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Show Papermaking taught at SU; Chinese techniques improved CEDAR CITY The Chinese kept papermaking, like fireworks and TNT, a well-guarded secret for hundreds of years. Plenty of time had passed since 4 the process was leaked to the rest of the world, and with few exceptions, it remains basically the same. Papermaking techniques were recently taught at Southern Utah State College at a workshop offered in conjunction with the Utah Arts Council's Artist-in-School-Community , Program. 1 "There's been one major improvement in papermaking since the Chinese began pounding bark with stones and sticks nearly 2,000 years ago," instructor Lucy Katherine Wallingford told workshop participants. "A blender." SUSC students made paper much the same way craftsmen did in the 14th century one piece at a time. They also branched into molding and manipulation of shredded paper must be cooked to remove the sizing and that takes a long time." The blender comes into the picture at this point; the watersoaked fibers must be thoroughly blended in order for them to bond together as paper. "When making paper," the instructor said, "you must remember that the end product is only as good as the materials you start with." Cotton is 95 percent cellulose and makes the best paper, but rag paper actually made irom worn-out rags is very expensive. Most commercial Paper is made from wood pulp. Wallingford discovered papermaking while a student at the Kansas City Art Institute. For her senior show, "Souvenirs: A Reminiscence and Anticipation of a Journey," she turned the institute1 gallery into a truckstop complete with the usual postcards, slides, maps, t-shirts, ashtrays and other odds and ends, all made from recycled art paper. "I made roughly 500 objects for the show and killed three blenders in the process," she said. Since graduating from the KCAI in 1980 with a major, the Texas-born artist has taught in 26 rural school districts as part of the Washington State Cultural Enrichment Program. "During an eight-month stay I worked with over 2,000 students and heard just about that many volcano stories because I was there just alter Mt. Saint Helen blew its top," she said. In addition to hei papermaking skills, tht artist whose van is hei home much of the time-teaches time-teaches ceramics, mural-making, mural-making, bookbinding, life drawing, linoleum block printing and collage plate printing. She will teach papermaking at Panguitch Elementary School and mural-making at Escalante Elementary School during the next few weeks, also through the Utah Arts Council program. To the casual observer, papermaking looks like a cross between making mud pies and milkshakes. If there's any one rule of thumb, it seems to be this: Do fold, spindle and mutilate. Anything from milkweed to celery sticks can be blended with the pulp to make textured paper. Procean dyes can be added for uniform color. Pulp can be made into sheets, it can be made " into two-dimensional two-dimensional multicolored pieces by using stencils. itself." Paper is cellulose, the main constituent of plant fibers. The fibers must be thoroughly macerated softened with water until each filament is a separate unit, swollen and suspended in water. Paper is formed when a thin layer of this water-saturated water-saturated fiber, or pulp, is lifted from the water on a sieve-like screen. It is transfeered to an absorbant cloth, a "felt," then pressed and dryed. "Couching (which rhymes with smooching) is the process of transferring the paper to the felt," Wallingford said. "The paper is then stacked felt, paper, felt, paper, felt, paper to form a 'post' which is pressed to release the remaining water." Old bookbinding presses are ideal for extracting the excess water, but they are very hard to come by. "I know there are hundreds of those old screw presses gathering dust in libraries," the instructor said. Prepared pulp was used in the SUSC workshop. Pulp can be made, but it's a very time-consuming process. "Blotter paper, and even newsprint, can be used to make paper, but newsprintcontains sizing, a glaze or filler added to make it moisture resistant," Wallingford explained. "Because of this, the paper, a popular 20th century technique. "Papermaking is enjoying a Renaissance," Wallingford, a Moab-based Moab-based artist, said. "Handmade paper has always been preferred by artists and printmakers, but it's only been in the last few years that papermaking has become a popular medium in |
