In 1996 or so, I worked for a large art and craft supply store. Sometimes product representatives would come in and demonstrate how their stuff was supposed to be used. I sat in on a paper-making demo, but I never actually made any paper. I knew how to do it in theory, but not in practice. For this task, I drew on this twelve-year-old memory to build a paper-making deckle frame and use it to make paper.

I went to my neighborhood Ace hardware store to purchase my less-than-$10 worth of materials to build the deckle. I got a redwood plant stake to cut up for the frame, a piece of window screening, and a hacksaw (Molotov's been "borrowing" my old hacksaw for about a year now). I built a 10" square frame - measured the wood, cut it, and stapled the ends together. I cut a piece of screening to fit the frame and tacked it in. Deckles are not complicated in themselves, and I remembered pretty well how to make one - it was the paper making part that was going to be iffy.

I started with some newspaper that had been destined for the recycle bin. It's easier to use really fibrous, porous paper than other kinds, especially since I was going to do this all by hand - if you have a blender to mash stuff in (which I don't), you can use pretty much whatever paper you want to start with. You can even experiment with raw fibers. That's much more difficult, though, and this is a nice way to recycle old paper. I tore up the newspaper into the smallest pieces I could, and let them soak for about half an hour in hot water. Then I mashed them up with my fingers, which turned my hands a lovely shade of newsprint black. After I got a pulp that was about the texture of oatmeal, I poured it into the deckle. I didn't make enough to fill the whole thing, but I didn't need that much for the project I had in mind, so that was okay. If you can blend a thinner pulp, you'll get a finer-textured paper, but I wanted it to be pretty thick. I spread the pulp out over the deckle screen and let it sit for about fifteen minutes to drain. When I was fairly sure it would hold together, I turned the mess out onto some paper towels, pressed the excess water out of it, and left it to dry.

I decided to experiment with the drying process, since I'm impatient and it takes a long time for the newly-made paper to dry, especially at this thickness. I tried putting it in the microwave, which worked fabulously! I got a wonderfully textured, irregularly-shaped piece of paper, which I used to make a card. I will use the scraps for my mail art. The paper is lightweight for being so thick, a great mottled gray color, and you can still see some of the newspaper words in it.

I am so surprised I actually remembered how to do all of this! For never having done it before, I feel very accomplished, and will be making more paper in the near future.