do it yourself
pressing your own Stylish stationary you can make yourself. BY TABATHA BEERBOWER
Zach Strauss/Kansan
Adding ripped up pieces of paper to a blender until it is half full, adding warm water and mixing together is just one of the steps in making your own paper.
Christmas is drawing near and a lot of us are strapped for cash. Get an early start on an easy and cheap gift ideas by recycling old newspapers and exams to create homemade paper. The outcomes of this process are endless. Let's look at some basic steps.
You can use just about any type of paper when making homemade paper. The most commonly used, and easiest to find around your house, are newspapers, magazines, old notebook paper and office paper. Newspaper tends to create a speckled effect on the finished product and leave a grayish tint. You can get crazy with toilet paper, paper bags, tissue paper, napkins and even old cards and construction paper for a heavier texture. You can even use dryer lint or old cloth to add a cotton texture.
You can create a mold for making homemade paper two ways. One way is to bend a wire clothes hanger into a rectangle. You might need to tape the ends together. Stretch an old pair of pantyhose—any color as it won't affect the outcome of your paper—over the hanger and
SUPPLIES
Sponges
Window screening or old pantyhose
Wood frame or picture frame
Sink, tub or container large enough to submerge your mold
Blender or food processor
Felt or flannel fabric (white works best, but I used red flannel, for about $1.50 on discount at Wal-Mart)
Staples or tacks for tacking screen on frame
Liquid starch
Directions adapted from
www.pioneerthinking.com
www.kidsdomain.com
www.essortment.com
staple the waist together. Cut the legs off and staple those closed as well. You will want the hose to be tight. You can create a different mold using window screen or door screen stretched over and stapled to a wooden frame.
The second option is to build the wooden frame yourself, or use a picture frame. Your mold can be any shape you wish, but a traditional rectangular or square shape works best. I used the pantyhose method and it worked great although the pantyhose continued to hold water.
Before you go any further,you might want to grab an old shirt or an apron.I found that once I started lifting my mold out of the pulpy water,little pieces of lintlike paper particles fell out and clung to my shirt.The paper will come off,but it
may stain lighter colored clothes.
Fill your sink or a large container halfway with warm water. I did this entire process in my kitchen.
Rip up pieces of paper. You can control the color and texture of your final product by mixing and matching different colors and types of paper. Fill your blender about half full with paper. Add at least enough warm water to completely cover the paper.
Add about three blenders-full of pulp to your sink or container. The more pulp you add, the thicker your paper will turn out. Thicker paper will have a higher resistance to wear and the extent that inks will soak into it. You can control the thickness of your final mixture by varying the amount of water you put in the blender with your paper.
Adding 2 teaspoons of liquid starch
12 jayplay
thursday. november 20, 2003