I’ve only made paper a handful of times prior to living in quarantine. Little did I know at that point, the unbridled access to space, vats, and superbly designed beaters was quite glamorous. The terrific facilities that academic institutions have to offer can easily make you feel like the paper making process is unique to well-equipped spaces. On the contrary people all over the world have been using various tools and spaces that differ from the sterile classrooms known to many.
After clearing my kitchen counter, I was shocked to see how wide it was without all the appliances and randomly assorted fruits. Like any workspace I needed to consider the flow of my movements. During my first attempt, I had the vat sitting on top of the sink. I wasn’t sure how much I would be sloping around, so to prevent a massive clean-up I figured the sink would catch all the spillage. To my surprise the fibery liquid stayed within its boundary. The location for the vat was a bit awkward, so I made revisions in round two. I placed the vat on the long part of the counter overlooking the backyard. This allowed my process to flow more naturally from left to right, and with ample space to move around.
The first round I used bleached cotton linters soaked for about two days. It was incredible, four ounces of the cotton made twenty-three sheets of paper. The very first pull came out considerably thick, by the second or third pull I was able to get used to the fiber and depth of the new vat.
The second workday I pulled out some old frozen four-hour-beat abaca from earlier in the spring. It wasn’t enough to make much, but I had some bits of leftovers from other projects, so I threw in some cotton and some thirty-minute abaca to spice things up. As the sheets dry, I am giddy with anticipation just waiting to see how this experiment turns out!
The cotton paper drying process took about two and a half days. After leaving the wet sheets tucked between the pelons and under sixty pounds of pressure over night, I layered each piece between blotting papers and a thick piece of cardboard. I set the fan to low, plopped a thirty pounder on top and two days later I took a peak and despite the humidity the sheets were dry!!
Learning to fit my practice in places outside of the studio will have lasting effects on my art practice. Bringing these processes into my home will give me the knowledge, tools and confidence to sustain my work beyond this year at home.
Stay posted for the latest experiments in my new favorite space, the kitchen!!!
Blended pulp being poured into the vat. Photo: Christian Galleano
Dippling the mold and deckle to pull a sheet of cotton paper. Photo: Christian Galleano
Releasing the fresh sheet on a pelon. Photo: Christian Galleano