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This information is reprinted from the Beginner Topics
column of Hand Papermaking Newsletter #71 (July, 2005).
To learn how to order Hand Papermaking bi-annual magazine
and quarterly newsletter, click
here.
Finding Plant Fibers
You do not have to go further than your own backyard to
find a number of plants suitable for papermaking. Many
common garden plants make lovely papers, such as the leaves
of iris, gladiolus, and day lilies, the stems of okra and
hollyhock, and the stalks of corn. Even in your kitchen
compost, you can find papermaking plant parts such as onion
skins, artichoke leaves, and corn husks. If you do not have
a backyard, there are many other places to find papermaking
plants. I sometimes collect onion skins from the bottom of
the bin at the local grocery store and get corn husks at the
neighborhood farmer’s market. Nurseries and flower shops
often have plant waste laying around, and roadside weeds,
such as cattails and phragmites, are abundant and suitable
for papermaking. Be creative. One papermaker I know uses all
of the plant material left over after she harvests her
vegetable garden. Another collects the leaves of the banana
tree at her local bank after it has been pruned. In Chicago,
a papermaker has her students collect milkweed that grows
wild along the train tracks. The possibilities are endless.
The main ingredient in papermaking plants is fiber.
Fibrous plants have been used for ages to make items such as
cloth (cotton and flax), rope and sackcloth (hemp stems, New
Zealand flax leaves, sisal), and other products such as
baskets, mats, brushes, and hats. These plants, and many
others, have also been used to make paper, and they will
often suffice as the sole ingredients of your sheets of
paper.
When foraging for plants, be aware that some plants are
poisonous. If you familiarize yourself with their appearance
before you go into the field, they will be easy to avoid.
Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac are common plants
which can cause skin irritations and allergic reactions. To
protect yourself from inadvertent exposure, wear long pants,
long sleeves, and gloves. Apply insect repellent to prevent
bug bites and stings. It is a good idea to change your
clothes and rinse off when you return from collecting.
Respect the property of others. Many wild or overgrown
places may seem inviting to forage, but you might not be
welcome, so it is important to get permission before
gathering plants from private property or public parks. If
you ask, you might even get help. Friends of mine are so
intrigued that I make paper from plants, that they save
their gladiolus and day lily leaves for me. A landowner will
most likely be curious and maybe even grateful that you want
to make paper out of his annoying weeds.
In addition to being sensitive to the people who own or tend
the land, it is important to be sensitive to the life of the
plant. While getting permission to forage, you may be
surprised to find that picking a certain plant will disturb
a natural ecosystem, create erosion problems, or interrupt
the life cycles of insects or animals. During the late
summer and early fall, monarch caterpillars form their
cocoons and feed on the milkweed plant. By simply delaying
your harvest for a few weeks, you can avoid disrupting their
habitat. In some cases the plant you want might be
endangered or near extinction. It often takes a lot of plant
material to make a few sheets of paper, so in the case of a
struggling plant population, your harvest may not leave
enough plants for the population to recover. As a rule of
thumb, ask before you pick.
There are a few simple tools you need to collect
papermaking plants. If you are a gardener, you probably have
them in your shed. Take a pencil and a notebook along for
notes, and a camera if you wish to do visual documentation.
A jackknife or a pair of hand pruners will be useful for
cutting stems and branches. Don’t forget to bring a
knapsack, bag, or string to tie up your cuttings and carry
them home. Bring a pair of gloves to protect your hands from
scrapes and scratches. If you plan to wade into a swampy
area to collect grasses, its a good idea to wear waterproof
boots.
How to Find Papermaking Plants...
1. Take a walk: Vacant lots, roadsides, riverbeds,
swamps, gardens, farms, and train tracks are just a few
locations in which you might find papermaking plants.
2. Do some creative research: Historical accounts of how
people have used plants for papermaking and other crafts can
be found in books on papermaking, textiles, and basketry.
Early Chinese papermakers used hemp, fish nets, tree bark,
and old rags for their fiber. American Indians used tule (Scirpus
acutus), a soft-stemmed bulrush, to make mats, baskets,
walls, and roofs. Lime tree bast (Tilia) was used to
make shoes and brushes in Russia. All of these materials and
many others make fine paper.
3. Study a field guide: Although at first glance
nomenclature may appear baffling, it can help you focus your
search for papermaking fibers and help you locate what grows
in your region. Plants in the same botanical family often
have similar physical characteristics, so by paying
attention to botanical orders and plant family names, you
can identify potential papermaking plants. For example,
paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera, a.k.a. kozo),
which is one of the predominant papermaking fibers in Japan
and also grows throughout the U.S., is in the Moraceae
family. True hemp (Cannabis sativa) and breadfruit (Artocarpus
altilis) are also in the Moraceae family and are good
papermaking plants.
4. Study papermaking manuals: there are a few books in
print that provide lists of papermaking plants and paper
recipes: Plant Fibers for Papermaking, by Lilian Bell, is an
excellent guide to over 80 plant fibers; Winifred Lutz's
appendix in Japanese Papermaking, by Timothy Barrett also
contains recipes and detailed information.
5. Take a class: there are a number of papermakers
working with plant fibers who teach classes at art centers
specializing in book and paper arts and at community
colleges. There are papermaking courses offered at some
colleges and universities.
6. Ask an expert: If you have trouble identifying or
locating a particular plant, call a local botanist or
horticulturist. You can find these experts at local colleges
or university extension services, plant nurseries, botanical
gardens, or horticultural societies.
Okay, now that we have an idea of where to look for
fibers, let’s get out our garden tools to prepare for the
next column!
To be continued in the October Newsletter.
Portions excerpted from Papermaking with Plants, ©
1998, by Helen Hiebert with permission from Storey
Publishing. <www.storey.com>.
Copyright 2005 Hand Papermaking, Inc.
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