In the last column we described how a cake of well formed pulp had been cast on the mould and the water was drained out of it back into the vat.

As mentioned in a previous article, adequate beating of the pulp is critical to making good paper.

This time we will discuss preparing the pulp and start to describe how handmade paper is made.

The invention of paper and the recording of this discovery have been attributed to Ts’ai Lun, a courtier in the court of Ho Ti, emperor of China in 105 A.D., although there is recent evidence that papermaking actually preceded this date.

This is the first of a series of articles that I will be writing about paper and paper quality and how this interacts with its end uses.

Beginner or expert, all papermakers rely on those who came before us to light the way.

Seasonal cycles affect some people more than others but few can ignore the coming of spring, when life bursts forth at every opportunity in every locale--from mountain meadows to sidewalk cracks.

Western papermakers remove each freshly pulled sheet from their mould by transferring (or “couching”) it onto a damp felt.

Paper is made in the beater. So goes an old adage, and it’s true that a Western-style papermill lacking this essential piece of equipment is handicapped.

Why make paper by hand? It’s an odd question to pose in a periodical devoted to the subject.

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.

While some papermakers would not imagine tampering with the unaffected shades of natural fibers, others can not imagine making paper without the bounty of color--bright and bold, or soft and subtle.

While we in the West may think of paper as a rather common item, handmade paper is more pervasive in Japan.

The thickness of a sheet of paper, or the overall density of its fibers, primarily determines how opaque the paper will appear when held up to light.