Page 70 - NT 2022 Almanac

Make Homemade Paper
This takes a couple of days to make as you need to soak the recycled paper in water overnight. You can add some of your pressed flowers as decorations.
You will need:
Used paper
Washing-up bowl
Water
Old pair of tights
Old wooden picture frame or wire coat hanger bent into a square Food processor
Shallow baking tray Decorations such as flowers, leaves and seed heads
Food colouring or paint
2 small old towels
Rolling pin
Pegs
1 Collect any old paper you can find.
2 Place it in a washing-up bowl full of cold water and leave it overnight.
3 While the paper is soaking, cut the tights so that you have one layer
of fabric and then stretch this over the picture frame or coat hanger to make a screen.
4 The next day, ask an adult to help you fill the food processor half full with water.
5 Add a handful of wet paper and whizz it up until it looks like a thick milkshake.
6 Pour the mixture into a baking tray and add the flowers, leaves and seed heads. Add food colouring or paint if you want.
7 Place your screen face-down in the mixture and gently move it around to coat it with an even amount of pulp.
8 Lift the screen out and let it drain on a draining board or over the washing-up bowl.
9 Once a lot of the water has dripped out, put the paper on an old towel, place another towel on top and use the rolling pin to squeeze
out any water that is left.
10 Hang the paper up using pegs on the washing line or somewhere warm and dry.
Ask a grown-up
to help you with the food processor.
69