{"id":1097,"date":"2009-08-01T07:00:32","date_gmt":"2009-08-01T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mightyelephant.com\/ams\/?p=1097"},"modified":"2016-04-23T06:12:28","modified_gmt":"2016-04-23T14:12:28","slug":"paper-making-workshop-with-john-babcock-sierra-azul-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mightyelephant.com\/ams\/paper-making-workshop-with-john-babcock-sierra-azul-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"Paper Making Workshop with John and Linda Babcock @ Sierra Azul Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 1, 2009<\/p>\n

I attended John and Linda Babcock’s<\/a> “Paper Making with Natural Fiber”<\/a> at the Sierra Azul Nursery and Garden<\/a>.\u00a0 It was sponsored by the Pajaro Valley Art Council<\/a> of Watsonville.<\/p>\n

\"Hand-made<\/a>
Completed Hand Made Paper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

John demonstrated paper-making with fibers from\u00a0the Bearded Iris<\/a> and the Western Rush<\/a>.\u00a0 Both plants commonly found around our neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a>
How To Use Plant Fibers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John mentioned that he wasn’t using the pulp of the\u00a0 Cordyline Palm Lily because he didn’t have time to prepare it.\u00a0 So he just had the iris and rush pulp.<\/p>\n

\"Beating<\/a>
Beating Iris Fiber<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

90% of a paper maker’s job is preparing the pulp.\u00a0 In this case, I am beating iris fibers with a rubber mallet to break the fibers up to make pulp.\u00a0 The more you beat the fiber, the stronger the paper ends up and the thinner you can make the sheet.\u00a0 For the iris pulp, I didn’t beat it a lot so the paper sheet was hard to handle without tearing but it had a really cool heavy straw-like texture with uneven thickness.<\/p>\n

\"Preparing<\/a>
Mold and Deckle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John and Linda have a way of using a bamboo sushi mat, some mosquito netting and pine wood frame for shaping and pulling the pulp out of the water.\u00a0 At first it was hard because it was a new technique but it ended up being easier.<\/p>\n

\"Pouring<\/a>
Pouring Rush Pulp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I used a blender to make the rush pulp.\u00a0 So it was finer and easier to make thinner.\u00a0 It was also stronger and didn’t tear when I made it.\u00a0 I liked the rush pulp more than the iris pulp because of its dark green color.\u00a0 It had the aroma of cut grass and silk cocoons.\u00a0 I didn’t like the smell too much.<\/p>\n

\"Working<\/a>
Working The Pulp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John had to give me a little help…thanks!<\/p>\n

\"With<\/a>
With Linda Babcock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After we got home, we tried ironing the paper sheets to make them flatter.\u00a0 It worked.\u00a0 So we will iron from now on (unless we really don’t want to make it flat).<\/p>\n

Follow Up Ideas:<\/h3>\n