Step Two: another try at printing

It is clear that I need much more experience in each of the areas required for my book. I was really floundering around as I made paper. I am sure I will improve though. Another area that requires practice is printing. In preparation for the trip I am taking to Italy, I am making additional mini-books as gifts/mementos for my cousins. Although there are still printed pieces available from the work I did at Penland, I need more variety so I set up the press. It took about an hour to make four prints from one of the blocks I made at Penland.
I was unhappy with the results. First, my press doesn't create enough pressure to make really good prints from this kind of artsy surface. Second, my inks were too gummy to give me the kind of impression I wanted. However I had one sheet that I can use to make the illustrations for the little books. And I got more practice!
Next I should spend some time printing with type. Binding is another skill that is going to take a lot of work. That will probably require a class.

Step One

What a messy process it is to make paper! First I had to figure out where to do it. I decided the garage and laundry room were the most impervious to the water I expected to splash around. I had watched the video on papermaking by Catherine Nash several times so I would know what I needed and could visualize the steps. I had all my supplies. Since this was simply a practice session, not a time to make the real paper for my book, I decided to use the junk mail paper I had shredded plus some dryer lint as the basis. I soaked it overnight and then ran it through the blender in small batches until I had a tub full. That took an hour or so. I set the tub on the dryer in the laundry room. The couching surface was on the washer nearby which I covered with towels and felt. In the garage, I had set up a table with a drying board (actually a "white board" I bought at Lowes). It needed to be smooth to give my paper a smooth finish. The pulp was gray, which I expected because the junk mail was printed paper. The ink makes it gray. When I make the real paper, I will use white pulp.
This was very good practice. I could see that I had made the pulp a little thick. The paper was heavier than I wanted. When I tried to thin down the pulp, however, it stuck to the screen. This will take some practice to get the thickness I want. I dipped the screen, got a nice batch of pulp and let it drain. Then I tipped the layer onto the couching surface. I blotted it dry, took it to the garage drying board, and rolled it with a blotter. This was to dry the paper further and make sure it stuck to the board. After a couple of sheets, I decided to add some stuff to the pulp: flowers and cut up raffia. I liked the appearance of the flowers; however when the paper dried, the petunia petals turned brown. The rest of the flowers retained their color. Another area for practice!
After several hours of work, I had eight sheets of paper. This is not going to be a very efficient process, I can see that. Of the eight, there was one I liked. But I learned a lot!