Hi everyone. I’ve had this itch lately to make paper. I know there are a ton of paper videos out there on how to make paper. I figured if I’m going to make it I might as well show you how. It was fun actually. Not as messy as I thought it’d be.
I will warn you though….. I didn’t think when I decided to rip the newspaper up that it would turn out gray. For some reason my mind thought it’d come out white. (ugh) You know what? It’s ok though. I have a really fun post to make in the future! So I will be making a lot more paper for it. 🙂
My Deckle was a gift given to me (mold for paper). You can make your own. I have provided a link if you’d like to buy one instead.
Amazon – https://a.co/d/9VWje7X
To make your own Deckle – May with Paperslurry has a great tutorial
Supplies:
- ripped up pieces of paper ( I did enough to fill the blender & it gave me 4 pieces of paper)
- Water – you will need water to fill the blender 3/4 full & more water to fill a plastic bin)Plastic bin or tub
- Blender
- Colors – you can use Alcohol Ink, paint. It’s to color you paper.
- Iron
- Towel
- Parchment paper
- Sponge
Optional:
- fillers- Flowers, glitter, confetti, seeds, gold flakes, etc. If you’d like you can put it in the paper to give it a little more uniqueness.
Items you can use for paper:
Newspaper – it makes the homemade paper gray.
Shredded bills
scraps you saved of craft paper
Tissue paper – for color
Packing paper
Toilet paper rolls
Step 1-
After you rip your paper up, you will want to put it in a pot or container and let it soak overnight. Now, I have seen this done both ways. Either soak the ripped paper overnight OR rip it up and go straight to the blender. For me, it turned out better to soak it overnight. The paper pulp turned out perfect.
Step 2 –
Set up a little station where the towel is laid out and the parchment paper is on top of that. Turn your iron on so it’s ready for you.
Take your ripped paper & put it in the blender. Add water to the blender so it’s about 3/4 full. If you’d like, you can add the fillers to the paper now along with the color. I did not add the color at this time only because I was afraid to stain the blender. You can also add the color in once you put the paper in the tub after it’s pulped.
Step 3 –
Once the paper is pulped, pour it into the container/bin. Then fill the container/bin with water. If you did not add the color or fillers in yet you can do so now. Now you will take the Deckle you made or bought and scoop it in the bin getting the paper pulp on the screen. Spread the pulp out on the screen of the Deckle. Take your sponge, and gently push on the pulp that’s on the screen getting rid of the access water on it. Squeeze the sponge out into the bin. Once the extra water is gone, take the Deckle, and flip it over onto the parchment paper.
Step 4 –
Fold the parchment paper so the homemade paper is between the parchment. Now this step did not 100% work for me. Maybe you will have better luck or you can skip this step and let it dry overnight.
Put a part of the towel over the parchment. Iron. Now this did dry the paper a little bit but not what I read it will do. So I still set them out to dry over night.
Repeat the steps till all the pulp is made into paper. That’s it. If you are interested I will be doing a post soon on a project to use your homemade paper with. As well as I will be doing another post this week on Homemade paper in a different color. Hold on to your paper till then.
Arts &Crafts, How-To's, Upcycling & Repurposing 