>I do not want to be seen as pushing this particular
>paper - after all, it may not suit your taste or purposes or working
>methods - but rather, I'm trying to promote the principle that we, as
>alternative process workers, are not entirely beholden to the products of
>the giant multinational companies, and we should be prepared to support the
>'cottage industries' and the individual craftspeople who are prepared to
>meet our very specific, low volume, needs. Even if it costs.
>
I belong to a group, The Friends of Dard Hunter, that has as its primary
concern 'handmade paper' - all facets: making it, decorating it, selling
it, painting on it, making art objects from paper, etc., etc. Several of
the members run their own papermills. The group is actually an
international group, though most members live in the US. I would be glad
to pass on to some of the members of the Friends who make larger quantities
of paper, the interests and specific requests of any of you all. One
particular member, Marilyn Sward of the Center for the Book Arts in Chicago
(that may not be the exact name of the center), has an interest both in
handmade paper and alternative photographic processes. I attended a class
she taught on this combined topic at the Penland Craft School in Penland,
NC, in the summer of 1994.
Oh yes, the classic question: who IS Dard Hunter? Dard Hunter is credited
with the renaissance of handmade paper in this country and around the
world. He was a collector, book and papeer maker, and he traveled to the
far extremes of our planet (in the 30's and 40's!) looking for outposts of
handmade paper.
John Bordley
PS. You might be interested that I just returned from the annual meeting
of the Friends of Dard Hunter. I gave a short talk on 'pH for hand
papermakers' and used as an example a 'chemical family' that papermakers
use - the carbonate, bicarbonate, carbonic acid system. The final slide
showed a diagram of the sulfite, bisulfite system that I had prepared when
responding to a question posted in this alt-photo-procress group about the
pH of a sodium bisulfite solution a couple months back. It was a 'quiz
question' to see if they really understood the diagram and the talk!