Papermaking with Garden Plants & Common Weeds - Paperback

by Helen Hiebert (Author)

Make exquisite papers right in your own kitchen with this complete guidebook, featuring illustrated step-by-step instructions that show you how easy it is to blend and shape a variety of organic fibers into professional stationery, specialty books, and personalized gifts.

Learn about every aspect of the papermaking process from collecting plant fibers to turning them into paper. Plus discover every detail in between, including:

• What Tools and Equipment are Needed
• Setting Up Your Workstation
• Processing Plant Fibers
• How to Use Pigments and Dyes
• Choosing a Papermaking Style

Showcasing a variety of recipes from different papermakers as well as a number of projects to try, this book is your all-inclusive guide to the world of papermaking. With a few pieces of basic equipment and a small harvest of backyard weeds, you can easily create stunningly original handcrafted papers. You'll soon be creatively integrating plant stalks, bark, flower petals, pine needles, and more to add unique colors and textures to your paper creations.

Back Jacket

Beautiful Paper, Grown Right in Your Backyard
Almost any common plant--from hosta to milkweed, cornhusks, and pineapple leaves--can be transformed into an elegant sheet of decorative paper. The possibilities for creating your own unique, eco-friendly papers with plant fibers are endless once you master the basic techniques. In Papermaking with Garden Plants & Common Weeds, expert papermaker Helen Hiebert shows you how to:

• Collect and harvest plant fibers from stalks, bark, leaves, and grasses
• Process the fiber and press, dry, and finish your paper
• Embellish your sheets with natural dyes and decorative materials such as flower petals and pine needles
• Craft unique projects including vegetable papyrus, multi-paper collages, envelopes, lampshades, and specialty books

Author Biography

Helen Hiebert is a papermaker, artist, and author of books on papermaking and paper crafts, including The Art of Papercraft, Papermaker's Companion, and Papermaking with Garden Plants and Common Weeds. She teaches papermaking classes and workshops, writes a weekly blog, and is the host and producer of the podcast Paper Talk, which features interviews with papermakers and paper artists. Hiebert's blog, The Sunday Paper, is a resource for ideas and inspiration via stories and examples of people doing exciting, innovative, and beautiful things with paper. She lives in Colorado.