The fibers of the maguey are characterized by their resistance and length. Well-processed, they are soft to the touch. The color of the fiber is “bone,” although it can vary according to the species. Historically maguey was widely used to make ropes, scouring pads, slings, nets, bags, textiles, and possibly amate bark paper. Fiber is found throughout the plant. The leaf is called the penca and the center is called the piña. With the rise of mezcal, by-products multiplied until they became a contamination problem.

For the manufacture of this paper, we used the waste from the palenque (mezcal distillery) of master Jose Santiago in Santiago Matarlan, Oaxaca, who specializes in the production of mezcal from wild agaves. We separated and washed the maguey fiber in a tub, avoiding the excessive use of water. After cutting the fiber into 10-centimeter lengths, we cooked it with sodium carbonate (soda ash) for around 15 hours at a constant boil. After a good wash, we beat the cooked fiber in a Hollander beater to make the pulp more uniform. These sheets contain 10-percent white cotton that was retted for several months and added to the maguey fiber in the beater.

If the sample attached is a slightly heavyweight paper, it was formed using the European-style technique and moulds. If the sample is thin paper, it was formed in the Japanese style using a European-style mould. The pulp for the colored samples was dyed using contact anilines prior to sheet formation.

The paper is very resistant to tearing and tension. It is used for the production of environmentally friendly product labels, notebooks, packaging, artwork printing, and decoration. Now our mission is to find uses for the other by-products of mezcal production: water, fibers, and distillery stillage.

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