First, they found old paper; scrapbook paper, white copy paper, used printouts, newsprint, whatever. They tore this up into approximately 2x2 inch chunks, and filled a quart container loosely to 1/3 full. Then they added hot! water to about 1/2 full. This was dumped into my blender and whirred on high for about one minute, pausing here and there. For some papers, the girls would blend the mixture, and then let the mixture soak for 2 minutes in the hot water, and then blend again. This yielded a smoother texture for their paper.
After this, one can start laying out the paper. Or, add little bits of colored confetti, paper, sparkles, bits of cut string, or whatever your imagination dictates. Add this to the watery pulp mixture and stir.
Now go pour that pulp out onto a screen. We placed an old window screen over the bathtub. The girls shaped their paper with hands and an offset spatula. Then, they added other elements- in this case colored string.
The pulp was quite wet six hour later, so I laid the whole screen on a towel, and placed another towel on top. I pushed carefully on each paper blob to absorb excess liquid. The paper did not stick to the towel as I feared, and quite a lot of liquid came out.
Today or tomorrow, we will try some different decorative elements and substrates. I would like to add some prairie plant seeds I collected in the fall and see what happens. The girls and I are also interested in doing some sculpture with the paper pulp. It actually takes some skill to make this paper thin, and the bulk of the pulp lends itself to interesting lumps and ridges. Some sculpture would be really fun!
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