making paper as meditation

The last couple of days I have been 'in the zone' making paper on our deck.  I've had bags of cooked plant fibre choking the freezer so I siezed the opportunity of a long weekend to process the fibre into those wonderful sheets of paper destined for my handmade books.

Firstly I made corn husk paper - very fine texture and light in colour.  I also experimented with broccoli - very fibrous and a surprise to work with after the delicateness of the corn husk.  I mixed in some bleached banana fibre to give it more body and ended up with some beautiful sheets of off-white paper with interesting patterns of pale fibres through them.  The fibres are about an inch long and really give this paper its character.

The sheets I create are VERY uneven and adhoc, I love the randomness of it and it contrasts well with the mass-manufactured watercolour paper I use in my books.  The process is like meditation to me, an enjoyable but lengthy process that produces something unique, delicate and beautiful.