Creativity Begins with the Paper
Each sheet of handmade paper is unique, destined to play an important role in the final work of art, sometimes as a simple support, others as part of the work, and sometimes forming the whole of the work itself. Makers of handmade paper obtain from the stems, internal barks, leaves and fruit of plants like cotton, musa textiles, daphne, etc., the fibers which are the raw materials of their papers. It is these noble materials which guarantee the most important characteristics of handmade papers for fine-art use: longevity, brilliance, opacity, contractability and, above all, creativity.

Traditional Methods
After selecting the appropriate fiber, it is refined by chopping and maceration and, when appropriate, colored with pigments which guarantee imperviousness to light.

This is the traditional system with frame and counterframe and a metal screen. The frame is immersed in the tank which contains the dyed fiber pulp and the proper amount of water to produce a paper of a given weight.

Wet Work
Once drained of excess water, the frame is immersed in another tank with another color. This process continues until the desired effect is achieved, and then the resulting mass is pressed to create a sheet of paper. For special jobs handmade paper makers can use alternate Japanese or Nepalese elaboration techniques.

Special techniques and tools permit handmade paper makers to achieve lines of colored pulp in their papers, either free form or precisely calculated in given widths, as well as areas of color, color fusions, changes of thickness, texture, etc. All of these variations permit the creation of unique works in any medium.

Drying, a Critical Process
The finished paper is then dried, at times in the air so it contracts (then and not later!) or on different backings to achieve varied effects. All quality handmade papers are of neutral PH and free of any contaminating agents. They are also all based on cold-strained masses, which guarantees their stability.

The Difference...

"Why do the most serious artists choose to present their work on handmade papers? Is it just the prestige factor, or are there other reasons? "

Prestige is certainly a factor, but there are others. Let's look at them one by one:

* The return-on-investment factor: The
increment in the value of the finished product on handmade paper offsets the extra investment by a factor of 10-100!

*Handmade papers can be personalized with the exact characteristics for a given work of art: size and shape, texture and weight, color, and fiber content for different media.

*Handmade papers offer a far greater range of expressive possibilities than conventional paper.

 

* The special qualities of handmade papers are immediately evident, even to the most untrained eye, both in the textures and by the deckle edges on all foursides.

*In etching, handmade papers offer a superior capacity to assure exact register when working with various plates.

*In screen printing and lithography, handmade papers feature surface conditioning which permits them to take more exact impressions, especially in fine line work.

* Handmade papers offer the possibility, in any medium, to achieve the degree of relief which the artist desires.