PaperMaking fromPlants:

Dandelions and Green PaperMaking

Dandelion Paper

In search of green pulp, I was led to dandelions. I weeded, gathered a bunch of dandelions, cooked them (the whole plant) for about 90 minutes in my large stainless steel pot using some soda ash, rinsed assiduously, blendered it, and made paper.

Gosh-- how did I miss out on this? It was deep forest green paper with strands, perhaps from the occasional root? So easy to prep and so lovely!

I added formation aid and methylcellulose to the vat. I made sheets by gathering from a vat. By this I mean I inverted molds and collected pulp-- using the mold sides as a deckle and leaving the sheet to dry within this frame. I have about a dozen moulds of various sizes, so this method, while material intensive and slow initially, delivers ready to use sheets within the same day.

My thanks to folks at Papermaking on Yahoo for pointing out yet another treasure at my feet.



The papers shown were formed with a sugeta, with a mold and deckle, with an inverted mould, and on a mould without a deckle. All were air dried, none were couched.

Green Paper

From Gin Petty, papermaker extraordinaire, other sources for plant fibers that make green-green paper: Kentuckybluegrass (Poa pratensis), gill-over-the-ground (Glechoma hederacea), wild garlic (Allium vineale), barnyard grass (Echinochloa crusgalli), common violet leaves and stems (Viola sororia), spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) and Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense).

All of these, with the exception of gill-over-the-ground, will make a decent paper without the addition of any other fiber.

Gin's excellent papermaking journal is at: http://www.ginpetty.com/my_stuff/journal/


Pulp on, people!



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BirdHouse 1, made for Habitat for HumanityAkua Lezli Hope,2002.