I have made two pieces of paper this morning. It needs some finetuning, sure. But for a first try I say: not bad! When I get the hang of it and learn what types of paper work best, I can add flower seeds or even real flowers to the paper. I love-love-love those postcards that you can put in the ground to grow flowers. How smart! I would love to make them myself, but better. And I will, watch me.
This is what I did this morning. I put a handful of paper in an old blender: old envelopes, some toiletpaper (they said that would work best, because it dissolves well. But I don't want to be making a different shape of toiletpaper, so I just used a little), pieces of newspaper without the inky parts. I added water and blended it into pulp. It really is that easy.
Pour the mixture into a big plastic container that is half filled with water. Use your window screen (two parts: the loose frame without the screen on top) to scoop up the pulp in the water. Gently move it across the water and pull up so the pulp is laying evenly on your screen. Let the water drip off and put the piece of felt on it and press a little more water out.
Put the screen and felt with the felt down on the table. With another piece of felt, or any type of cloth, gently push on the backside of the screen, so the paper + felt separates from the screen.
I put a towel on top and pressed it with a heavy book to remove some extra water and then hung it to dry. I love how you see pieces of the old paper in it, little patches of color and even some lettering.
I know we are all patient little angels, but sometimes you are just too curious... so I thought I could iron it dry quicker. And I did (I guess you could use a blowdryer too). Make sure to put a dry towel between the paper and your iron. When most of the water is out, you can iron directly onto the paper (don't do this when you have added flowers or other things that could be ruined by heat).
I think I have a new hobby...
