Hand Made Paper 101

Fawn and I set up four stations in the classroom - one for blending pulp, one for pouring the pulp in the deckle, one for sponging off the wet pulp and one for ironing.  The kids loved it - even the kids who come in and see something strange then say I won't do it then tried it.  We made a big mess and we were pretty well knackered at the end of the day.  There is a sign on my classroom door for the custodian that says don't clean this room. We don't want to give anyone a heart attack.  The hand made papers are really cool.  My art professor friend Carol Crayonbox, with 30 years of experience teaching art, gave me some large "koosh" sheets for soaking up excess water which came in very handy.  The paper making process is labor intensive, but has so much potential within the creative process.  We used only papers from our own scrap box along with cilantro, boxwood leaves, ground up pot-pourri, feathers, ferns, and sparkles.  The papers required much ironing to keep them from curling.  No hydraulic flateners here.  Just kid power.