Handmade paper

[GeorgianFolder]

hello, i want to make origami handmade paper if someone make on this forum pls help me
http://www.ehow.com/how_5665620_make-ha ... paper.html this is good or not ? sorry for my english

[mummykicks]

Just make double tissue MC. If you really want to hand make paper it requires somwhere between $500-$1000 dollars to do it right (to make sheets > 50cm square). This is because you have to buy or build what you need to make it, buy the pulp/fiber, buy felts, pigments, etc...

[GeorgianFolder]

ohh vert expencive

[Alexorigami]

Really?
Pigments- acrylic paint
Felts-towels
Pulp- blended paper/leaves
Vat-bathtub
The thing that might be harder to get is the frame for a >50 cm square/ rectangle. I think that's it.
For very good info buy Advanced Origami or Origami Art by Michael LaFosse

[mummykicks]

Really?
Pigments- acrylic paint
Felts-towels
Pulp- blended paper/leaves
Vat-bathtub
The thing that might be harder to get is the frame for a >50 cm square/ rectangle. I think that's it.
For very good info buy Advanced Origami or Origami Art by Michael LaFosse

Good luck with that. I'm no expert, but this is what I know so far:

The only reason to do handmade IMO is to get something better than double tissue MC = origamido equivalent. This is abaca pulp or an abaca/hemp or flax mixture. You have to either order the pulp beaten which alone will run you $70+, or come up with a way to overbeat it yourself (which I have). Or you order the fiber, cook it, then beat it. I use a rock tumbler with stainless dowel pins, which is slow but does the job.
That will cost about $130.
Cost of a lb of abaca pulp sheet is about $15 delivered. If you get a lb of beaten pulp you have to be prepared to make 100 sheets or something, or try to store the beaten pulp (it can be done, but not indefinitely). The more sheets, the more felts, the more initial cost. If you can beat the pulp yourself you can do only what you need, when you need, and that coupled with the cost savings on the pulp makes it well worth it.
You really need a deckle box to cast large thin (<.002" thick or about 20gsm) sheets. Which means a very fine screen/nylon or polypro mesh as well. Yes you can try window screen but the sheets are so thin that you really don't want to handle them, so forming the sheet on the mesh and leaving it there until it's dried is the easiest. Window screen will leave it's imprint on the paper (if you like that textured look then it's perfect, if you don't you need something finer). You'll spend about $200 by the time you're done for those two items alone, again if you want something decent that works, and depending how many sheets at a time you want to make. You can transfer the sheets, but they are so thin that I prefer not to keep them on the mesh.

Felts/pulp/fiber etc. will top $100. If you want non-fading colors pigments are the way to go.
Towels will fail miserably as you need a smooth surface for the felts for such thin sheets, and the rough surface will make it very difficult to get the paper off. The paper making felts (synthetic) work very well for this and are worth the money.
The frame is actually easy to get from art supply stores (canvas or needle point stretchers), they come in all sizes.

Then you need a press, and that isn't cheap for something large, which practically speaking will be a vacuum press for sheets >20" square, or in my case I use a laminating roller (what they use to laminate posters and such). Yes you can get by without pressing, but the paper isn't the same IMO, and it takes forever to dry.
Then a smooth surface to lay it onto to let it dry like a piece of acrylic/lexan or the like, or a drying press. Since I add MC to the pulp, once I get it on the acrylic sheet it dries just like double tissue mc and comes out very flat and stiff.

You can probably build a vacuum press with pegboard, polyurethane, and an automotive vacuum pump (for air conditioning systems) for around $200, but you'll need a vacuum trap and some extra plumbing, plus you'll have to leave it running for a while.
The larger the sheet, the greater the area, and the more force you need to get the same press pressure. Vacuum will do about 14 psi, a hydraulic press needs 5600lbs to equal that on a 20" square sheet, for a 36" sheet it's 18,000lbs. Getting a hydraulic jack to do this isn't a problem, getting a frame strong enough to handle it is expensive.

Then there is the cost of setting up the work area for all of this. I bought the wire shelf units from costco, made 2 units out of it and put a piece of 4' sqaure pegboard on top to make a bench of sorts. Gives me space to store stuff and a place to handle large sheets...

I would never make pulp in the bathtub as you will very likely clog the pipes when you drain it.

If you want to make small sheets and join them together the cost is much lower, but I didn't want to do that anymore...

[Axel´s Origami]

http://www.ehow.com/how_5665620_make-ha ... paper.html

That recipie won't make a paper thats extremly strong, since it's made with tissue paper you'll get something like thick tissue paper.

You could buy this book: http://www.origami-shop.com/en/origami- ... 7-860.html .
It teaches how to make very good paper.