A little late, but been very busy,
RICE PAPER IS SOMETHING ELSE!!
What we ought to call rice paper is the paperlike sheet cut from the pith
of the Tetrapanax Papyferum tree. A palm like tree that grows on Formosa
(Taiwan) and the China mainland. This is technically not paper since it
consists of plant cells and not fibers, and has nothing to with rice as it
happens.
There is paper made from rice straw, this will look like any normal paper
you and I know. What you call rice paper is japanese paper made from the
paper mulberry, kozo fiber. It has no internal nor external glue and is
therefore apt to taking easily all kinds of chemicals etc. in its fiber
structure. When viewed under the microscope one can see a gluelike
substance surrounding the fibers. This is a mucilage made from the
tororo-aoi root which is added to the vat to facilitate sheet forming: the
water will have a lower surface tension and leave the sieve more readily. I
suggest to adapt the name japanese paper for rice paper, or japanese style
paper for that matter (also made in the US of A BTW)
for further reading:
Hunter, Dard
Papermaking, the history and technique of an ancient craft
Dover, New York
1978
ISBN 0-486-23619-6
Masuda, Katsuhiko
Japanese paper and Hyogu
the Paper Conservator, volume 9, 1985
England, ISSN 0309-4227
pp 32-41
Bas
Jonge Eland papierrestauratie
eland@knoware.nl
t +31 20 623 79 89
f +31 20 627 32 23
VeRes (Dutch Association of Professional Restorers)
postbus 11503
1001 GM Amsterdam
PAPER IS ART IS PAPER IS ART IS PAPER IS ART IS PAPER IS ART IS PAPER