:::Homemade paperiness:::

We made paper this week!
I haven't made any for quite some time.
Everyone helped!....at one point even with one piece in the mouth and one in each hand flapping around! It was all too exciting for some of us...and quite amusing for others. ;)

Last Saturday afternoon we all started by sitting around together tearing up the recycling paper scraps I'd been collecting for the last few weeks. We then soaked them in water.
Well, there they sat for a good few days...again waiting for time. Eventually it was pulped, first by hand which was a bit of fun then with a stick blender. We got around to framing it up about Wednesday....Mia was a great help...it's so much fun for kids.
I added a little dye to give it the pink hue.
We used towels and old reused chux (I keep specifically for paper making) for soaking up the excess water and when they were almost dry I ironed them a bit flatter.
You know I still have over half the pulp left waiting to be finished. I think I will experiment with another colour for the next lot.

And here it is.....

I love:::
How rustic, textured and individual each piece is

How you can catch glimpses of colour, letters and type here and there

How the dye has caught in a pretty burnt orange at the edges

How we have recycled and made something much more beautiful

How it is lovingly Handmade by Us!

EDITED TO ADD:::

Our frame is home made....very easy....basically two rectangular timber frames. Just four pieces of timber nailed together and then braced diagonally to hold their shape. One frame has old fly screen stapled to it as the mesh. You use the non meshed frame on top of the meshed one to hold the pulp in place after dipping and until it has drained. Remove it once the water has drained to find your sheet of paper which you can then press to your chux before peeling the screened frame off.

Meg over at Montessori by Hand (which I now notice has moved) posted about doing it, here, this week too. Coincidence! She has written some good instructions. I think she used picture frames. Some of her comments have other suggestions too. Check it out.