How Handmade Papers in the West are Made

By Jim Hingst 
@hingst_jim 

The process of hand making paper in Europe and in the Americas is not too different than how the Japanese and other Oriental peoples have made paper. It shouldn’t come as a big surprise, because we did borrow the basic technology from the Chinese. One key difference is that the Europeans used cloth as their raw material in paper making. In the Far East, on the other hand, paper makers used the inner bark of various types of plants.

The other major difference is that the Japanese and other Asian peoples are more traditional. They had practiced the same method of paper making for centuries – at least until the 1860s. Why would they change? After all, some of their papers could last centuries. Japanese mulberry papers can last  500 to 1000 years.

In the West, we are not so traditional. We have continually tinkered with the processes with the goal of finding new ways to make paper faster, easier and sometimes, but not always, better.

Originally, paper in the Western countries was produced using recycled cloth. During the early Renaissance in Italy, paper was primarily made of linen. Hemp and cotton was also used to a much lesser extent. These materials were first cut up into very little pieces, soaked in water and then beaten to a pulp. After the cloth pieces were reduced to fibers, the slurry was scooped up in a frame with a screen, which allowed the water to drain off leaving a sheet of fibers. The sheets were then stacked, pressed and then dried. The original method that the Italians used was very similar to the way that the Chinese and Japanese made paper.

In the West that was not good enough. After Gutenberg invented movable metal type, our printers had more orders to fill. Beating on the raw material with wooden bats or mallets was not going to meet production quotas. That necessity was the mother of the mechanization of the paper making process. Stampers powered by water wheels beat the rag fibers to a pulp faster than any man could.

Woodcut by Albrecht Dürer - Coat of Arms of the House of Dürer. (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, PD-1923.)

Then in 1680 the Hollander beater was invented. Unlike stampers that utilized a waterwheel for power, the Hollander beater was powered by the wind.   This machine featured teeth that chewed up the tiny pieces of rags into pulp in a matter of hours, faster than the stampers could produce. In fact, the Hollander beater increased production by approximately 800%.

This improvement in output did, however, come at a slight cost in quality. Fibers beaten with the stampers were relatively intact. On the other hand, Hollander beater shredded the fibers into much smaller pieces. The resulting sheet was a little softer, which was great for letterpress and woodcut. However, the paper has lost some of its strength. That’s the price of progress.

After the pulp is processed in the beater, it is mixed into a vat of water. The fibers floating in the vat are then scooped up in a paper mold, which consists of a wire screen mounted in a frame. The deckle, which covers the edge of the frame, acts as a dam preventing the water and cloth fibers from spilling over the edges. As the water drains through the screen, the frame is shaken from front to back and from side to side. Shaking in two directions is an important procedure because the fibers intertwine as opposed to orienting in a single direction.  A sheet with fibers in one direction tears very easily with the grain.

After the water drains through the sheet, the remaining fibers form a sheet and the deckle is removed from the frame. The wet sheet is then transferred to a felt layer on top of the sheet stack. Another piece of felt is laid over the sheet.

When the stack is completed, it placed in a press to squeeze out some of the water from the sheets of paper. Originally, the type of press that was used was a screw press. As primitive as this may seem, this type of press is still used in some places today. Most of these, however, have been replaced with hydraulic presses.

Traditionally, the sheets will remain in the press overnight. After pressing, the sheets still contain a very high water content and must be dried. Drying can be done in a number of different ways. The wet sheets can be smoothed onto a flat surface to dry. Or multiple sheets can be stacked and hung to dry. How the sheets are dried often depends on the ambient temperature and humidity in the shop. The rate at which the paper dries is critical. If the sheet dries too fast, it could cockle. Cockling is a deformation in the paper. Once this occurs in a sheet, it is irreversible.

For relief printing, generally you will want a sheet, which has no sizing. This type of paper is referred to as “waterleaf”. For other artistic applications, such as calligraphy, a much harder, smoother and less absorbent sheet is desired.

To prevent the fibers of the paper from absorbing ink resulting in bleed, size is often added to the paper. As early as the Renaissance, gelatin was used as a size. After the paper is dried, it can be dipped in gelatin, pressed (squeezing out the excess) and dried again. In some cases, sizing is added in the beater as the bits of rag are being ground up.

For woodcut and linocut printing, handmade papers from manufacturers in France, England and the United States are excellent choices. Ideally, you want source a paper with linen or cotton fibers; neutral pH (acid free); no chlorine bleaching (chlorine deteriorates the fibers); no sizing and a paper weight in the range of 240 gsm. Of course, you could always make your own paper. Start saving your old, white cotton tee-shirts.

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About Jim Hingst: After fourteen years as Business Development Manager at RTape, Jim Hingst retired. He was involved in many facets of the company’s business, including marketing, sales, product development and technical service.

Hingst began his career 42 years ago in the graphic arts field creating and producing advertising and promotional materials for a large test equipment manufacturer.  Working for offset printers, large format screen printers, vinyl film manufacturers, and application tape companies, his experience included estimating, production planning, purchasing and production art, as well as sales and marketing. In his capacity as a salesman, Hingst was recognized with numerous sales achievement awards.

Drawing on his experience in production and as graphics installation subcontractor, Hingst provided the industry with practical advice, publishing more than 150 articles for  publications, such as  Signs Canada, SignCraft,  Signs of the Times, Screen Printing, Sign and Digital Graphics and  Sign Builder Illustrated. He also posted more than 400 stories on his blog (hingstssignpost.blogspot.com). In 2007 Hingst’s book, Vinyl Sign Techniques, was published.  Vinyl Sign Techniques is available at sign supply distributors and at Amazon. 

Slides of Jim's Artwork

© 2017 Jim Hingst