PaperMaking from Plants:
Teasel and Hosta

TEASEL

The teasel I worked with was over 12 feet tall, old growth, overwintered, harvested in spring, appeared silvery grey on inch diameter stalks that were hollow tubes.

I took a chance on this super teasel. As it didn't exactly resemble descriptions I saw online, nor of a report from one correspondent that it had a low fiber yield other-- I took a chance on this12 foot stalked plant, found in a local park. I cut the dead stalk about18" above the ground, just in case it would regrow.

Cooked the silvery grey stalk in soda ash for about 4 hours, rinsed, cut it up and blendered it. It became golden furry pulp.

Which drained swiftly to an only semi couchable sheet. So I let it dry on a screen. It drained very quickly. It is marvelously crunchy furry piece of paper unlike how the pulp felt wet-- they didn't seem burry/furry....

Cutting it up for blendering was a bit more difficult than I thought it should be-- so I cooked it for a couple more hours chipped it up and then give it to the Critter to beat on. The image shows the "flower" head, the uncooked stalk, the cooked stalk and the golden pulp.

I'm following Gin's example (plant documenter extraordinare, access her journal here) -- so this first sheet is just teasel, totally.

No formation aid--- I did add a couple of tblsp of methylcellulose to the vat.

I did another small vat with an equal amount of cotton by volume (a handful).When I added a handful of extended-beaten cotton and it became an extremely slow draining but easily couchable sheet.

That paper was a surprise. Really tough/strong , rattly. I had only done a foot press between two boards -just initial water removal (vs. in my screw press or for any length of time). It bonded tightly with the cotton.

For thistle (a relative?), Lillian Bell recommended formation aid and an Indian/Nepal method of sheet creation (should have read that first LOL!).

I had problems getting teasel to circulate in Critter. I blendered some to act as conveyer for the rest. Gin suggested that I add 10-15% abaca. I added a shade under 10% abaca. Approx. 1.3 oz abaca to 15 oz of teasel stalks. This helped enormously.

Blendering is easier than beating with teasel. It's certainly quick enough and after a couple more hours cooking, the stalk becomes fiber with ease. The beaten fiber makes a better paper, though a soft and fibrous one.

However, I'm still not quite comparing apples to apples. The shorter cooking time was my blendered fiber-paper. I then cooked it longer and beat it. I think lengthy cooking (6 to 8 hours) and then blendering may yield nearly the same result as my beaten paper.

Teasel drained in a whoosh and couched easily. When used as pulp in a casting, it was a light sand-beige and the fibers aren't apparent; as a sheet, it is an off-white beige. I recommend teasel as a bulkifier.

I generally do a press to remove water, change cloths, and dry under light pressure (a board) changing position of cloths and papers in the stack.

Teasel dries slowly. Despite 80 degree temperatures and a fan on the stack, the only dry teasel (after 3. 5 days) is the "fry screen" depicted in the jpeg.

HOSTA STALKS

This paper is a revelation-- so crispy, so rattly so high shrink, so compelling in its sculptural possibilities.

It was brown with a slight olive cast to it. If you creased it and tear it, the line is as sharp as a cut. It smells incredibly delicious!
I cooked it and beat it--- it beat easily (in great contrast to my teasel experience) and was viscous. Pulling sheets, the pulp drained slowly (enabling very thin sheet formation) and couching was easy.

When I ironed a sheet and it wrinkled totally. So I left the rest on their cloths.

I wrapped a two sheets around an echinacea head and what a sculptural high shrink pulp demo--- the stalk is curved by the drying pulp!

The stems I worked with were harvested just after the frost had killed the plant back.

In sharp contrast to the teasel, the Hosta pulp, processed days later and pulled days later is dry (part of the high-shrinkage characteristic?).

I mixed some Hosta pulp with cotton and mat board for pulpcasting and those pieces have rose out of the mold overnight. So going forward, I will:

1. underbeat
2. mix sparingly for casting
3. use only for sculpture or when I want the very high shrinkage effect.

These images are papers that were not press-drained, but air dried on fry spatter screens. The light paper is teasel, the darker paper is hosta stalks. The wrapped echinacea is also there.

My thanks to Gin for inspiration, material aid, and advice.

Pulp on, people!

PaperMaking from Plants: Teasel and Hosta

TEASEL

HOSTA STALKS

PaperMaking from Plants:
Teasel and Hosta