This week for our study ofChina we made handmade paper! It was surprisingly easy, so if you were fearful, let me assure you that YOU CAN DO IT!
- Shredded or torn paper
- 2 Felt sheets (You will sandwich paper between felts, so if you want to make more than one sheet of paper, you’ll need more felt sheets)
- Window Screen (I found this small one at Lowe’s)
- Large plastic basin for water and pulp mixture
STEP 1: Fill your blender about half way with shredded paper, then add water to blender until about 3/4 of the way full.
STEP 2: Blend paper/water mixture until pulpy
STEP 3: Pour LOTS of water in your the large plastic basin then add in blended pulp. Mixture will be very watery.
STEP 4: Dip your screen into the water and gently swish under water until pulp is evenly distributed. Carefully lift up screen out of water. If you have a blank spot on your screen, you can start over, or grab a handful of pulp and put it on manually.
STEP 5: Set screen over basin to drain for a few minutes.
STEP 6: CAREFULLY flip your screen over onto felt sheet. Using dish towel, press all around back side of screen to lift more water and to press paper onto felt. We GENTLY rolled over the top just to flatten it out.
STEP 7: Slowly lift screen up from felt, paper should stick to felt sheet. Place another piece of felt on top of the paper like a sandwich. You can continue to layer paper/felt/paper/felt as many times as you like.
STEP 8: Let paper dry overnight, I removed the top felt pieces to speed things up, but if you do that, you may need to lightly iron the paper through a dish towel to flatten it out.
STEP 9: Paint or decorate! We wrote our Mandarin numbers on our handmade paper!
Click here to see the rest of our China Activities!
Click here to learn more about the Expedition Earth Geography curriculum!