jewelia (jewelia@erols.com)
Mon, 22 Feb 1999 11:57:48 -0800
as Judy has her favorite "what is Post-Factory question," Andy, you have
asked about kozo paper--and this is the gist of jewelia's favorite question:
what is the washi of nagashi-zuki and is it good for anything? so i thought
it might be useful to expand the paper thread into a conversation that
includes other wood fiber papers:
Japanese papers, for the most part, are made from 3 wood fibers--all more or
less commonly called mulberry--these mulberry plants grown for paper look
more like large shrubs instead of the huge mulberry tree north americans may
be familar with--although the trees are related. the fiber used in paper
production is the inner bark--what is called bast--the fibers are 3 to 12
millimeters in length as compared to cotton and wood pulp (sulphite) papers
which are 4 mm at the most. sheet forming would look similar to making
paper by hand using western methods (ie: mold made rag papers) to say a
"tourist" but it is a much different process really--much more skill (i
could argue art) involved in it. too much to go in to here but the paper is
formed in those thin sheets on what is called a su--a bamboo mat--students
might be taught to make it on cheaper table place mats that sort of look
like the real thing but aren't quite the work of perfection a su is. the
worker must operate the su skillfully to "weave" the fibers together evenly
and to form a rather consistent sheet in thickness. the bast is harvested
from one-year old sprouts from old parent stumps--good for 10-20 years
production. what is harvested are not much more than twigs maybe as big
around as your thumb--about 5 percent of the harvest by weight ends up as
paper. preparation and paper forming is well-- all hand work -- and too
much to go into here but involves cooking the fibers in lye. beating is
traditionally done by hand with paddle-like sticks but stamping mills are
now used commonly--this is still a lot of work though. labor--intensive and
low yields-- reasons why good japanese papers have a reason to cost a lot.
the process was invented in china and soon adapted in japan--who perfected
the process. kozo paper has been made since the 8th century i believe and
there are many old samples of the paper kicking around. no such thing as
cotton natually there i suppose-- most all the old documents and art that
exist in the east are printed on fibers of wood.
the three common fibers:
Kozo -- is the tough strong masculine fiber used for about 90 percent of the
japanese paper production
mitsumata -- is the delicate feminine fiber
gampi -- is the "gender-confused transsexual fiber"--has the best wet
strength and has a darker buff color sometimes
now you can understand part of my fascination? in the west--its pretty much
just either cotton or wood--which leaves less room for creative
combinations?-!
there are varieties within these categories due to different species of the
three found in different regions. for example--generally it is considered
that Phillipine gampi is a better fiber than thai gampi and the diffference
in costs are considerable--perhaps the reason for the big difference in
quality and cost between torinoko and kitikata gampi papers.
kozo is generally the one also used for construction purposes--houses,
etc... in addition to usual paper purposes. the japanese evidently built
huge balloons (40 feet diameter) from the stuff from which they suspended
bombs during wwII to float over the pacific on the jet stream--1000 of 9000
evidently made the crossing between Mexico and the Aleutians--as far inland
as michigan. ave. crossing time = 60 hours. six people were killed.
both Kozo and gampi have been used by alt-photo process workers. processing
is delicate and you may have to size the paper externally in order to coat
it successfully. you may need to preshrink otherwise. sizing is a bit
complicated because of the delicacy of the papers. a lot of kozo as i said
is mixed with wood pulp to reduce costs. wood pulp makes the paper less
strong and more absorbent. kozo is pretty much a dimensionally stabile
tissue and gampi has the best wet strength. I can't recall hearing anyone
work with alt-photo on mitsumata. the more expensive papers are the easiest
to use--they tend to be made from higher quality fibers and are crisper.
top quality 12 x 16 inch sheets can cost as much as $10 or so. i have used
kitikata and Toronoko which are gampi papers (i have one catalogue that
lists kitikata as kozo but i think that's a goof-up but it could be that
there is more than one kitikata floating around?, mulberry (which is often
50/50 kozo/sulphite these days), hosho pro, unruyu, chiri, masa, waxed masa
and maybe a few others successfully. i wouldn't call myself an expert at it
and have not produced extensive portfolios or editions of these prints--my
purpose was an interest in printing on paper i made myself and i worked with
it long enough to convince myself by experience the printing can be done
95/96 and shifted to learning how to make the paper. i made both western
and eastern papers in 97 at banff but still lack a few pieces of equipment
to make my own in my own studio. i would say that what i learned from the
process made me much more sensitive to the part that the paper plays in the
image and how sizings can become a part of the artistic process--beyond
coating a paper to make it work.
i know a lot of pt/pa workers have done work on japan tissues--often
mounting them to a backing paper as in chine colle. good prints tend to be
very nice--have a different sort of glow because of the translucency of the
paper and the fibers of some become an apparent part of the image. a lot of
van dykes and other processes have been produced on these papers too.
probably not the best choice to experiment with until you have the rest of
your process under control.
regards--jewelia margueritta cameroon
jewelia@erols.com
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