DIY paper sheets

One day I had the tiny idea to make my own paper. I remember we once did it on a Friday afternoon when we had crafts in primary school, although I didn’t remember the technique anymore. I searched online and found out it shouldn’t be that hard because it’s just making a paper slurry and shaping it into paper. My mission: go to the shop and search my materials to make windows. Turn’s out I receive pretty good results using the craziest of supply materials. Here’s how I did it!

What you need?

To make the window:
• barbeque grill mat
• insect screen
• duct tape

Paper slurry:
• water
• old paper you want to recycle. For a uniform color choose paper without print, eg. egg cartons, paper shopping bags (cutout the shop logo),… It’s important not to choose glossy paper!
• Blender

• Any water tub that has at least the size of your windows and is preferably not too deep.
• A sponge
• A towel

How to make a window?

 

1. Cut the barbeque grill mat to the size of paper you would like to have + about 2 cm border. Notice that the paper sheet I make will not have a nicely straight edge – which I think give’s it it’s charm- but if you need straight edges, you need to make a bigger sheet and later cut the borders in a straight line. The barbeque grill mat will give the window strength, but the holes are too big so the paper slurry will drain straight through. Therefore we apply a layer of insect screen on top of the grill mat. Cut the insect screen the same size as the grill mat. I used two layers of insect screen to be sure.

2. Now use the duct tape to make the borders of your window and to make sure all layers stay together. Make a decent amount of windows, depending on the amount of paper you would like to make. Know that when you make a batch of paper, the sheets need to dry on these windows. After the sheet is dry you can remove it from it’s window and reuse the window.

How to make your own paper?

1. First cut or rip the paper you are going to recycle into snippets. Put them into a bowl, bucket or plastic tub for about 15 minutes (depending on the thickness) until completely soaked.

2. Fill the blender for about 2/3 with paper and 1/3 of water and blend until you have a nice paper pulp.

3. Pour water in the plastic tub until you have around 5 cm of depth. Now add some spoons of paper slurry and use the spoon to stir even. This is the moment where you choose the thickness of your paper.

4. Now take a window (from the instructions above) and nicely slice it to the bottom of the tub. Make sure the slurry is evenly divided over the surface. Use both of your hands to gently lift the window horizontally to the surface. Once out of the water, shake it up and down to remove most of the access water. Then use one finger to gently remove most of the paper slurry on the duct tape (this makes it easier to come of the window when dry).

5. Put the window on the towel on a flat surface. Use the dry sponge to dapple your sheet to remove most of the water and create a more even surface. (If the paper slurry sticks to the sponge, I sometimes put a sheet of paper towel on the wet paper, then dapple it and gently remove it again.) Regularly wring the sponge to remove water. Every other sheet also wring the towel.

6. For every new sheet you again add some more paper slurry in the tub and repeat steps 4 and 5. When the water level lowers too much, you add again some water.

7. When you finish all your window, let them dry. During summer I spread them out on the grass where the sun dries them. In winter you can put them on the heating. But they will also dry spread on a table using some more time.

8. It could be that during the drying process your paper wraps. Depending on the thickness and type of paper this happens. No problem, gently pull the dried paper from the window and put them under a load for a week. If you need them immediately you can also iron them underneath a towel. Make them cool down from ironing underneath a load (a book or something).

Filter the excess of paper slurry that stays in the blender and tub using a coffee filter and a funnel or fine sieve. You can throw it away. But you can also press it into an ice cube tray with nice shape. Freeze it over night and the next day you can press out the paper shapes. They do take some time to dry. Here is how I used a heart shape to create a card holder:

The surface of my paper is never completely even. To have an even surface you will have to use a more professional method, pressing it between two stiff windows. But I like the roughness of my paper, it gives a nice touch when you use it to make paintings on.

You can make lots of variations in your paper, not only by using different types of recycling paper, but also by adding things like confetti, dried flower leaves or even seeds (plant paper) to your slurry tub. You can even vary mixing these things completely into your paper, or only apply them on the surface.