Depending on the bead-form desired I may do a light/quick press of the sheet (placed between two boards with wool blankets and stood on) or I may rolling pin-press the sheet with a wool blanket placed above, or I may put it in my hydraulic press or I may use just after it has rested on the felt and drained a bit. The water removal/pre-drying technique I use depends on the pulp, the desired form and how much I want to manipulate the pulp.
Wet sheet forming provides unique opportunities for bead creation. Its immediate and apparent advantages are:
1. No glue necessary for roll shaped beads
2. Speedier drying than pulp formation
3. Easier to manipulate than pulp for certain forms
4. Ability to imprint/score bead
5. Unique color applications
Roll Shaping
By this I mean those sheet formed beads that are rolled around a mandrel/stick /toothpick/skewer/or straw. They are cut into a shape and then rolled. The simplest of these shapes--- triangles, rectangles, ovals--- the closed forms—work well with wet sheets. This is an advantage that the hand papermaker has, as in damp rolling, one can further hand shape the bead—imprint the surface with little marks and tools or feathering color on the damp surface.
For this technique I generally prefer the sheet that is lightly pressed—by board or by rolling pin. I trace the shape with a sharpened skewer and and then cut with scissors.
Rolled Forms—Tubes
Wet paper wrapped around a straw and then cut, makes fine fab beads of whatever length you choose and with a large inner diameter.
Cloud Beads/Flat Beads
Hemp offered the possibility of cloud beads. I tore unpressed wet sheets into shapes, laid a vaselined skewer between them and then hand pressed them together. I call these cloud beads.
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Lee Scoville introduced me to creating flat beads by placing lubricated skewers on wet sheet of paper and then placing another sheet above it. I lightly pressed them and left to dry together and then cut them apart. They may form beads of any size or length you choose. I fell in love with leaving some as long flags, as sculptural elements for my vessels.
People/Other forms
I like free hand sculpting pulp, but I found I had more control for my winged people shapes, when I began with a newly formed sheet, unpressed. I drew the outline of the person on the thick wet sheet twice, and pressed both on either side of a lubricated skewer, adding details with other bits of sheet.
The bead accompanying this page was created using one of the aforementioned techniques. They are made from mould and deckle- formed sheets of chickory and burdock pulp that included methylcellulose in the vat. They were formed while wet, and were oven dried at 200 degrees ( the clear plastic straw survived ).
