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Re: Homemade paper and Luminos
The handmade papers that you are making sound like they have shorter fibers,
especially if you will be making it from egg cartons. Egg carton handmade
paper may give you a lot of trouble as the short fibers will lend themselves
to a paper that has very little wet strength. I would recommend making
paper with longer fibers, using mostly first cut cotton linters or cotton
rag. Then I would add an internal sizing like methylcellulose or acrylic
gel medium or both, and also Kaolin clay to help fill in the surface of the
final paper a bit. You could then externally size you paper with
methylcellulose or gelatin prior to coating with the liquid emulsions. Hot
pressing the paper will help to add density to the final paper. I would
also recommend trying to make thicker papers for both wet strength and
increased density after pressing. You mentioned that you are using a
blender, but if you can access a Hollander beater, or beat by hand somehow,
you will produce a much finer paper. The blender really serves to break up
the longer fibers that you want in the first place. Beating will just break
apart the longer fibers in a process known as fibrillation. I did several
experiments at the end of last year to make handmade paper for writing and
photographic purposes. My biggest battles were sizing and smooth surfaces.
It took a lot of experimentation to get it right. Store bought handmade
paper will tend to work better in many cases, or mould-made papers, because
they are sized well and pressed on machines that I only dream that I had
access to. If sizing was not enough then the fountain pen ink just bleed
into the paper. The same will happen with the liquid emulsion. So size
until you drop, press until you condense, and then marvel at your lovely
work. Good luck;
Gary Miller