Artful papermaking

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Amanda Degener makes paper from old jeans.

As the resident papermaker and outreach coordinator at Pyramid Atlantic, a center for print, paper and book arts in Silver Spring, she specializes in hand papermaking.

"It's alchemy," Ms. Degener says. "You're changing one material into another material."

The science of papermaking has been around since at least the first century A.D., and the same basic techniques are still used.

The first step is feeding plant fibers in the form of cloth, such as cotton, flax, hemp or ramie, into a Hollander beater, Ms. Degener says. Small pieces of wastepaper also can be pulped in a blender. The result will be an oatmeal-like pulp.

The pulp is then placed in a vat of water, where a mold and deckle, a screened frame, is dipped, she says. As the water drains away from the screen, the basis for the paper is left.

If artists are feeling creative, they can "paint" on the paper with pulp paint, which is fiber with dye, Ms. Degener says.

The paper is usually "couched," or placed, on a wool blanket to dry. Then it is pressed in a machine at least twice to squeeze the water out of it. When a sheet is still slightly damp, an iron can create a smooth finish.

"Scientists don't like to hear about magic, but to take an old pair of bluejeans and make bluejean paper, that's magic," Ms. Degener says.

In the mill, paper is made in mass quantities through similar procedures involving large machines, she says. Generally, she says, pulp is made in a hydrapulper and then transferred to a moving mesh belt. The water drains from the pulp, and rollers press the paper.