Hand Papermaking Newsletter #42‘s “For Beginners” column interrogates the line between paper and paper-like substrates. Read the full text here.

It has been said that the earliest papermaker was the common wasp, which rasps dry wood in its mouth to create a pulpy substance for nest building. Humans have also used paper pulp as a building material. Modern sculptors use paper pulp as well. Most people, though, still think of paper as a surface for writing or drawing. But many such paper-like materials commonly used centuries ago, are not technically paper at all. More…

In honor of this coming week’s Annual Meeting of the Friends of Dard Hunter, we’d like to share a “History of Papermaking” article from our For Beginners column. Hand Papermaking Newsletter #28 cites the research and travels of Dard Hunter and provides a condensed overview of papermaking history. Read the full text here.

Much of the early years of papermaking were documented by 20th-century papermaker, explorer, and historian Dard Hunter. His work, Papermaking, The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft, covers much of the past of papermaking, as it was known in the middle of the twentieth century. Paper historians since then have expanded on his research, although no single work of equal magnitude has been published to rival Hunter’s research.  More…