PaperMaking from Plants:
CATTAILS

Cattails make uch an agreeably easy pulp, that felt so soft and furry after just blendering. I cooked the whole plant sans "cigar" in washing soda, let sit, rinsed repeatedly, blendered cup by cup, and rinsed again til water ran clear.

My pulp looked like light chocolate, my paper is tan/pale brown. For the beaterless, this pulp is so creamy, easy, dreamy and the paper sooooo smooth, as if from a beaten pulp (really amazing to me, but then again, I'm easily amused).



I'm enamored of a new plant site if you want pictures of the plant and information on its habitat try:http://plants.usda.gov/

Kingdom Plantae ­ Plants
Subkingdom - Tracheobionta ­ Vascular plants
Superdivision - Spermatophyta ­ Seed plants
Division - Magnoliophyta ­ Flowering plants
Class - Liliopsida ­ Monocotyledons
Subclass - Commelinidae
Order - Typhales
Family - Typhaceae ­ Cat-tail family
Genus - Typha L. ­ cattail
Species - Typha latifolia L. ­ broadleaf cattail

I was made welcome at the Spencer Crest Nature Center, atop the hill in Corning, NY and did my gathering at Amelia Pond. My thanks to Denise at the Center for her kind assistance.


i'm following Gin's example (plant documenter extraordinare, access her journal here)Thanks to Gin and the papermaking list folks for reawakening me to the possibilities right outside my door.



Pulp on, people!



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