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Making paper and adding Turmeric

 

Today I tried adding Turmeric to the pulp before couching (transferring the wet sheets from the mould).  I loved the idea of producing a yellow colour that is natural.


The paper has a lovely shade of yellow and the fibres held together well.



Holding the paper up to the light I was able to see how transparent it looked. The fibres had bonded well together and I was so excited to see the end product once the paper had fully dried.

Paper on frame held up to the light

I used the method of putting the mould and deckle into the tub of water and gently lifting it out of the water.  Lots of the water drained away back into the tub of water.  After lifting the deckle out of the water I carefully remove the frame.  This gives the deckle edge that I think is a wonderful look to handmade paper.




I lay the pieces out on the window ledges, still on their cloths and waited 24 hours for them to dry out.  Once they had dried, I ironed them with a cool iron to flatten them out completely.  When I was ironing them I noticed a rather putrid aroma.  This is the first time I have encountered this problem.   I have now hung the sheets up on a line and hope the aroma will reduce.  This is very disappointing to me, also the shade of the paper was a very light, pale yellow not what I had imagined.  

I guess its back to the drawing board and I will make some more but not adding the turmeric and see how the paper turns out.  On the plus side the paper is very light and bendable and I think it would be good for writing on.  The lesson is not to give up, one method doesn't work then try something else.  It is good to keep trying and learning, its the only way to perfect any thing.

This is why I love this papermaking journey, the highs and the lows make it all very interesting.  I think that I did not use enough Turmeric to have a good saturation of colour and also perhaps the drying method I used was too long.  As the days have been very rainy maybe I need to try and find a better method to dry the paper.  Also I have been using the same cloths for couching.  I will recycle them and invest in some paper making felt and see if that makes a difference.
 


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