Handmade paper

One of the first things I got into this year when I got back home from hospital is: creating paper. One of the things I used to do when I was either at the kindergarten or at early school. Don’t really remember how old I was. Just remember that it was overall quite a messy thing to do, that I had a wooden frame and that I created a receipt book out of all the pages for grandma. Now, probably 20 years later – back to it. And wow, I never expected that such “easy” tasks could fulfil myself so much.

Frame

But as so often, step by step. First I googled as I didn’t remember too many details. One short shopping stop, some wood, grid and supplies later, go time. Time to build a frame.

But lets be honest. Putting together that frame isn’t the biggest task of my life. But theres so many details along the way that showed me slight progress which made me feel proud. And thats why I probably need to do more stuff like this.

One thing this little journey reminded me of: All you need is motivation. Everything else, you will find somewhere, on how to make it.

Another learning that I also took from psychiatric hospital: Split up your work. Every 20 (!) minutes I took a little break. I know this is slightly overdone. But it helps a lot, because I don’t instantly fall back into old routines. Instead of keep going I took time to drink coffee with my parents, read some news, spend time with my nephew’s, etc. – this really took some of my patience. Something that isn’t my biggest strength.

At the end, this might not be the biggest beauty of all frames – but it does it’s job. And it’s been cheap. And showed me some amazing life lessons! 👊🏻

Hand crafting paper

Now to the real deal: First you tear a lot of newspaper into small bits, drown it with hot water, mix it and blend it. After that you should have a grey’ish purée. And with that you are ready to go. Important: Now lets put some music on. What about my favorite new artist for meditative work? 😜

After that: The best and probably messy part starts. Haha. Loads of water, old paper, wet towels and so on. 2 hours, 2 albums later – you have loads of wet paper waiting to get dry.

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The best part about it: I reuse old paper and create new ones – to make art, write stuff / etc. And it gives me such a pleasant feeling. Can’t wait for the next round! And can’t wait to show you what I want to do with all these.

Now they’ll dry and once they’re finished it’s time to press them shortly. Hope you all had a kick ass start into the Advent season. Take your time to do amazing things. Much love and stay healthy.

/Seppi