Cut the plant into small pieces of one to two inches or longer if you desire. You will get different effects with longer and shorter fibers in your paper.

Soak the plants for a day or longer if you can. The longer they soak the easier they will break down as they start to rot a bit and the soft material begins to disintegrate leaving the fiber. If you can let the material soak for a week or longer it is even easier. Just one warning - it will smell bad and attract insects so if you do it this way cover it tightly, set it in the sun and forget about it for awhile.

Rinse the soaking plants very well and boil until the fibers break down and the plant begins to soften and the fibers begin to separate. It is really best to do this outside if you can get a hotplate and a big pot. Rinse until the water is clear. A good way to rinse is to lay out the plants on a screen that has been stretched over a frame and rinse with a garden hose.

Beat the fibers with a wooden or rubber mallet on a board. Rinse from time to time as you will be beating out any remaining vegetable matter that will rot in your paper if you leave it in.

Using Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate)

This is a non caustic method that is easy to use for most home paper makers. Use about ½ cup to a gallon of water. This isn’t rigid but it would be about right. Boil your fibers for 4 or 5 hours stirring occasionally until the fibers start to separate. Rinse and beat as above. For tougher plants use more soda ash and boil longer.

Using Lime (Calcium Hydroxide)

Using Lime not Lye to soak your plants is a good way to cut down on soaking and boiling time. I would recommend wearing rubber gloves when putting your hands in the water with Lime. Use about a cup of Lime per gallon of water. Lime is used to amend garden soils and is not toxic to animals and insects.

Same as above - boil then rinse, rinse and rinse some more. Beat with a mallet or board.

Using Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)

I don’t recommend this unless you have a lot of experience with chemicals. Lye is caustic and can eat through aluminum and if it boils over it will ruin enamel surfaces and can be dangerous and it is poisonous.

Notes About Beating and Blending

Beating pulp is a way to separate fibers and maintain a longer fiber length. It causes the fiber to shred and creates little fine hairs sticking out that will lock with the other fibers to create a stronger end product. You can put the fibers into a big bucket and beat down on it with a 2 x 4 or you can lay it out on a board and pound it with a mallet.

If you plan to use a blender you will want to have really short fibers or you will just burn out the blender because the longer fibers will wrap around the blades and cause it to over heat. The blender chops your fibers it does not beat them.

When making your final slurry for pulling paper I recommend 25 to 50 percent cotton linter pulp or other recycled paper pulp. But you can certainly experiment with different mixtures.

Jude Barton has been making paper pulp and using it in sculptural and two dimensional forms for more than 15 years.

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