sheet 1: Recycled junk mail letter, no other additives. I misread the instructions and blended for 60 seconds, not 30. The blender kicked some bits of paper up, so they didn't get pulped, and ended up as unintentional inclusions in the finished sheet. It's fairly smooth and even in thickness. It's a very light bluish gray, with speckles throughout. It's drying between couch sheets under several computer manuals. It's similar to a 60-pound text paper.


Sheet 2: Recycled junk mail letter with a 1-1/2 inch pinch of 100% Blue Denim Cotton Pulp. Per instructions, I blended the recycled paper for 30 seconds, added the pulp and blended an additional minute. When I poured it into the mold I could see right away how much thicker it was. I had to stir it around more than the first sheet to get it even. It took longer to drain, and the sheet retained more water, I'm guessing because of the cotton fiber. It's drying between couch sheets under several computer manuals. It's similar to a 65-pound cover paper.

Next steps: I have two more sheets prepped from the same junk mail piece. I also prepped a sheet from Netflix mailer sheets. It take about two to make one sheet. Since one side is flood-filled red, I'm a little worried about staining the couch sheets. I'll soak the paper a bit before putting it in the blender to see how much leaches out into the water. I'm hoping for a pale red speckled sheet. We'll see tomorrow evening.

Addendum: I made the mistake of removing the two sheets from under the book press before I went to bed; I was impatient. When I woke up this morning they were cockled. I left them under some books today, and put them back in the stacks from SixNewSheets. I won't make that mistake again.

Preparation: First Steps

Prior to July 26, 2005, I:
• Did a Google search for papermaking sites
• Found a Yahoo! group for papermaking and downloaded & read info
• Visited Artmart and bought an Arnold Grummer pour papermaking kit
• Also bought six "Specialty Pulps."
⁃ 100% White Cotton Rag Pulp
⁃ 100% Blue Denim Cotton Pulp
⁃ Gray Cotton Rag & Wool Pulp
⁃ Green Cotton Rag & Wool Pulp
⁃ Plum Cotton Rag & Wool Pulp
⁃ Scrubbed Corn Husk & Cotton Pulp
• I responded to an e-mail on the Yahoo! community about Classic Linen paper, explaining the name designated the texture, not the rag content. Also mentioned that I was a little intimidated by the site.
• I received three e-mails back, clearly encouraging and supporting me. These are the coolest people ever.

July 26, 2005:
• Read over papermaking terms again. They're confusing me, because they intersect with design and printing terms. For example, deckle. In design and printing, paper can have a deckled edge, which means one edge is ragged, generally the envelope flap. In papermaking, the deckle is the wooden frame that holds the pulp in place over the screen.
• Decided to start with simple paper recycling. This really makes me laugh, because I get so much junk mail. I will never want for raw materials.
• Found a plastic tub that will work for the deckle I have, and the next larger one that I need to make envelopes to to fit. (LOL) It was in the chest freezer, full of portions of soup.
• Sacrificed my 20-year-old Osterizer blender. I can't remember the last time I used it anyway, and I can buy a new one for food if I need it. The need to create something organic trumps cooking right now.
• Made a basic 7x9-inch template to approximate the material I need to make my first piece. I chose a piece of junk mail that actually made material for two pages. It's almost time for Big Brother 6, so I gathered all of the materials in the kitchen and sat down to make this entry. Tomorrow, the only thing on is "The Inside" at 8 p.m., so I'll be couching my first sheets then. For now, I'll close this out to watch "So You Want to be a Hilton!" Mercy, I need a hobby.