two kitties: How to Make Paper

I've been wanting to make handmade paper for years. It wasn't until I moved to Montana that I really had the right space to make paper at home. My sister and I set up in the orchard, just outside the art studio.

Earlier this year, I shredded my old journals to ready myself for summer pulp. I had the idea to make seed paper. My friends were horrified that I'd shredded my memories, but honestly -I kind of liked the idea of all that mid-twenties angst being planted in the soil and becoming something a little more green and new.

But, of course, when you have the time you never have the seeds, right? So we just soaked it in the bus boy tubs and then obliterated the chunks in a blender. The pulp was a pale blue from ink.

Hours and hours of writing done during my commute on the DC Metro.

I used a mould and deckle I bought from someone off ebay. I'm kind of underwhelmed. The slats on the back of the deckle don't allow me to use my wet/dry vac to suck out the extra water from underneath. That means it takes a lot longer to dry. And it is pretty much the only reason I bought the wet/dry vac.

But it does give me that nice Tibetan peace flag feeling when it hangs on a line in our orchard.