From the outset it became apparent that the sine qua non of a paper mill is to produce quality sheets. The Beersheva mill has emphasized the need for an understanding and control of the medium, so that good sheets can be produced, for only when this skill is stressed can a mill produce and help artists produce work of lasting value.
Starting in 1980 a hand papermaking course was offered. This evolved into the survey course currently taught, which familiarizes students with the historical evolution of paper from pre-papers (papyrus, amate, and tapa) through Eastern (Japanese, Nepalese, Korean) and Western techniques. Sessions on botany, paper chemistry, dyeing, paper casting, marbling, conservation, and binding are included. However, the emphasis remains with a hands-on experience -- from fiber preparation through sheet formation.
The Mill's repertory has expanded by virtue of special workshops led by experts from abroad, including Alexandra Soteriou (1980), Timothy Barrett (1981), Lilian Bell (1982), Elaine Koretsky (1983), and Winifred Lutz (1984). The survey course, however, is taught by members of the Mill staff and by local experts in fields relating to paper: scientists, historians, calligraphers, manuscript experts, conservators, binders, and collectors. This contact has resulted in a fruitful and ongoing interchange and refinement of ideas and techniques, in a way that working in isolation cannot provide. We find this balance to be essential for growth, particularly in a small country away from the mainstream of American and European papermaking.
Other activities at the mill include a course for gifted children originally designed by Laura Behar and Randi Bass, under the auspices of Ben Gurion University of the Negev, exhibitions, and a variety of specialized workshops both at the mill and in other parts of the country for groups of students, teachers, and artists. Mill staff also work on individual projects.
In 1979, upon the advice of Dr. Alan Witztum, botanist at the valued place on the papermaking map. University of the Negev, a desert shrub in the Thymelaeaceae family (related to gampi, mitsumata, and Nepalese daphne) called mitnan (Thymelaea hirsuta (L.) Endl.) became a candidate as a fiber source for hand papermaking. While it had never been used for this purpose before, the Bedouin have used it primarily for making ropes, though also for medicinal, husbandry, and domestic purposes. (1) Moreover, mitnan is mentioned in the Talmud (3rd to 6th centuries, C.E.) as a synonym for a very strong rope. The characteristics that make mitnan a good raw material for strong rope are those that seemed promising for papermaking. Its long, thin bast fibers form a strong lustrous sheet with fine folding endurance and tensile strength, giving it a valued place in the papermaker's repertory.(2)
Other fibers used at the mill include cotton rag, cotton linters, linen, ramie, abaca, and hemp. Additionally, local plants are used, both those growing wild and those cultivated in the Mill's paper garden, such as papyrus, kozo, ficus, bamboo, hibiscus, canna, reeds, and grasses. The concentrated effort in developing the potential of mitnan, however, has resulted in a whole range of papers: dyed, undyed, thin, thick, clean, barky, soft, and crisp. The individual papermakers have each developed their own techniques of processing mitnan to meet their various needs and adjust to particular facilities. For instance, Meyer Bar-Ad, born 1932 (Winnipeg, Canada), draws sheets on Western laid molds from fibers prepared by the Mill staff. Mitnan branches are harvested near Beersheva the year round, though it is preferable to harvest after the winter rain when the bark peels away more easily. The bark is stripped from the wood (first peel), soaked, and the dark outer bark is removed (2nd peel). The inner bark is then cooked in a 10-20% solution of sodium bicarbonate (Na2CO3) for about 2 hours. The cooked fibers are repeatedly rinsed and specks of outer bark carefully picked out with tweezers (like the Japanese chiri tori). The clean fiber is beaten in the Mill's Lorentzen and Wettres 1 1/2 lb. hollander beater for 30 minutes with little or no weight added. Water volume in the beater is 15 liters to each kilogram of dry fiber.
Bar-Ad pays meticulous care to each stage of the papermaking process, insuring that the fibers are well-rinsed, his equipment clean, and his couching felts free of extraneous fibers. He presses his post in a 20-ton hydraulic press of his own design and then separates the sheets and represses them, usually between chip boards. When a slick, smooth surface is required, the sheets are brushed onto formica drying boards and occasionally sprayed with an atomizer to slow down the drying on hot windy days. Bar-Ad developed his own technique based on a combination of his knowledge of both Japanese and Western techniques. While his approach is flexible, allowing him to adapt to local conditions, and fill special orders (from thick, flecked sheets for book covers and boxes to fine, thin artists' paper), he is traditional in the sense of being aware of the methods used over the centuries, and understanding the reason for their development.
atan Kaaren, born 1947 (Lodz, Poland), rets mitnan branches for a year in enormous fiberglass tubs with a 200-liter capacity at his mill (established 1986) on Kibbutz Sde Yoav, a half hour's drive from Beersheva. After taking the paper course in 1982, he learned from his own experience exactly which mitnan plants to harvest, selecting branches according to their light color and small diameter (1/4" - 1/2"). These younger branches are less woody and have a higher cellulose content than older, tougher, and thicker ones. Retting is complete when the mitnan has a strong stench and the entire bark sloughs off the wood easily. It is placed into a large strainer with a mesh of 8 strams per cm. and Kaaren hoses a strong stream of water over the bark. The intense water pressure forces the light-colored inner bark through the mesh, while the outer bark remains in the strainer and is discarded. Kaaren thus avoids the process of peeling, cooking, and beating. The fibers appear to be thoroughly separated, and do not receive further processing. Kaaren devised this method because he lacks a hollander beater and, without beating, his results yield smooth, even sheets with no clouding. Sometimes a mucilaginous agent, obtained from crushing and straining leaves or flowers of the Chinese hisbiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) is added to the vat. When prolonged retting is not possible, Kaaren cooks 2 1/2 kilograms of fiber (dry weight) in a solution of 450 grams caustic soda per 20 liters of water for 1 to 4 hours, depending ont he nature of the particular batch of fiber. Sodium carbonate is sometimes used in place of caustic soda.
Kaaren uses fine mesh nylon wove screen stretched taut on his molds, which he builds in the kibbutz carpentry shop. He has devised a system of couching to adapt to the thin mitnan fibers and the crude felts available to the kibbutz, primarily used to cushion horse saddles. The fiber and the felts do not come into direct contact with one another. After pulling a sheet on his slow-draining mold, Kaaren couches the newly-formed sheet on a felt lined with fabric of cotton and polyester blend. The sheet, cut a little smaller than the felt, is covered with another liner and a second sheet couched directly on top. The processs is repeated six times before another felt is needed for water absorption. Precise registration is assured by wooden corner dowels serving as guides for the coucher. These are removed before the post is slid right into the adjacent hydraulic press (based on Bar-Ad's design, at the Mill). After pressing, Kaaren removes the felts, leaving the newly-formed sheets on the liners. These are air-dried for about six hours and then placed between chip-boards, for a second pressing. The chip-boards are changed periodically until the paper is dry. The liners are removed only at the very end of the process.
Though Kaaren makes sheets from a whole range of fibers growing on his kibbutz - reeds, corn husks, straw, cotton stalks, grasses, hibiscus, and from sisal rope, he considers mitnan to be the "superior paper". An innovative craftsman, he is currently building a stamper, powered by the kibbutz generator, based on specification in Timothy Barrett's Japanese Papermaking: Traditions, Tools and Techniques (3).
Chava Pressburger, born 1930 (Prague, Czechoslovakia), has come to paper through her art. She has used mixtures of cotton and recycled paper for more sculptural works and grasses and mitnan for others. Her interest in well-formed sheets evolved as she realized the value of controlling the papermaking process in order to achieve her artistic aims. This brought her to small scale production of flower-embedded papers, grass papers, and mitnan. Pressburger harvests mitnan year-round in small quantities, paying meticulous attention to removing all traces of outer bark while peeling. She cooks about 100 grams of inner bark at a time in a 20% solution of sodium carbonate for 3 hours, which is about a third more time than Bar-Ad cooks his fiber. The longer cook gives a softer paper. Remaining specks of outer bark are somewhat bleached and are not removed. Pressburger often processes these fibers in the Mill's laboratory-model Waring blender. After adding polyacrylamide (Acryperse), a synthetic formation aid, she forms sheets on a laid Western mold lined with synthetic fabric, a technique adapted from the traditional Japanese "sha". The sheets, dried directly on the liners, are removed from the liners before flattening in the hydraulic press between chip-boards.
At times Pressburger employs synthetic (Sandoz) dyes to color her fibers. The multi-colored sheets made from these fibers are deftly double-dipped to achieve a rainbow effect, reminiscent of unryushi (cloud-dragon) paper. Pressburger's papers have a distinctive character, resulting from her selection of fibers and color, and her own refinement of technique.
Ruth Ermossa, born 1945 (Kibbutz Ashdot-Yakov, Israel), makes both undyed and lusciously-hued sheets of mitnan paper. Like Pressburger, she was drawn to papermaking as an art form, and incorporates sheets of mitnan in sculptural works. She also makes paper from banana stalk, cotton rag, ficus, and coconut fiber, sometimes embedding petals, leaves, and threads. Ermossa produces mitnan papers with a technique established at the Mill. After harvesting young, slender twigs and removing the bark from the woody stem, she separates the inner bark. She cooks the inner bark for two to three hours in a sodium carbonate solution which varies in strength from 15 to 25% according to the toughness of each batch of fiber. Preferring not to pick after cooking and rinsing, Ermossa is careful in her initial peelings. The fibers are gently beaten (10-15 minutes with no weight added) in the hollander beater, and formed into sheets on a laid mold. For thin sheets, a "sha" liner is used and a polyacrylamide formation aid is added. Ermossa has noted that the fibers of young, slender branches of mitnan have a mucilaginous quality, reducing the quantity of formation aid added to the vat. After pressing, drying is done under pressure between chip-boards, which are changed periodically. Thin sheets are air-dried before pressing.
Izhar Neumann, born 1957 (Jerusalem, Israel), studied papermaking in the Mill from 1982-4, and then spent two years in Japan, first studying with master papermaker, Inoue-san, near Mino city in Gifu prefecture, and then with Kobayashi-san in Nigata. Neumann now produces paper in the artists' colony of Ein Hod, near Haifa, from fibers which he prepares at the Mill. These include cotton linters, hydrated in the hydro-pulper, burlap, abaca (from pre-digested sheets), and cotton rag beaten in the hollander. Neumann is growing kozo in the Galilee from root cuttings sent from Japan, and has used these fibers in forming sheets in the nagashizuki manner at his mill.
He uses the Japanese technique for hibiscus, ficus, and mitnan, often in combination with abaca. To make mitnan paper Neumann soaks the branches in water for about a month, from plants harvested near Ein Hod. After the first and second peeling, he cooks the inner bark for four hours in a solution of sodium carbonate, which varies in strength according to the toughness of the bark. He rinses carefully after cooling the fibers in the cooling solution overnight. After picking out the remaining specks, he beats the fibers with a wooden mallet.
To the vat he adds mucilages derived from crushed root of the tororo aoi (Hibiscus manihot) and synthetic formation aid. Sheets are formed on both Western and Japanese molds. Western sheets are couched on tulle screens, which emboss the paper, and are pressed and dried on formica boards. Japanese sheets are formed traditionally, couched without interleaving felts, gradually pressed, separated, and brushed onto boards to dry. In addition to handmade sheets, Neumann also makes a number of products from his paper - lampshades, stationery, and booklets, often decorated with suminigashi or stencil designs.
Hanoch Zagerinsky, born 1919 (USA), has specialized in cotton rag and linen sheets, which he prepares from cloth as well as from imported pre-digested fibers. These sheets have been in demand by calligraphers. His chemistry background has been useful to the Mill, especially in his experimentation with different types of sizes.
The Uncle Bob Leslie Paper Mill has remained a focal point for papermakers in Israel. Many received their introduction to the field there but went beyond that to develop individual variations, based on techniques practiced at the Mill. They frequently meet for specific lectures and workshops, and to discuss their work.
One constant focus remains -- the utilization of mitnan. Although the fiber gives a low yield and the fiber preparation is labor-intensive, the resulting paper is attractive and high enough in quality to make the effort worthwhile. Since it grows wild and abundantly in the surrounding countryside, it is easily accessible. Thus neither time nor expense need be spent in its cultivation.
Based on this focus and the variations in the individual approaches, we are beginning to collect data for comparing differences in harvesting, fiber preparation, sheet formation, pressing, and drying. We hope to determine the quality of the resulting sheets by testing their physical properties: tensile strength, folding endurance, dimensional stability, lignin content, and ageing. We also wish to explore the possible insect-repellant properties of the plant and to initiate research into the cultivation of thicker inner bark and longer branches, with an eye to the future of mitnan as a higher yield more valuable fiber source for handmade paper.
NOTES: 1. Cf. Schmidt and Stavisky. Use of Thymelaea hirsuta (Mitnan) with Emphasis on Hand Papermaking. Economic Botany (Vol. 37, No. 3, July-September 1983, pp. 310-321). 2. For technical data on fiber characteristics see: Schmidt & Stavisky, Mitnan, a New FIber Source for Handmade Paper. The Paper Conservator (Volume 8, 1984, pp. 72-76). 3. Barrett, Timothy, Japanese Papermaking: Traditions, Tools and Techniques, Weatherhill, Tokyo, 1983.
