Making paper

I suddenly remembered today that I had received a paper making kit a few years ago, that I hadn't used yet as I was saving for a sunny day, then they either never came, or I kept forgetting.  So I decided to make the most of the sun for drying and attempt to make some paper with Arthur. 

We started off with newspaper as it was nice and easy to rip and we had some in our front room for the fire place.  The ripping of the paper into postage stamp sizes part was a bit tedious for Arthur and he ended up throwing the paper around the room like confetti, so maybe in future I will rip most of the paper up myself and just give him a couple of bits to rip, he did enjoy throwing it like confetti though, not that enjoyed cleaning it up though!! 

We then move to the kitchen and I soaked the newspaper in some water for a couple of minutes, till it was soft and squidgy, then using a hand blender, we blended up the paper into a smooth pulp.  I then took a handful out and squeezed as much water out as possible before spreading on a small plate covered in clingfilm,  I thought it would be a good idea to see if you really need a specialist kit, but both pieces turned out ok! The one with the kit is obviously better, but both still usable.  Then following the instructions we used the kit to make the other piece.  I was expecting to make about two or three pieces but ended up only making one, so a lot of paper is needed to make the pulp! 

Once done I set it out in the sun to dry. Because of all the ink in the newspaper we ended up with a dark grey sheet of paper, but if you use old junk mail you could end up with many a different colour.  You can also add flowers, leaves, confetti etc.  I also received a book with the kit that tells you how to make paper from weeds and flowers so may have to try this!  We may even use one of these to make a birthday card for daddy this week!

Whilst in the garden we also noticed that the weeds in the vegetable patch, with no veg in it! Are covered in caterpillars, a quick search online reveals they are likely to be small tortoiseshell butterflies, so tomorrow I hope to capture one and let Arthur watch it grow and change. 

Alyssa 'helping'

Gloopy pulp

Almost there!

Squeezing the water out

Rolling rolling rolling

Drying in the sun

Watching caterpillers

Lots and lots of them!

The finished papers!