Paper Making as an Artistic Craft PDF
Preview Paper Making as an Artistic Craft
Paper Making as an Artistic Craft PAPER MAKING AS AN ARTISTIC CRAFT by JOHN MASON illustratedby RIGBY GRAHAM FABER AND FABER London Boston Firstpublishedin I.959 byFaberandFaberLimited 3 QueenSquareLondon WeI FirstpublishedinFaberPaperbacksI979 PrintedinGreatBritain by WhitstableLithoLtd, Whitstable, Kent Allrights reserved © I959John Mason CONDITIONSOFSALE Thisbookissoldsubjecttotheconditionsthatitshallnot,by way iftrade or otherwise, be leut, re-sold, hired out or otherwisecirculatedwithout thepublisher'spriorconsentin atryform ojbindingorcoverotherthanthat ill whichit is published and without a similar condition including this conditionbeingimposedonthesubsequentpurchaser British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Mason,John,b.lgOI Papermakingasanarlisticcraft. I. Papermakingand lrade I.Title 676'.22 TSII05 ISBN0-571-114°6-7 Acknowledgments First to my wife for her forbearance when I used her kitchen, to myson Michael who helped forage for raw material, to J. W. Watson for loads of fibrous plants from LeicesterParks, toG.S.Percivalforhelpwithmyearly experiments, to FrankTebbuttfor long hours ofhardskilful work, to .J. Bareham Green for felts and much advice, to W. R. M. Watson, N. K. Kempt, K. Apold, Alex Ross and F. Goodgerfor never refusing my endless requests, to Amies for moulds, to Ron Bowers,D. M. Williamson, D. B. Beeby, G. E.J. Loweformakingallsortsofaccessories,to the mills at Tuckenhay and Wookey Hole for materials and much advice, to Rigby Graham for his energetic help in practical artisticresearch, totheBritishUnitedShoe MachineryCom panyfor the loan ofa small beater, to Michael Chater and FrancisBolamforfriendlycounsel,toR.M.Harveyformaking mylargerbeaterandmysizingmachine andvettingthetext ofthisbook,toKennethHolmesandE.E.Pulleeforallowing my experiments at the Leicester College of Art, to S. J. Carter,J.A.Box,H. W. Fowler,R. E. Wood, R. D. Harding and J. C. H. Hurd for technical advice, to my colleague A.Pountney,thesculptor,formakingthemasterformyportrait 5 Acknowledgments watermark, to St. Bride's Printing Library for allowing my exhibition there, to Dr. Desmond Flower for invitation to addresstheDoubleCrownClub,toDavidBlandforhissympa thetic help in producingthisbook, toSydneyWaltonandto Dr.DardHunterforthegreatestencouragement,toDouglass HowellforrealinspirationfromacrosstheAtlanticandtoall the growing things that I transmuted. Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS page5 AUTHOR'S NOTE TO PAPERBACK EDITION 8 FOREWORD BYDR. DARD HUNTER 9 PREFACE 13 I. A SYNOPSIS 14 II. PREPARATION FOR BEATING 17 Ill. BEATING TO PULP 24 IV. THE MOULD 37 V. THE VAT 44 VI. PRESSING EQ.UIPMENT 48 VII. FORMING TIlE SHEETS AND COUCHING 55 VIII. SEPARATING, WET PRESSING AND DRYING 64- IX. SIZING 74 X. DECORATIVE ANDSTRAINING DEVICES 79 XI. A NOTE ON NYLON PAPER 91 GLOSSARY 95 INDEX 96 7 Author's Note to the Paperback Edition Paper Making as an Artistic Craft seems still to be the only simple practical textbook on this subject. Now, it is hoped, this new paperbackedition will bringit within reach ofall. The various pieces of equipment and the techniques described are my own personal answers to the problems that arise. You may well devise others. Be adventurous and experiment yourself. Make that your charter. Many dis coveries liejust around the corner in this most unexploited craft. Pulpplantsfromyourgardenandfromtheriverbanks,the field and the hedgerows and even pulp your own shirts and frocks. Paperwith allsortsofnaturalcoloursandunusual textures will result-good to look at and good to feel. After a little practiceyou will makesheetssuitableto usefordrawingand paintingand for hand printingtoo. Express yourselfthrough this work ofyour hands. Books whichIhaveprintedonpaperwhich Ihavemadenowreside inmanyfamouslibrariesaroundtheworld.Oneday,perhaps, they will become my small memorial. JOlIN MASON Leicester 1979 Foreword S everal years ago The Institute ofPaper Chemistry re ceived a letterfromJohn Mason ofLeicester, England, marked for the attention of the Curator of the Dard Hunter Paper Museum, housed in the administration build ingofthe Institute. ThePaper Museum embracesan assem blageof'paperiana' gatheredinallpartsoftheworld,show ingtheevolutionofthiscraftfromitsinventionbytheChinese eunuch, Ts'ai Lun, about A.D. 105, to the most modern methodsofmakingpaperby hand. Itmayseeman anachro nismthatthemostup-to-the-minutepapermakingschooland laboratoriesinthe UnitedStatesshould deem itworthwhile to sponsorsuch an archaic museum. But, the officials ofthe Institute were convinced that a knowledge ofthe history of paper would be decidedly beneficial to everyone concerned withpresent-daypapermakingbythemostmodernmechani cal methods. It must be remembered that for almost 1,700 years therewas nopaperin the world otherthan that made byhand.Thepaper-machineisacomparativelyrecentinven tion, perfected onlyabout one hundred and fiftyyears ago. But,toreturntoJohn Mason;we,attheInstitute,wereall interestedinhis experimentsin makingpaperbyhand in his 9 Foreword 'Twelve by Eight' mill and in the College ofArt, Leicester. John Mason was makingsheets ofpaper upon a mould that measured 12 by8 inchesin an entirely unorthodox manner, even from the standpoint of the accepted methods ofpro ducing commercial handmade papers. His wholehearted de sirewas to makepaperofpronounced aestheticquality, with no thought ofquantity production, or in imitation ofany paperthathadeverbeenmade. To arrive at his quest for papers ofunusual appearance, formation, colourand texture,hegathers his materialsin the English country-side and cooks and macerates the vegetable fibres in his own miniature laboratory. He makes use of nettles,cow-parsley, rushes,grasses,and thestalksandleaves ofsuchfloweringplantsasgladiolusandiris. Wewereatonce remindedoftheworkofDr.JacobChristianSchaeffer(1718 go), a clergyman ofRegensburg, Germany, who as early as the middle eighteenth century began his experiments in makingpaperfrom manyforms ofvegetationfound growing nearhishome. Hereheset upa smallhand-operatedstamp ing-millfor beating the material, and also a vatfor forming thesmallsheetsofpaper.UnlikeJohnMason,whoseprincipal desireisfor artisticfeelinginhispapers,Dr. Schaeffer'schief concern was to find inexpensivematerials thatcould besub stitutedforthescarceandcostlylinenandcottontheninuse. Dr. Schaeffercompiledsix pamphlets, from 1765 to 1771,in whichhewroteofhismanyexperimentsinmakingpaperfrom hemp, straw, cabbage leaves, asbestos, cattail and burdock stalks, thistles, mallow, St.John's wort, Indian corn husks, genista, pine-cones, potatoes, reeds, bean, horse-chestnut, walnut, tulip, andlindenleaves,inallalmosteightydifferent substances. This eighteenth-century treatise,£with the many 10
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