Making paper is a lot of fun, rewards you with a lot of fresh paper, but VERY time consuming, depending on how much you try to make. When making paper, follow the easy steps below and have a good part of the day set aside, because once you start, you will want to continue. The process can be kind of messy, but the ending result is very rewarding.

First, you can get a basic papermaking kit at your local craft store for around $20. The kit should come with the deckle (wooden frame), cover screen (tightly woven screen), cover screen (grey open weave screen), and support grid.

Gather together a LOT of towels, a large sponge, a cookie tray with sides, a tub of water, a blender, your paper making screen and frame, any additives such a s glitter or flowers, and your paper scraps (divided by color).

You will need to fill the tub full of water. The tub should be wide enough to get both your hands and the frame i nto and also deep enough to submerge the frame (this is to gather the paper.) Fill this tub with warm water. I only suggest warm because your hands will be in it a lot!

You will also need a hearty blender. I suggest having a dedicated blender because you really should not use your kitchen blender again after doing this or any other non-food related craft projects. You can find cheap blenders at the Goodwill or such places.

Fill your blender with about 2 cups of water and enough paper scraps (torn up into bits for easier blending) to equal about one sheet of 8.5x11 paper. The paper coloring works exactly like it does when mixing paint. For example, if you start with red, and add white, you will get a pinker tone. If you start with red and add black, you will get a darker cranberry tone. If you start with blue, and add white, you will get a light blue and so on. If you blend your paper well, you will get a more uniform color. If you only blend slightly, you will have a mottled color.

Once you have blended the paper so it is thoroughly wet and mixed to a pulp, dump the content of the blender into the tub of water. Do this about five times. Now comes the fun part.

Note, you can add your additives, such as botanicals, to the blender or add them directly to the tub of water. If you are using a material that is stringy, do not add it to the blender because it will catch in the blades.

Assemble your mold in the following order from bottom to top: support grid, paper screen (tightly woven screen), and deckle. It is helpful if you wet the scre ens first.

Use your fingers to mix the pulp well. Hold your frame with your thumbs on top and finger below. Working from the far end of your tub, submerge the assembled mold at an angle, letting the pulp cover it from one end to the other, then, leveling the frame, bring the frame up out of the water.

Set the mold down on the cookie tray. Lift off the deckle and place the grey cover screen (loosely woven screen) over the gathered pulp. Take your large sponge and begin pressing down onto the support grid to extract the water. You will need to ring out your sponge several times during this process. Do this until you ha ve extracted as much water as possible.

Remove the cover screen. Pick up the paper making screen and flip the new sheet of paper onto a towel. Press the sponge over the entire screen to get rid of any excess water and help loosen the pulp from the screen. Peel off the screen, working from one corner. The new sheet should stay on the towel. Cover the sheet with another towel and using something flat and sturdy, press down over the entire sheet.

At this point, you can both iron the paper to dry it or place it on another cookie sheet and dry it in the oven at a low temperature, approximately 150 degrees Fahrenheit, until the paper is dry. If you choose the oven method, you will need to iron the paper after it is dried to help flatten it. Always use a low setting on the iron to avoid burning your paper.

Note, if you used botanicals in your paper, make sure to watch the heat setting of the iron so you do not discolor or burn them.

Repeat the above process for as many times as you desire to make paper. When you have made about three sheets of paper from your pulp, add more to the tub. You will find that the more pulp you pull from the tub, the thinner your paper will get, so try to keep an even amount of pulp in your tub.

Scrapbookers have a lot of scraps and with those scraps, and a little work, you can reap a lot of new papers. You also know that the paper is acid and lignin free if you are using only safe scraps.

When you are finished making paper, you can gather up your remaining pulp and freeze it for another day or you can dispose of it down the toilet. NEVER pour y our pulp water down a sink drain.

Again, making paper is a long process, but you can get about three to four sheets of paper from the equivalent of one sheet of paper scraps. Handmade papers look great on cards and scrapbook pages and are great for children’s crafts.

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