Paper Making

Recently we studied China and during that time read a picture book The Cloudmakers by James Rumford Princess was particularly taken with this book, it tells the story of how, many, many years ago men from Kazakhstan were raiding over the border of China. During one such raid a grandfather and his grandson were swept up in the raid. They were to be sold as slaves until it was stated that they could make ‘clouds.’ They were given 7 days to prove they could, using their hemp sandals the little family set about making paper. There follows a detailed and amazing account of the process. They were successful and went to Arabia to teach others their trade. From here paper making spread westward. After reading this Princess and I decided to try our hand at paper making.

First I had to make a frame, I found an old picture frame and nailed fly screen to it. The problem was the frame was rather large and so the only receptacle it could ‘sort of’ fit in was the wheelbarrow. (We don’t have a bath.)

After blending up the paper and water we placed the ‘mush’ in the wheelbarrow with water. The children stirred it all around.

And then strained it through the screen.

Then we turned the screen over and laid the paper out to dry. It wasn’t perfect by any means but I’m sure it was a ‘memory day’ that Princess will always cherish.