My daughter wanted to try her hand at making paper, using some of the dried petals from the flowers she received for her birthday to embellish it. So, on Saturday, out came the blender and a bag of documents I had cut up (my version of shredding). I also made her a screen using an old picture frame and some wire mesh that I cut out from one of the old window screens (I knew there was a reason why I kept one of the old screens!)
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| Shredded Paper in Blender |
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| Blended with Water |
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| Paper Pulp |
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| On the Screen with Flower Petals Added |
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| Smoothing it Out |
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| Kept to Dry Out |
The last time I made some handmade paper, it was on a scorching hot day and the paper dried in a matter of hours. It wasn't as hot this weekend, so, we left the paper to dry overnight, spread out over the dining table and the coffee table. Unfortunately, the color of the rose petals leached out and they just turned brown! They were still damp this morning, so we hung them from the door frame near the heater to dry faster.
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| Handmade Paper Drying |
Not quite sure what she plans to do with them, but she might make cards or bookmarks with some of them.
- Doing a craft project with my daughter
- M bringing me another bag of soil amendment for the garden
- Being able to let neighbor S borrow my recycling bin
- Switching to Daylight Savings Time
- A working heater
This weekend's joyful activity was helping daughter make paper.
It was a pleasant, relaxing weekend. Which means that I really need to get my act together and get a few things accomplished tomorrow!
How was your weekend? Have you tried making paper? What are your plans for the week?
Handmade paper! Sounds very interesting.
ReplyDeleteYour post reminded me that I still have to change clocks! 😁
It was something fun to do on a Saturday afternoon. :)
DeleteDon't forget to change the clocks! :)
I have only made homemade paper one time. I did use it for cards.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice that y'all were able to have a craft day together
It was a fun project; she's sharing some of the paper with me, so I have some new card making supplies!
DeleteA brilliant project. Leaves are good as they often retain their green colour. The weather here is still cool and damp, it's something I'd only do mid summer!
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely a project that is best done in the summer! It took longer to dry than either of us had anticipated!
DeleteI made paper with dried flowers a few years ago. I made them into bookmarks to give as gifts at work. However, I found out that, even though they were dried, some of the the dried petals could still bleed color, so I didn't think they should be used in books. :(
ReplyDeleteOh, I didn't think about the petals bleeding color even after being dried. I think we might have to "laminate" the bookmarks with some clear contact paper or something like that!
DeleteSounds like a fun weekend activity!
ReplyDeleteIt was. She did most of the hands on work; I hovered! :D
DeleteWell that look like fun. I've never made paper but I was gifted some home made paper a few years back & I just kept because it was too pretty to cut up.
ReplyDeleteIt was fun. It was something different for her to do, too (she is currently doing some crocheting and cross stitching, but, they are on-going projects).
DeleteI did this with our son when he was little and it was fun. Haven't done it since but I have a friend who has been making paper for years and her Christmas card this year was handmade with her own paper.
ReplyDeleteDaughter vaguely recalls making paper with me when she was a little girl and said it seemed very hard at the time. I know we did some papier mache projects, too. Our paper turned out fairly thick, this time. Probably used too much paper to make the pulp. But, it got rid of a lot of old documents with some sensitive info on them! :D
DeleteWhat a fun activity! I bet you both really enjoyed spending the time doing something fun together. I hope she's staying for a while longer!
ReplyDeleteIt was fun, Sharon. :) She'll be here until sometime in June!
DeleteOh wow! That looks fascinating and a lot of fun to make. X
ReplyDeleteMaybe something Lily might enjoy doing on a hot summer day?
DeleteThat looks like good fun. It's a shame that the petals lost their colour. I wonder how that could have been avoided. Handmade paper is lovely for crafting projects.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the flower petals needed some sort of preservative added to them to retain the color. Or, perhaps, making the paper on a warmer day would have helped, as the petals wouldn't have been wet for as long.
DeleteThis brings back happy memories of paper making in Japan. We used old milk cartons, soaked to a pulp and then the rest of the process was very similar to yours. We didn't use petals but other decorations and then I think I made the results into cards (or the fronts of cards). I have quite a bit of traditional Japanese paper (manufactured or professionally made) which contains petals and/or leaves. Most of the petals are dull in colour but still effective.
ReplyDeleteI think it was watching a Japanese anime in which a character was making paper that inspired my daughter to make paper, herself! :) We, too, will probably use the paper as fronts for cards.
DeleteWhat fun.
ReplyDeleteI love to see what crafty things people are up to.
Your daughter is very creative and the paper is very pretty.
Thank you, Debra. I used a piece of the paper she made to make a card, yesterday! :)
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