Vance Studley - The Art & Craft of Handmade Paper

The Art & Craft of Handmade Paper

For Margo and Tyler

Vance Studley is currently a Professor of Art at California State University, Los Angeles and heads up the Advanced Typographic Studies Workshop at The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

He has won many awards for his work from The Type Directors Club of New York, The Art Directors Club of Los Angeles, The Art Directors Club of New York, The Society of Typographic Arts, and The Printing Institute of America. His work has appeared in CA Magazine, Graphis, Print Magazine, and Typography 9. He is the author of a number of books on the subject of crafts, lettering and typography.

The Art & Craft of Handmade Paper

Vance Studley

Dover Publications, Inc., New York

Copyright 1977 by Litton Educational Publishing. Inc.

All rights reserved.

This Dover edition, first published in 1990, is an unabridged, slightly corrected republication of the work originally published by van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, in 1977

Library of congress cataloging-in-Publication Data

Studley, Vance.

The art & craft of handmade paper / Vance studley.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-486-26451-1

1. Paper, Handmade. I. Title. II. Title: Art and craft of handmade paper.

TS1109.S83 1990

676 .22dc20

90-34057
CIP

Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation
26421108
www.doverpublications.com

Contents

Preface

Papermaking is an artistic craft of great antiquity, and at the same time, a highly mechanized modern industry. The division between craft and industry is not so wide, however, as might at first be imagined. Indeed, it is interesting to note that the three main problems presented to the mass-production papermaker of today with his automated lines of vast machinery are those that confronted the early Chinese papermaker. The first problem is to find and utilize those materials suitable for paper manufacture; the second, how to pulp and form paper with some degree of durability and performance; and the third, how to make paper that is pleasing to the touch and attractive to the eye.

Illustration of how machine-made paper is fabricated using twentieth-century technology. It was in 1799 that Nicholas-Louis Robert invented the first paper machine. Today, commercial paper, in part, is made following the precepts of Robert's eighteenth-century invention.

These three problems are as fundamental now as they were during the formative years of the craft. They are normally solved by a careful analysis of all the variables. Thus, consideration of the size and composition of paper, thickness of paper, type of paper, its particular use and function, value of the image it enhances, particular requirements related to use, the expected life span of the paper, the number of sheets to be made, and factors concerned with the cost of the total papermaking process, must be considered.

Interest is always immediate when one is asked how paper is made. Interest grows further when one realizes that unusual papers can be made with little difficulty, and so made to assume new shapes and forms that have no identical counter part. It is the author's intention to explain and illustrate simple papermaking procedures that are within the grasp of those wishing to learn how paper is formed, regardless of age group, and what enjoyment this simple act can bring.

Scanning Electron Micrograph of paper currency magnified 500 times. (Courtesy of the Industrial Laboratory, Eastman Kodak Company)

Scanning Electron Micrograph of paper magnified 4500 times. (Courtesy of the Industrial Laboratory, Eastman Kodak Company)

Scanning Electron Micrograph of paper toweling magnified 240 times. (Courtesy of the Industrial Laboratory, Eastman Kodak Company)

Introduction

This book on the art and craft of making paper by hand contains new approaches to the age old technique of transforming pulp into sheets of useful artist's paper. It offers an introduction to the tools, equipment, and materials needed together with sequential demonstrations of basic papermaking skills that are within the scope of an average school, college, studio, or home studio. The techniques to making paper are easy, the necessary tools are inexpensive, and quality results are had in a very short time. Artists of any age can benefit from this book. No previous experience is necessary. Teachers may use the book for classroom projects as a refreshing change from traditional modes of creative expression.

Part I introduces the origin and development of paper, its use in history, the people who made paper and continue to do so today, and why quality paper is ideal for creative use. This material has had an unusually colorful life in both the eastern and western parts of the world. Books, which today are so common, were once considered rare and precious objects, deserving the treatment and veneration accorded to great works of art.

Part II describes the necessary items needed to make small quantities of paper within the home, studio, or classroom. Tools may already be in the kitchen utensil drawer or in the shop. They may also be purchased from hardware or grocery stores offering shredders, choppers, spatulas, and other useful kitchen aids. The sections dealing with the construction of papermaking apparatus contain instructions and illustrations for making the basic paper forms (flat and multidimensional). More complex equipment for the student wishing to make greater quantities of paper or larger sheets are also shown with diagrams illustrating details of their construction.

Once the workspace has been organized and the papermaker has had the opportunity to make several sheets of assorted paper, then the projects described in Part Ill may be of further interest. Many useful ideas and directions are contained here. Paper for water-media can be made into various thicknesses, sizes, and weights depending on the individual use for each sheet. Paper may also be decorated by marbling techniques employing an assortment of inks, dyes, paints, and other coloring. Also described in this portion of the book is paper to be used for simple forms of printmaking (with or without a press) which will enliven the textural richness of the image.

Projects of particular interest to young artists are so noted in the introductory remarks preceding each section.

Although the initial results of early experimentation with the basic techniques and materials are usually almost unpredictable, such results, owing to the nature of the craft, are surprisingly inspiring and beautiful. Students can extend the various projects to create their own paper with individual character and texture. Once the new papermaker becomes familiar with a technique, he may expect to be more discriminating and selective, to achieve some degree of control over the results of his work, and to succeed in arranging colors, textures, weights, and shapes as he chooses. The opportunity to experiment with each project exists as long as the artist remains open to newly discovered results and further ideas.