About a year ago I asked Catherine if she would dig out her old paper-making gear for me, and a few weeks later some tubs and screens and some waxed paper emerged from the depths of her studio and into the depths of mine. Where they stayed until today.

Today I took my first stab at making handmade paper, using the condolence cards and flowers we received for Catherine over the last few weeks. My intent is to make thank you cards from the paper with my letterpress; today was a beta test for that project.

Here are the first 8 sheets of paper, each about 5 by 7 inches:

As you can see, I experimented with different amounts of flower petals thrown into the blender with the ripped-up paper, with different colours of flowers and of paper paper, and with different consistencies of pulp.

It was a very helpful learning experience, and I’ll come back at it again tomorrow with with I’ve learned.