CHEMISTRY: To avoid impurities I use filtered water. Calcium carbonate is sometimes added for an alkaline reserve with a pH as high as 8. For color I use aqueous dispersed pigments. (1) Color for the Hand Papermaker (2) is my resource for light fastness. These samples are all waterleaf; no sizing is used.
PRE-BEATING PREPARATION: Fiber washed in clear water is rinsed in as many as four ten-minute runs in the beater with the roll up, with the water changed between runs. The linen rag used in these papers is not cooked. (3)
BEATING: The fiber is beaten in one of two Howell-design beaters with a fiber to water proportion of 454 grams of fiber to 30 liters of water, equaling a density of 1.5%. Beating time usually ranges from 4 to 6 hours, although for high shrinkage pulps the beating time is as long as 12 hours. For shorter fiber length I bring the roll down evenly at half hour intervals. The sound of the beater is my guide. (4)
SHEET FORMING: Colored pulps of varying fiber length and beating time are combined in the vat to cause inconsistent shrinkage while drying. I use a traditional Western mold and shake in both directions to interlock the fibers.
PRESSING: The sheets are initially pressed between woolen blankets in an hydraulic press. They are then transferred to dry blotters and returned to the press.
DRYING: I favor loft drying on flat screen racks for natural shrinkage. When papers are dry to the touch I stack them and put them between boards with a gentle weight, periodically reshuffling for even drying while the paper ages. (5)
NOTES: 1. It is important to thoroughly rinse the fiber after coloring. 2. Elaine Koretsky, Color for the Hand Papermaker, Carriage House Press, Boston, 1983. 3. I never cook rag. 4. Several kinds of paper can be made from the same fiber by changing the beating time and carefully managing the roll height. Longer beating results in a more gelatinous, slower draining slurry. I keep accurate records on the beating process in particular to assure that a pulp may be duplicated. 5. Some of these samples would be considered "wild" in terms of fiber length and texture; I amusingly call the effect "controlled cockling". With linen, the more gradual the drying, the less the cockling.
