The Hollander beater was invented in the late seventeenth century in  Holland for the preparation of rags or fibers into pulp for papermaking. Its  main components are a cylindrical roll fitted or cast with metal flybars or  knives under which lies a bedplate, a grooved and curved surface that conforms  to the roll. As the roll turns, fiber and water are forced between the roll  and the bedplate, resulting in a cutting, shearing, and hydrating action. The  fiber and water continue up and over a backfall, around an oval trough, and  back to the roll.  Beater designs differ widely in the shape of the tub, the placement of the  bedplate, the distance between the flybars on the roll, the width of the blades,  the depth of the cell (the space between the blades), and the shape of the backfall.  The Voith Valley "laboratory testing" beater, with a fixed roll and a moveable  bedplate, uses an arm with attachable weights to raise the bedplate up and  down to bring it closer to or further from the fixed roll. On the contrary, many  contemporary studio-size beaters (such as those made by Howard Clark, Lee  Scott McDonald, David Reina, Mark Lander, and Peter Gentenaar) have a fixed  bedplate and an adjustable roll. My goal here is not to compare the mechanics  of different Hollanders. Even two machines by the same maker can produce  varying results due to user patterns, water quality, care, and maintenance. With  this article I intend to focus on what they all share in common: the ability to  produce a wide range of pulps.  Beater Finesse for the Artist  catherine nash  Howard Clark (center) leading a beater workshop at the annual meeting of the  Friends of Dard Hunter, Chillicothe, Ohio, October 2006. Photo by and courtesy of  the author. All other photos courtesy of the artists.  Lynn Sures (Silver Spring, Maryland, USA), Frasassi, 2007, 12 x 12 x 18 feet,  installation of pulp painting, linocut, and paper sculpture: pulp-painted flax on  cotton base sheets with beeswax; sprayed cotton/abaca pulp with pigment; flax  with wax on wire netting; sprayed flax with pigment and paste-painting; cotton  and flax pulp-painted mixed-fiber base sheets with pigment, linocut; ceramic.  Photo: Mark Gulezian.  16 - hand papermaking  Prior to beating, a papermaker must take into consideration  the qualities of the raw material to be beaten. Howard Clark tells  us, "The proper fiber is whatever works for whatever your desired  end results may be."1 And to paraphrase Wavell Cowan,  it is important to choose a fiber based on how efficiently one  can use the strength inherent in the raw material.2 With experience  comes the ability to choose one plant fiber over another for  known properties or to mix particular fiber sources to achieve  their combined qualities within one sheet.  Understanding the rudiments of plant fiber structure and  chemistry—particularly cellulose and hemicellulose—is essential  to good beater practice.3 Plant fibers are fundamentally all  hollow cylinders. Their basic structure varies in the thickness  of the walls, and how the cellulose molecules spiral to create the  cylinder. Found in the cell wall, cellulose and hemicellulose are  the stuff of paper. They are hydrophilic (water loving) and bond  readily when brought into close proximity. During the beating  process, we are refining the cellulose and hemicellulose to create  useable pulps. Lee Scott McDonald outlines the variables we  must keep in mind as we determine how best to beat a given fiber:  the average fiber length, bulk and texture, intrinsic strength,  wet fiber compactibility, and cohesiveness in bonding. He cautions  us that fibers within the same plant family can also yield  differences depending on how and where a plant is grown, what  time of year it is harvested, and how and for how long the fiber  is retted or cooked to remove the lignin and other non-cellulose  components.4  In Science for Handpapermakers, Cowan asserts that beating  is one of the most mystifying parts of papermaking for beginners,  skilled craftspeople, and scientists alike. "The mystery of  beating is greatly enhanced by the mystery of the fiber and explains  why the expected results of beating the next batch of a  favorite fiber can turn out, unexpectedly, to be different from  the last batch."5 The main effects of beating are threefold: cutting  and shortening; abrading or fibrillating the fiber walls; and  internal crushing, bruising, and splitting.6 During beating, the  cellulose walls are cut and crushed between the bedplate and  the beater roll, leaving jagged ends and a roughened-up surface.  As the abrasion increases, more and more tiny hairs (or fibrils)  appear on the main shaft of the fiber. As water molecules attach  to the fibrils, the overall surface of the fiber increases. "Fibrillation  also creates a more flexible fiber for better interweaving,  and helps flatten the fiber to increase density."7 The more the  fiber is fibrillated, the more debris or broken fibrils—known as  fines—are created. Fines fill in between the fibers during sheet  forming and can increase a pulp's smoothness and opacity. Fibrils  and fines in a pulp also promote better inter-fiber bonding,  creating a sheet with a durable surface.  As paper artists and contemporary studio papermakers, we  can learn more about the terminology used in the machine-made  paper industry. By gaining a common vocabulary with our industry  colleagues, we can learn a great deal and apply the knowledge  to our work. An important resource outlining industry terminology  for the hand papermaker is a short article titled "How to  Beat Paper Fibers the Right Way" by Swiss-born Fred Siegenthaler,  papermaker and founder of The International Association  of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA). Siegenthaler  apprenticed at the Biberist Papermill in Switzerland in the mid-  1950s where he learned how to beat pulps for 300 different types  of paper. "For example, blotting paper is made out of unbeaten  long fiber pulp, whereas parchment is made out of a very highly  beat, so-called short, wet stock. Both qualities contain no size at  all and are totally different from each other as far as the quality  and appearance, as well as the strength and water absorbency,  are concerned. These differences are all created simply by beating  the fibers in a different way."8  Betsy Dollar (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA), detail of Over the Edge, 2006, 72 x  22 x 15 inches, inkjet printing on sprayed abaca papers over Davey board frame.  Michael LaFosse (Honolulu, Hawaii, USA), American Alligator, 2006,  17 x 5 x 2 ½ inches, folded abaca paper. As with all of LaFosse's designs, this work  was made by folding only (no cutting) from a 6-foot square sheet handmade by  Richard L. Alexander. Total folding time was approximately fifty hours. The work  was designed for the "Florigami" exhibit, Morikami Museum, Del Ray Beach,  Florida. Photo: Richard L. Alexander. In the papermaking industry, pulps are referred to in terms  of their rates of drainage: pulps that drain quickly and are not  swollen with water are termed free (or fast) and pulps that are  slower to part with their water after sheet forming are termed wet  (or slow). Wet stock (or wet stuff, as it is referred to in England)  is pulp that is hydrated to such an extent that it needs intense  pressure or suction to part with its water. Sigurd Smith explains  in The Action of the Beater, "As its water drains away, wet stuff will  form a more compact and thinner layer than free stuff...The softness  or plasticity of the \[wet\] fibres, therefore, tends indirectly in  two ways to improve the strength of the sheet. Firstly, wet beaten  fibres felt better than free stiff fibres. Secondly, the reluctance of  wet stuff to part with its water allows more time for the shake on  the wire to take effect and felt the sheet."9  Besides free or wet, pulps are characterized as being short  or long. To produce short-fibered pulps, it is important to have  strong contact between the roll and bedplate and to use less fiber  and more water in the beater. "If the quantity of fibres to water  is relatively small, the shearing \[or cutting\] process will progress  more quickly than when the amount of fibres is more substantial.  In the first case, virtually all the fibres will come in direct contact  with the knives. In the second case, they will protect one another  and the contact with the knives will have a more crushing and  shearing effect on the fibres..."10 Long-fibered pulps result from  a higher fiber-to-water ratio in the beater and by increasing the  distance between the roll and the bedplate in order to reduce  the cutting action and promote abrading and fibrillation instead.  Greasy pulp is another term suggested by the look and feel (wet,  shiny, slippery) of pulp that has undergone a lengthy beating  time. By crushing (rather than cutting) the fibers, water is forced  into the interstices of the fiber, creating a pulp that drains very  slowly and often produces a high-shrinkage paper with a crisp,  rattly sound.  Siegenthaler categorizes four types of pulp:  Long Free Stock, originally used unsized for blotting and filter  papers: Use 24 percent to 50 percent less pulp "as for normal  beating" but the standard amount of water. "The Hollander roll  must never touch the knives of the ground plate. The greater the  distance between the roller knives and ground plate knives, the  fewer fibers are cut and this results in an almost perfectly pulped  long free stuff."  Short Free Stock, originally used to make offset printing papers  for good opacity: Dilute the stock using the same pulp concentration  as above. "Lower the Hollander roll as far as you can  immediately after filling the beater. The knives of the Hollander  roll and those on the ground plate must cross each other perfectly,  i.e., metal on metal with a lot of pressure. This is the only  way to cut the fibers apart and remember, the thinner the stuff,  the better. The beater actually works like scissors."  Greasy Long Wet Stock, suitable for products that are subject  to high wear such as map papers, papers for documents,  and files: Use a highly concentrated stock with as much fiber as  possible, and keep a small separation between the roll and the  bedplate knives. "Defibrillation of the single fibers takes place  by an art of kneading the fibers upon each other between the  knives but not cutting them. The greater the distance between  the knives of the roll and the ones of the ground plate, the longer  the beating takes and the longer the fibers remain."  Greasy Short Wet Stock, originally used for cigarette papers,  transparent papers such as artificial parchment and glassine papers,  and wrapping paper for meat and cheese: Use the same  concentrated stock as above, and "when the stock is greasy  enough, you take half of it out of your beater, dilute the rest with  water and beat the fibers short by lowering the roll (metal to  metal with high pressure) to shorten the fibers."11  To summarize, when working with a Hollander beater, the  Margaret Prentice (Eugene, Oregon, USA), one image from  The Center Holds Nothing, 2006, 15 ¼ x 15 ½ inches, suite of  six etchings on pulp-painted handmade paper (cotton rag and  cotton linters), housed in a gold-stamped enclosure, published by  Pyramid Atlantic, Silver Spring, Maryland, funded by a grant from  the National Endowment for the Arts.  Margareta Mannervik (Hönö, Sweden), Mantles, 2002,  59 x 39 ½ x ½ inch each, cast surface embossing onto cotton  rag sheets with embedded glass fiber for extra strength;  shaped into open pillars. Photo: Stefan Nordkvist.  18 - hand papermaking  papermaker can control: 1) the ratio of fiber to water (the density  of the pulp); 2) the beating time; and 3) how and when one manipulates  the pressure of the roll against the bedplate.12 Finesse  is gained by taking these three factors and the choice of fiber into  consideration. In my recent interviews with contemporary paper  artists and papermakers, I found numerous similarities in beater  practices and many interesting and nuanced differences. However,  before I move into a comparison of our colleagues' beater  notes, I would like to make a few clarifications. As I discussed  earlier, every beater beats differently, so please use this resource  as a guide, not as a recipe book. Also, when I use the term "100  percent capacity" or "full fiber capacity," I refer to a high fiberto-  water ratio, one that still rotates smoothly in the beater. "50  percent fiber capacity" refers to a beater load that is diluted to  half of full fiber capacity, and so on. Each fiber source has its own  density and will absorb water in the beating process differently.  Through experience, the papermaker will come to know what a  "full" beater load might be for a particular fiber in his or her own  beater. Note that it might not match the amounts recommended  by the beater's manufacturer. To discern the fiber-to-water ratio  for consistency between one's own paper batches, Brian Queen  suggests, "Use the weight of the fiber divided by the weight of  the water. Using the metric system, one liter of water weighs one  kilogram (handy isn't it?). So 360 grams divided by 23 kilograms  (360 grams divided by 23,000 grams) equals 1.565% or rounded  off 1.6%."13  Among those whom I surveyed, I found that many papermakers  follow a set protocol when beating, irregardless of the  type of pulp: they load the beater to its maximum capacity with  the roll and bedplate separated to start until the pulp is circulating  smoothly, then they quickly increase the contact between the  roll and the bedplate to achieve "metal on metal" beating for a certain  amount of time. At the end of the cycle, some papermakers  lift the roll for a short period to allow the pulp to circulate which  helps to beat out any knots or "high spots." Using this method,  both Shannon Brock and Lynn Sures beat flax to use for pulp  painting. Brock beats hers for about four hours; and Sures, anywhere  from three to eight hours depending upon the length of  fiber desired. For smooth sheets to use in photographic and digital  printing, Marilyn Sward beats this way as well, combining  flax and abaca fifty-fifty at full capacity for a total of two and a  half hours. With a similar beating strategy, Betsy Dollar creates a  four-hour abaca pulp (loaded to full capacity) that is appropriate  for pulp spraying large 4 x 8 foot sheets for use in installation  and bookworks. Priscilla Robinson utilizes the same abaca fiber,  but loads the fiber amount to 60 percent capacity and beats it  for twelve to fourteen hours in order to achieve a high-shrinkage  pulp for sculptural embossing.  Origami artist Michael LaFosse designs pulps to accommodate  the subject matter of his folded forms. When LaFosse folds  an insect or a reptile form, his fiber of choice is abaca because it  yields an extremely thin, crisp crease with high tensile strength.  To achieve the right pulp, he loads the abaca fiber to two-thirds  capacity and beats it for two to three hours with the roll and bedplate  at maximum pressure. This beating method creates a lot  of fines in the pulp which gives him the qualities he needs. In  contrast, when he folds a mammal such as a piglet or a puppy,  LaFosse requires a paper that is more spongy and compressible.  To achieve those qualities, he blends between 70 percent and  80 percent first-cut cotton linters with 20 percent or 30 percent  abaca respectively. By loading the beater to full capacity and  beating for 45 minutes with the roll and bedplate at maximum  pressure, LaFosse produces sheets that are twice as thick as a  soft-cover book paper. And the paper gives him a particular shaping  with his wet-folding techniques. Like the other papermakers  mentioned so far, LaFosse concludes the beating cycle for his  Peter and Donna Thomas (Santa Cruz, California, USA), Ukulele Series  Book #9: The Letterpress Ukulele, 2002, 18 x 6 x 3 inches, letterpress  printing on shaped cotton paper. Photo: Peter Thomas.  Robbin Ami Silverberg (Brooklyn, New York, USA), Just 30 Words (Interlineary),  2005–06, 12 x 9 x 1 inches (closed), watermarked hemp papers with letterpress printing,  eggshell, human hair collage, and graphite drawings; printed at Artists' Press,  Johannesburg, South Africa, and published in an edition of 30 by Dobbin Books, New  York. This artist book deals with the postcards that Jews in Auschwitz were forced to  write stating that they were in the fictitious resort Waldsee. Photo: Gregg Stanger. pulps by opening up the distance between the roll and bedplate  to increase hydration and to "brush" or "card" the pulp in order  to get rid of knots and tangles which he refers to as "twin stars"  (two knots tied together by a little string) or "spectacles" (two  lenses connected by a nose bridge).14  Margaret Prentice delineates various stages of brushing  through auditory cues: A "light brush" occurs just when one  begins to hear a louder sound when lowering the roll and a  "medium brush" is louder still, perhaps halfway to a "hard beat"  when the roll is in contact with the bedplate. When the roll and  bedplate are at the maximum distance apart, Prentice refers to  the beater action as "stirring." She usually adds sizing or other  chemistry while the pulp is being stirred.15 For woodblock-printing  paper, Prentice brush beats abaca fiber (at full capacity) in  order to maintain fiber length for better felting action and to  hydrate the pulp for increased bonding. She strives for paper  that resembles Japanese kozo paper, a soft, strong paper that will  take oil-based printing ink well. The same paper can also be used  for etching.  In contrast, MJ Cole makes paper for woodblock artist Maria  Arango, using ripped-up cotton rags (sometimes with plant fibers  added for texture). Cole brings the roll into contact with the  bedplate as soon as possible after loading the fraying cloth. The  timing of the beat is highly variable depending on the quality and  newness of the cloth. She has found that old, well-worn cotton  beats down in as little as two hours while newer "harder" fabrics  may take six hours or more. Cole uses visual and tactile cues to  decide when the pulp is "done." Margareta Mannervik concurs  with Cole's timing and observational cues while beating rag. In  order to keep the fibers as long as possible and strong enough  to withstand the pressure required to print linoleum blocks with  deep cuts, Mannervik chooses either cotton or a combination  of cotton and linen rags for her embossed paper. She increases  the pressure of the roll and bedplate slowly from one to three  hours (depending on the rag), continuing with a hard beat for  another three to six hours. She used this pulp to cast a series of  rock forms in plaster molds for a collaborative installation and  bookwork we produced together with four other artists. Half of  the paper rocks were cast in Sweden and half in Arizona, but I  used different techniques for beating.  Using cotton rag half stuff, I strived to create a long, free  stock, a low-shrinkage pulp with relatively long fibers so that the  casting would maintain strength but dry with good surface detail.  The total beat time was 45 minutes, loading the fiber at full  capacity with the roll and bedplate separated for five minutes.  After feeding the beater, I brought the roll and bedplate together  until just hearing a grinding sound for a twenty-minute light  brushing, then let it run for a fifteen-minute hard beat with a  very intense grinding sound. Finally, I lifted the roll just until the  point where there was no grinding sound, and brushed the pulp  for an additional five minutes.  Watermarked paper requires a completely different pulp. For  chiaroscuro watermarks, Brian Queen prefers a short, free stock.  He uses first-cut cotton linters, loading the beater to 50 percent  capacity and beating for thirty to forty minutes with maximum  contact between the roll and bedplate to achieve a cutting action.  He does warn that "there is a limit to how thin the concentration  can be before the blades begin to wear and the furnish turns  grey," however he appreciates how the "short fibres fill in the  recesses of an embossed wire (screen) without bridging in the  way longer fibres do, which results in a crisper watermark."16  Natan Kaaren beats cotton rag cloth at full capacity for a total of  three hours for his watermarked artworks. Feeding the soaked  cloth with the roll about a half millimeter from the bedplate, he  then lowers the roll until it almost touches the bedplate for the  duration of the beat, finally raising the roll for ten minutes at the  Helen Hiebert (Portland, Oregon, USA), detail of Radiate, 2007, 17 x 14 x 2  inches, handmade abaca paper, linen thread. Process notes: embedded linen  thread between wet sheets leads to contortion of sheets during drying, creating  three-dimensional patterns in paper. Photo: Roberta Aylward.  Natan Kaaren (Amandola, Italy), an embossed  watermark, 2007, 30 x 21 cm \[11 ½ x 8 ¼ inches\],  recycled computer paper (one layer colored), handmade  at Nightcloud Studio.  􀀩􀀩  􀀩􀀮  􀀭  􀀩􀀮  􀀫  􀀩􀀮  􀀩􀀫  􀀩􀀮  􀀯  􀀩􀀮  􀀱  􀀩􀀮  􀀩􀀭  􀀩􀀮  20 - hand papermaking  end of the cycle to get rid of knots. His beater is outfitted with a  washer roll (a drum) that cleans and defoams the pulp while it  travels around the beater trough. Kaaran finds that the washer is  "effective with pulp made from rags, especially jeans and other  colored fabric: the foam, grime and color that comes out is truly  amazing."17  To create paper for letterpress printing, Peter Thomas's goal  is to achieve a flat sheet that has high fold strength and a soft  surface to receive the impression. Thomas combines 90 percent  cotton rag and 10 percent short-fibered cotton linters. He loads  the beater to full capacity and, after the initial cutting and separation  of the fiber, he raises the roll slightly, leaving minimal space  between the bedplate and roll, to avoid a cutting action. By using  the minimal amount of beating time required, Thomas aims to  produce a paper that maintains strength and will not cockle during  drying. He determines the total beating time through visual  and tactile cues.  Robbin Ami Silverberg designed a pulp for a specific bookwork  that offers a balance of folding strength, receptivity to letterpress  printing, as well as translucency for watermarks. She  loads hemp half stuff to 100 percent capacity with the roll fully  separated from the bedplate. Then slowly, over the first 45 minutes,  she brings the roll and bedplate into contact. Afterwards,  she hard beats the pulp for another four to five hours. During  the last half hour, she lifts the roll to lightly brush the fibers in  order to increase the pulp's translucency.  For lithography, Eileen Foti and John Risseeuw both seek a  dense, even sheet that will accept layers of litho ink without the  fibers "picking off" during multiple print runs. Foti combines  50 percent unbleached abaca and 50 percent second-cut cotton  linters. She prefers to beat them together in the same beater load  to achieve an integrated surface. For a particular project, Risseeuw  beat separate loads of cotton linters, cotton rag, sisal, and  scraps of mat board, treating each differently and combining the  pulps afterwards with a Dreagerpulper.18 Although their methods  differ, both combine short with long fibers so that the short  fibers fill in the spaces between longer ones, creating a compact,  closed-surfaced sheet required for litho printing.  Many artists today who employ high-shrinkage pulps for  sculptural works are using techniques adapted and developed  from Winifred Lutz's explorations in the 1980s.19 The longer  the pulp is beaten, the more hydrogen-bonding sites occur as  the fiber is abraded, resulting in greater shrinkage in the drying  sheet. Flax, hemp, and abaca fiber have properties that allow  them to withstand the prolonged beats. To create a pulp that has  both translucency and high shrinkage for sculptural work, Helen  Hiebert beats abaca at 60 percent capacity with the roll high  for one hour at first, then lowers it until she hears the roll hitting  the bedplate. Gail Stiffe achieves similar qualities with unusual  plant fibers such as ginger lily and strelitzia stems. Stiffe  beats at 75 percent capacity and adjusts the roll and bedplate to  maximum pressure immediately. Within an hour Stiffe can beat  the tender fibers into a translucent, high-shrinkage pulp for her  sculptural books.  When beating his high-shrinkage pulps, Peter Gentenaar  strives to preserve two seemingly opposite qualities: a capacity  for shrinkage (which generally requires a short pulp) while  maintaining wet strength (which is usually a characteristic of a  long pulp). For large sculptures that measure larger than three  square meters, he combines hemp and flax with abaca, beating  them for three to five hours. Roberto Mannino has found that a  combination of flax and recycled tracing paper is perfect for his  high-shrinkage needs. He beats the two pulps separately using  different methods, and mixes them to create an intriguing,  waxy, oily, and translucent paper. Both Gentenaar and Mannino  load their beaters to less than full capacity in order to promotea cutting action but their beat times and fiber combinations are  different.  For pulp painting, Lois James prepares a short, greasy wet  pulp from cotton Cheney half stuff and abaca fifty-fifty or 100  percent abaca. She loads the fiber at 75 percent capacity and  beats for a long time, generally sixteen hours, with the roll and  bedplate separated. The long brushing cycle fibrillates and shortens  the fiber to such an extent that James can apply the pulp with  a brush through a fine-lined stencil. Pat Torley, another artist  working in pulp painting, uses a variety of plant fibers, including  hemp, linen, cotton, abaca, silk, and kozo, sometimes all in one  work. She beats the fiber sources separately to achieve a range  of pulps, from very short to very long, opaque to translucent,  with varying textures, and mixes them depending on what she  requires for her imagery.  Vicky Sigwald beats her pulp in a particular fashion to  achieve a pronounced surface texture in her finished paper. Using  banano (banana) trunk fibers, Sigwald removes a quantity of  pulp that is partially beaten from the beater load and continues  beating the rest of the pulp. She re-adds the semi-beaten pulp  at the end of the beating cycle, dispersing the long fibers with a  light brushing. Another artist using locally available fiber is Asao  Shimura who processes piña (pineapple) leaf fibers, an agricultural  waste in the Philippines. Shimura beats the decorticated  piña fibers by hand for fifteen minutes and then for another fifteen  minutes in his homemade Hollander which does not have  an adjustable roll/bedplate. However, Shimura knows how to  handle his machine well, and creates paper that works perfectly  for digital printing with an Epson printer.  Sometimes artists select a particular fiber with an eye towards  subject matter rather than the physical qualities and working  properties of the fiber. Both John Risseeuw and Tom Leech  routinely choose fibers that symbolically complement a text, or  match a work's aesthetic and philosophical concerns. For Leech,  a printing paper's role is to be a subtle extension of the text it will  support. He asks himself, "How is it in concert with the text?" As  far as fiber choices—linters, cotton rag half stuff, abaca, flax—he  has used them all successfully. He offered a bit of humor in describing  how he thinks through his fiber selection: "What do you  want? Thin and crispy or thick and chewy? Pages to be folded?  Opaque or translucent?" He continued, "Letterpress is pretty  forgiving and paper can be an integral part of the final image,  offering subtle contributions. Those printers who will only ever  print on Rives BFK I find a bit suspect. It is like eating Wonder  Bread. I like the challenge!" Leech also reminds us to listen to  our beaters. "I am in the studio most of the time the thing is  running. The sound can drive you crazy, but it tells you what  is happening." He admits, "I am pretty abusive of my beater...  they are relatively basic machines...having some subtleties but  they are made to be pushed, to grind up fiber...But treat it with  respect."20  Other artists mention the importance of listening for auditory  cues when running their beaters. Peter Gentenaar writes,  "I'm near the beater all the time and ‘play' the machine by ear,  although I'm wearing ear protection. The sounds will tell you  when to probe the pulp and fish out lumps of fiber, untangle  them, and drop the fibers back in."21 Michael LaFosse notes that  his beater starts very noisily, but starts to hum more smoothly after  a certain amount of time. He uses an amp meter to measure  how much power is being drawn on his beater at any given time  during the cycle. By making adjustments to the roll, he can finetune  the beat until the machine draws a specific amperage for a  certain length of time, ensuring consistency from one batch of  pulp to another.  Visual and tactile cues are other devices by which to know  when the pulp is "done." For high-shrinkage and watermarking  Roberto Mannino (Rome, Italy), Orangikea, 2007, 9 x 26 x 1 ¾ inches, cotton rag, tracing paper, pigments.  22 - hand papermaking  pulps, Helen Hiebert looks for a slimy consistency that will slip  through her fingers.22 Peter Thomas, Lynn Sures, and Margaret  Prentice, among others mentioned as well that they inspect the  pulp for desired textural quality by checking how it feels and  runs against and through the fingers. After years of experience,  they have learned what to look for.  Margareta Mannervik uses a knife test to check on her pulps.  She pulls a knife vertically through the trough, with the blade  facing up. When ready, the fibers should hang over the knife  blade with uniform length. She then does a visual check of the  fibers dispersed in water. Natan Kaaren, John Risseeuw, and  Eileen Foti also mention the use of this technique of putting  a small amount of beaten fibers into a glass jar filled with water,  capping it, shaking it vigorously to disperse the fibers, and  checking to see if the fibers are of even length and disperse without  clumping. For a plant fiber that beats very quickly—a "pulp  that can't really be managed by the clock"—Vicky Sigwald takes a  dispersion sample in this manner every five minutes or so until  she determines that it is done.23  There are specialized tools available within the papermaking  industry to monitor the pulp during beating. Brian Queen  explains, "In North America, commercial papermakers measure  drainage or dewatering using a Canadian Standard Freeness Tester  (CSF) which evaluates the stock's freeness by measuring the  drainage time of a fixed volume of stock. In Europe, a similar  but different system called Schopper Riegler (SR) is used."24 Although  these tools might be helpful to us studio papermakers, it  is more important to fully understand the potential of our own  beaters by conducting thorough research and experimentation.  Lee Scott McDonald suggests this test: run two beater batches  of the same kind of pulp; pull a small sample sheet every fifteen  minutes from each batch; and document carefully. For Batch  #1, beat really hard right from the beginning (with the roll in  contact with the bedplate) for up to three hours. For Batch #2,  slowly decrease the distance between the roll and the bedplate  over a three-hour period.25 To fully understand the nuances of  your beater using this test, you can alter the ratio of fiber to water,  adjust the distance between the roll and bedplate during the  cycle, or change the length of the beating time. With the seemingly  never-ending variations, we would do well to keep in mind  what Siegenthaler wrote, "Remember! It is an art to beat fibers,  not only a technique." 26  Lois James (Port Hadlock, Washington, USA),  close detail of Cavern, 2006, 17 x 22 inches,  cotton/abaca pulp painting on cotton/abaca  handmade paper base sheet, pigment, color  pencil, waxed surface. Photo: Frank Ross.  Pat Torley (Rijswijk, The Netherlands), Holly's Koi, 2006,  64 x 54 cm \[25 167x 21 ¼ inches\], paper pulp painting using  pigmented linen, hemp, cotton, straw, abaca, silk, and kozo.  Photo: Piet Gispen. notes  1. Howard Clark, lecture at the annual meeting of the Friends of Dard Hunter,  Chillicothe, OH, October 2006.  2. Wavell Cowan, lecture at the annual meeting of the Friends of Dard Hunter,  Chillicothe, OH, October 2006.  3. For a fascinating and informative read about plant fiber chemistry related  to papermaking, see W. F. Cowan, Why Paper is Paper, volume 1 of Science  for Handpapermakers, on Sewanee University's Chemistry and Art webpages,  posted with permission from Friends of Dard Hunter, http://www.sewanee  .edu/chem/Chem%26Art/Detail_Pages/Paper/Science_for_vol1.htm (accessed  December 15, 2007).  4. Lee Scott McDonald, lecture at the annual meeting of the Friends of Dard  Hunter, Chillicothe, OH, October 2006.  5. W. F. Cowan, Beating, volume 2 of Science for Handpapermakers, on Sewanee  University's Chemistry and Art webpages, posted with permission from  Friends of Dard Hunter, http://www.sewanee.edu/chem/Chem&Art/Detail_  Pages/Paper/Science_for_vol2.htm (accessed December 15, 2007). This article,  which explains the science of beating in plain language, is a must-read for anyone  working with a Hollander.  6. James d' A. Clark, Pulp Technology and Treatment for Paper, 2nd ed. (San  Francisco: Miller Freeman Publications, 1985), 278–279.  7. "Hollander Beaters," from the "For Beginners" column of Hand Papermaking  Newsletter 44 (October 1998), posted on Hand Papermaking's website,  http://www.handpapermaking.org/beginner/beg44.htm (accessed November  11, 2007).  8. Fred Siegenthaler, "How to Beat Paper Fibers the Right Way," IAPMA Bulletin  35 (Spring 2004): 31.  9. Dr. Sigurd Smith, The Action of the Beater (London: T. Batsford, Ltd., 1923),  198.  10. Peter Gentenaar & Pat Torley, editors, Paper and Water (Rijswijk, Netherlands:  Gentenaar & Torley Publishers, 2000), 82.  11. Fred Siegenthaler, 32–33. Additional notes on uses provided by Siegenthaler  in an e-mail message to the author, December 4, 2007.  12. Samuel Milne, A Study of the Beater including Further Notes (Edinburgh:  Bertrams Limited, 1936), 4–5.  13. Brian Queen, e-mail message to the author, November 13, 2007.  14. LaFosse learned terms like "carding" and "spectacles" when he studied papermaking  at age sixteen with lab techs at a paper mill in Fitchburg, Massachusetts,  and later with John Kohler at UConn Storrs and with Elaine and Donna  Koretsky of Carriage House Paper. Phone interview by the author, August 3,  2007.  15. Margaret Prentice, e-mail message to the author, July 26, 2007.  16. Brian Queen, e-mail message to the author, August 25, 2007.  17. Natan Kaaren, e-mail message to the author, July 1, 2007  18. A Dreagerpulper is a hydropulper, originally purchased by Jules Heller in the  1970s and still in active use in the studio of Arizona State University. John Risseeuw,  e-mail message to the author, December 21, 2007.  19. Winifred Lutz, "Shrinking to Expand," from A Gathering of Papermakers  (Brookline, MA: Carriage House Press, 1988), 41–54.  20. Tom Leech, phone interview by the author July 28, 2007.  21. Peter Gentenaar, e-mail message to the author, August 9, 2007.  22. Helen Hiebert added that the only way to know for sure whether the pulp  is ready or not is to make a quick test sheet (using the tin-can method) to see  how it dries.  23. Vicky Sigwald, e-mail message to the author, November 11, 2007.  24. Brian Queen, e-mail message to the author, November 5, 2007.  25. Lee Scott McDonald, lecture at the annual meeting of the Friends of Dard  Hunter, Chillicothe, OH, October 2006.  26. Fred Siegenthaler, 33.  Vicky Sigwald (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Book on Stone/Te lo dije (Spanish for  "I told you…"), 2007, 60 x 100 x 40 cm \[23 ½ x 39 ½ x 15 ¾ inches\], sewn and handlettered  sculptural construction of banano paper, thread, twigs, ink, granite stone;  from a series of modified book forms. Photo: Adrian Galla