Paper Making, Spinning and Weaving
February 2020.
In February 2020, Jane Deane and Debbie Bamford combined forces to lead a workshop with a paper focus; Debbie explored the making of paper and was followed by Jane, whose interest was in spinning and weaving with it. Debbie has long has an interest in the historical techniques of paper making and shared this lovely image of herself, appropriately attired, demonstrating at a National Trust property.
Participants very quickly got down to raiding shredders and rubbish bins, soaking the contents and then liquidising it to get a pulp which was then spread out and allowed to dry into paper.
In the Cotswolds, Annie P’s first attempts at paper making were not too successful — the paper ended up being too thin. However, following suggestions from Debbie and from other participants, Annie’s second batch of paper was much more successful.
She also added some colourful petals to her paper. Finally she added “It may not be easy to write on handmade paper, without treating it somehow, but it is excellent at taking a Lino-print!”.
Jo Finlow (from Hampshire) posted a photo of her first attempt at making paper. “The fashionably rough edges came from handling after putting on the felts. I found a rolling pin helps to lift the paper off the felt”. Jo made her paper pulp from white and grey shredded paper with a fruit tea bag added.
After two weeks on making paper, Jane Deane then took over the leadership and moved on to spinning and weaving with paper.
Alex Glen (from Cambridgeshire) used tissue paper to spin into a ‘thread’. She posted a message explaining that she had “woven some of my hand spun paper into the end of a sample warp of hand spun silk in a undulating twill threading. It is a very small sample as there was very little warp left, but good fun to use, I am pleased with the result.”
