Papermaking Techniques Book: Over 50 Techniques for Making and Embellishing Handmade Paper [Paperback]

The start of the book contains an introduction which describes paper making and the process the plant fibres go through to create paper. This is something that seems to be missing from a lot of similar books but it really helps with the understanding of the creation of the final product. The introduction is also laced with pictures which really look more like professional pieces of artwork that are impossible to recreate and of course no two pieces of paper are ever going to be the same. The book is very well laid out and the contents page makes what you are looking for easier to find. There are 3 sections to the book as I'll explain below and while the book is colourful and very well presented, it is very professional looking with actual pieces of artwork.

Each of the three sections follows the same step-by-step processes but to begin, there is a list of everything that is required before starting anything. The list is invaluable - it's like a recipe that tells the ingredients and of course it won't work out properly if one ingredient is missing. Once everything is to hand there are minimal instructions which are extremely easy to follow and are backed up with pictures of someone else making or doing it at the same time.

SECTION 1: Making Paper

The first section is without doubt the best section. It's messy but best of all there is something wonderful at the end to show for it - handmade paper. To begin, the book starts with all that is required to make paper - the frames, the 3 different paper sources to make the pulp and how to make a sheet of paper using each technique. Because it is a very wet technique, it then moves on to drying and techniques for embedding items such as flowers, adding essential oils and even using techniques such as moulds and casting for 3D items. Paper can be very inexpensive as everything that is described in this book is generally what can be found around the home - old bits of paper, a blender, net curtains...

One of the best projects I found was the creation of stationary - envelopes and sheets of paper. After trying it myself, I was only using a small frame to begin so the end result was rather small but very effective.

SECTION 2: Using Colours

The second section of the book is concerned with dying the pulp or plant fibres to create different coloured paper. What surprised me were the techniques using food such as berries or beetroot! Ordinary items such as bleach, dying paper with other paper such as using crepe paper, food dye, tea bags and turmeric can all be used. The book gave me ideas I probably would even have considered before and because the book is in the same format of the first section, it gives step by step instructions as well as pictures to show how it works. The rest of the section shows how you can put separators into the basic frame and then fill it with the different coloured pulps to make a sheet of paper which finally comes out like a stained glass window (although a sheet of paper!), freehand dying of the paper or dipping.

SECTION 3: Dry Papers

The final section called 'Dry Papers' is probably the easiest section to master although isn't as fun because you can buy handmade paper - but making it yourself is much more fun! Techniques such as air spraying, marbling, splattering and batik are described and I remember doing several of these at Primary School! They are simple but can be quite intricate and detailed. Paste paper is a fun idea which requires wall paper paste! Other ideas such as Monoprint, drawing in ink, Linocut, scrunch and dye (uses Japanese tissue paper), embossing, collage, paper sandwich with a feather / petals / seeds, bamboo scroll and paper weaving are the other techniques covered.

As a complete novice as a paper maker, this book has been invaluable. It was easy to follow and because it used everyday items for the creation of the paper and colouring it, it means it was also very cheap to create other than spending a fortune buying it as I have done in the past. It certainly isn't just for adults although supervision may be required for most of the techniques but children can certainly have fun with this too. There have been weird and wonderful designs created and used in our card making so when anyone asks about it, we can say we also made the paper and the comments are amazing! (If only they knew how easy it was!)

I can hardly find any fault at all with this book. It isn't as expensive as other books I came across in my search (under £10!) and if you have a blender then you almost have all the basics needed to get making paper! No two designs are the same and there have been endless hours of fun! Highly recommended! (Remember it's messy but a lot of fun!)