Learn something new every day More Info Mulberry paper is textured paper commonly used in crafting that is traditionally made from the fibers of the leafy paper mulberry plant. Both types are typically used for the same things, though, and carry the same basic characteristics, namely a dense, thick feel that rips easily and can add texture to things like greeting cards, collages, and scrapbooks.
Art conservators and curators sometimes also use this paper to make repairs to damaged paintings or to preserve paper-based art. The paper mulberry plant is distinct from the mulberry tree. The plant sits low to the ground and the leaves, together with its thin bark, are what make the best paper.
The plant is known scientifically as Broussonetia papyriferahas a distinctive flaky texture that has been used in papermaking for centuries.
Unlike the pulp of ordinary paper trees, which tends to be fine and closely compacted, mulberry fibers are usually softer and more loosely packed, at least on a cellular level. This leads to a paper that is flexible, dense, and usually a bit textured. Traditionally, this sort of paper was used as writing paper, particularly in places where the plants were prolific and widely processed. Japan is one of the most commonly cited examples, and many ancient Japanese paintings and printings were made with paper derived at least in part from paper mulberry leaves.
It can be used to make cards, envelopes, books, and more. In addition, the paper can be used as a background or border to a variety of different projects. The paper is both strong and lightweight, and as a result is often used by art conservators for making repairs to paintings, maps, and other similar artifacts. Mulberry paper is generally torn rather than cut. Tearing provides an interesting jagged edge, and also usually allows the fibers a more natural way to bind to and grip the surrounding environment.
There are two methods commonly used in tearing this paper. The first method is generally referred to as the lick and tear technique. The paper is folded where desired and then licked or moistened along the fold and subsequently torn. For more complex shapes and curves, the so-called drawing method is more common. With this technique, cotton swabs are dipped into water and the desired shapes are drawn onto the paper. These shapes can then be carefully torn or pressed out along the dampened lines.
Although this paper can be readily purchased through most craft suppliersit is not uncommon for some people to make their own. Homemade mulberry paper is a relatively easy process, though it can take some time.
The most traditional method requires careful processing of mulberry leaves and bark. When using the leaf method, the leaves must be sliced or ripped and the bark must be peeled into small, typically 1-inch 2.
These are then soaked in water for about twelve hours. Afterward, soda ash alkali is added to the water and the fiber is cooked for about three to four hours. Once the fiber has cooled, the water is squeezed out and then beat into pulp on a flat surface. This pulp is placed in a container and slowly mixed with a small amount of water. A paper-making mold can then be dipped into the pulp and excess water is soaked up until the resulting paper can be peeled from the screen. This should then be dried for about a day or so.
Once dry, the paper can be pressed flat with a heavy book. Making "mulberry" paper from recycled general use paper is also practiced, although this is not usually true mulberry paper, and purists typically discount it.
Generally, about four times as much white paper is used as colored.Mulberry Paper is made from Kozo bark. It has long, strong fibers. Japan and Thailand are known for their beautiful and highly textured papers.
The paper varies in thickness up to 1mm. Blick Art supplies and others carry these beautiful papers. A quick search on the Internet will give you many ordering options. You will need a needle and thread or a sewing machine paper can be the texture and strength of felt.
Shape Template or Note Paper cutters. These can often not cut through Mulberry paper but they leave an indentation to then cut around. Did you use this instructable in your classroom? Add a Teacher Note to share how you incorporated it into your lesson. Gather your supplies and choose your colors.
I have included directions for you to make two types of paper jewelry necklaces from cut paper circles. One technique uses stitchery only. The other uses Elmer's Glue to hold paper pieces together. First you must make or use a shape template. I used a Note Maker punch to partially cut the circle shapes. There were places where the punch was not strong enough to cut through the paper. However, it left an indentation to follow with the scissors. I was able to use silver thread on a sewing machine and slowly feed the shapes to be stitched.
Some of the papers are strong enough to embroider a design on them as well. I started with the single black strand of circles for the necklace. I wanted the paper to lay flat against the back of the neck.
Next I stacked two circles on top of each other and stitched them in a chain. After they were connected I folded them to form a 3D shape. In order to add some highlights and some jewelry aspects to the piece, I added some gold paper on the black disk in three places, on either side at the color change and in the middle of the red circle.
This was done with a needle and thread down the middle so that the attached circles could be folded into three dimensions. I sewed two more circles together to make some matching earrings. They have one gold, one black and one red. When the sides are folded back the earrings swing in the breeze to reveal their colors. I used the jewelers metal hole punch and made a hole in each earring and added a circular earwire. If you have trouble wearing bigger earrings because they are too heavy these paper earrings are your answer.
You will find a large variety of thicker papers with textures and colors at any store the does stationary crafting.Shapes Round or pear-shaped, 1 to 1.
Mulberry Paper
The paper mulberry scientifically known as Broussonetia papyrifera, syn. Morus papyrifera L. It is extensively cultivated elsewhere and it grows as an introduced species in parts of Europe, the United States, and Africa. Apart from paper mulberry other common names include tapa cloth tree and pulp mulberry.
It may be confused with the exotic white mulberry and native trees such as red mulberry, sassafras, basswood, and white poplar. It is important as a source of fiber for cloth and paper. Due to their shallow root systems, the trees are susceptible to being blown down in high winds. Paper mulberry is a medium to large deciduous tree about 10—20 m tall although exceptionally up to 35 m. The crown is round and spreading. It is a hardy, fast-growing tree and under favorable conditions in a hot, moist climate can attain a height of 21 m and a diameter of 70 cm.
It is normally found growing in many subtropical and warm temperate regions and usually prefers sub-humid warm, sub-tropical monsoon climate. Similarly it requires moist, well-drained soil and has been unsuccessful when tried on poor soil. It prefers sandy loams and light soils. Stiff clay and hard laterite soils prevent penetration of the roots to the sub-soil, resulting in stunted growth. Its stout, grey-brown, spreading branches are brittle and susceptible to wind damage.
The branches are marked with stipular scars. Young branchlets are subtomentose and shoots are pubescent when young. The bark is light-grey, smooth, with shallow fissures or ridges. The stem, branches and petioles contain milky latex.
Paper mulberry has variable mulberry-like papery leaves. Some leaves are distinctly deep lobed, while others are unlobed. Several different shapes of leaves may appear on the same shoot. The leaves are 9. The petioles are cm long and the stipules 1. Female flowers have two to four lobed perianth and a superior ovary with a filiform style. Male flowers have four valvate tepals and four free stamens with filaments inflexed in the bub. Male flowers are normally yellowish white whereas female flowers are orange colored.
Fruit of Paper mulberry is shiny-reddish, fleshy, globose and compound with the achenes cm long and wide hanging on long fleshy stalks.
The achenes are cm long and wide. Paper mulberry can be used as a food for both human and animal consumption. The fruit comprises a ball about 1. It has been known for almost years as a plant whose bark can be used to make paper of various grades up to the highest quality.Cart is empty. View cart. All Catergories Adhesives.
All About Mulberry Paper and How to Use It
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The art of making mulberry paper is ancient. The woody bast fiber used from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree Broussonetia Papyriferais used to make the beautiful sheets of paper often used in paper craft worldwide. Japanese papermakers have been handing down this craft for generations and their process has been studied by some people such as Mina Takahashi, executive director of Dieu Donne Papermill in the Soho art district of New York City.
Here is how to make mulberry paper using some Japanese techniques. Harvest several branches from a paper mulberry tree that are close to 1 inch in diameter and about 8 feet long. Prepare the fiber.
Mina Takahashi recommends steaming the branches for half an hour to cause the bark to shrink back so it is easy to strip off. Peel the bark off in strips of almost an inch wide, scraping off the very outer black bark as much as possible. Soak the fiber you have removed from the branches in water for a full 12 hours if you have dried them out to help remove chlorophyll.
Cook the fiber in a large pot for 4 hours, adding the soda ash alkali to the water before boiling. Stir every half hour. Cool the fiber down for at least 3 to 4 hours.
Papermaking from Corn HusksMake sure that the fiber has been cooked enough. It should pull apart in your hands. Rinse the fiber by dunking it into large buckets of clean water. Pick up a ball of the fiber in your hands the size of a melon and squeeze out all the water. Lay it down on a work surface and beat it to a pulp with the bottom of a glass jar for 10 minutes.
What Is Mulberry Paper?
Place the beaten pulp into a large vat at least 6 inches deep and pick up another ball of fiber, repeating the process until all the fiber is made into a pulp.
Mix the vat of pulp with a small amount of water. Do this slowly. You can always add more but it is hard to take water out once mixed with the pulp. Make it into the thickness you desire for your paper. Wet the mold and deckle. Hold the mold with the screen facing up and place the deckle on top and holding them together, dip them in the pulp. Shift it side to side as you catch pulp in the screen so that it will lay flat as you pull it up out of the pulp.
Stir the pulp consistently as you make paper, as the pulp and water can tend to separate. Shake the screen gently as if you are panning for gold once you bring it out of the vat.
This causes the pulp to settle evenly, and strains water from it, creating a flat piece of paper. Once the fibers start to settle, set it down.
Remove the deckle and tilt the screen to make sure that the settling pulp doesn't slide. If it does, it needs more water strained from it.Get the secret now! Mulberry Paper Flowers.
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This type of paper is entirely handmade by local talents from the northern region of Thailand. The material used is organic and natural in addition to being environmental friendly. First, let us introduce you to the plant responsible. Common across Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, this plant Broussonetia Papyrifera Vent is a rapidly growing, and non-cultured flora that fills untended environments. The material of the plant is perfectly sustainable as it is essentially a weed, replacing itself faster than it can be used.
It is said to be one of the highest quality of biennial plants in Thailand and Laos for over 20 years. Saa paper has gained increased popularity in the past 30 years, while before it was only used for umbrellas, paper fans, and lanterns. Now, we are going to look into a step-by-step description of how these marvelous papers are made.
Handmade paper is actually the second main use of the mulberry tree since it is used for silkworms as they can only produce quality silk while keeping to a diet of mulberry leaves. As the bushes mature, the leaves are no longer appetizing to the silkworms.
At that point the bark and leaves are stripped and ultimately grow back for use in making paper. The mulberry tree should be harvested shortly after the rainy season since each tree has a lifespan of around one year and harvesting an old tree or a young one would result in the fiber being too tough or too soft respectively. After the harvest, the mulberry bark is soaked in clean water for about a day until it becomes softer and more pliable.
It is then boiled in a salt water solution for a couple of hours to break down the internal strength of the plant cellulose. After boiling, the salt solution is rinsed away from the fiber, resulting in the basic raw fiber which makes up the essence of this natural paper.
One caution worth noting is that, during the soaking procedure, a dried bark may be too tough resulting difficulty taking out the sap. Eventually, if the bark contains sap, during the drying procedure, the bark may fold itself making the paper unusable. Handmade paper has to be a uniform color in order to consistently hold any dye added further in the traditional process of making the paper.
The paper has to then be treated in a chlorine solution to remove the color inconsistencies in the raw material. The whitening agent is then thoroughly rinsed away to prevent it from interfering in additional coloration.
After the raw bark is soaked, cleaned, and treated for uniform color there still remain natural variations. The low-impact, handmade processing means that even after a few days of handling, the paper material can still be grouped by hue and roughness.
The most delicate and regular-hued segments are chosen for paper, while rougher and darker segments, which signify an old tree, are destined for rope or thicker boards. Making paper with these segments can cause anomalies and mold ruining the paper material.
Saa paper now begins its real transformation. The raw paper material has been groomed and selected for consistent texture and color. This step is crucial in the final texture and feel of the paper.
In preparation for its coloring, the paper is now immersed in cold water and agitated repeatedly through a blunt thresher to create a granular pulp. As the fibers are being crushed and separated, traditional dyes are added into the cold water solution. The color is therefore dyeing the pulp as it is ground into a mash of cellulose so fine that the rich colors come through as close to true and with minimal dilution and variation in the final paper.
The Saa paper pulp is then allowed to sit for a few minutes after the agitator is removed from the pulping bin.
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