eli
11-15-2009, 11:12 PM
I don't know how many paper-patchers use Japanese papers or "Washi" but a link was posted from a woodcut printmaking forum I belong to and I thought I'd share it here.
The papermaker here (http://www.washiya.com/shop/iwanohousho/kodawarienglish.html) is a Japanese "Living Treasure" but there are other papermakers still working in the old methods, as well as modern Japanese mills that make excellent, affordable papers in a variety of weights and sizes. This link is offered as a good example of the traditional paper making process.
Japanese papers are different from 'Western' papers in a number of ways, but the fact that many are made of the long bark fibered Gampi and Kozo (a type of Mulberry), which can be extremely strong even in gauze weights and that additives are at a minimum seem to me to make them very good candidates for paper patching.
Paper made this way, even very thin gossamer stuff, has layers of fiber laid down in the papermakers' frame at perpendicular angles which means that the 'grain' typical of Western papers is avoided.
Many Japanese papers are also 'soft' in nature and thus can be compressed well for paper-patching. The same paper can also often be found in several thickness.
Also, in many of these papers, sizing is done after the finished sheet is sold, by a specialist whom applies sizing by hand, one sheet at a time, depending on the need of the final user, so many washi are available as waterleaf, meaning unsized.
It may be of interest to some to know that some papers printmakers, including myself, use to transfer drawings to woodblocks starts out as a 'regular' sheet or piece of a sheet and when pasted drawing side down, is reduced in thickness by simply rubbing a slightly moist finger across the exposed surface, causing layers of excess paper to roll up for removal. A piece of paper treated like this can go from a good drawing size thickness to a final layer that is almost invisible, still holding the drawing that will be the guide to carving.
I am also adding a link to a very good importer, Hiromi Paper Internationa (http://www.hiromipaper.com/)l which can supply just about everything you could ever want in Japanese papers and can tell you anything you'd want to know about a paper. Take a look at their "About Washi" for more about paper making.
Eli
The papermaker here (http://www.washiya.com/shop/iwanohousho/kodawarienglish.html) is a Japanese "Living Treasure" but there are other papermakers still working in the old methods, as well as modern Japanese mills that make excellent, affordable papers in a variety of weights and sizes. This link is offered as a good example of the traditional paper making process.
Japanese papers are different from 'Western' papers in a number of ways, but the fact that many are made of the long bark fibered Gampi and Kozo (a type of Mulberry), which can be extremely strong even in gauze weights and that additives are at a minimum seem to me to make them very good candidates for paper patching.
Paper made this way, even very thin gossamer stuff, has layers of fiber laid down in the papermakers' frame at perpendicular angles which means that the 'grain' typical of Western papers is avoided.
Many Japanese papers are also 'soft' in nature and thus can be compressed well for paper-patching. The same paper can also often be found in several thickness.
Also, in many of these papers, sizing is done after the finished sheet is sold, by a specialist whom applies sizing by hand, one sheet at a time, depending on the need of the final user, so many washi are available as waterleaf, meaning unsized.
It may be of interest to some to know that some papers printmakers, including myself, use to transfer drawings to woodblocks starts out as a 'regular' sheet or piece of a sheet and when pasted drawing side down, is reduced in thickness by simply rubbing a slightly moist finger across the exposed surface, causing layers of excess paper to roll up for removal. A piece of paper treated like this can go from a good drawing size thickness to a final layer that is almost invisible, still holding the drawing that will be the guide to carving.
I am also adding a link to a very good importer, Hiromi Paper Internationa (http://www.hiromipaper.com/)l which can supply just about everything you could ever want in Japanese papers and can tell you anything you'd want to know about a paper. Take a look at their "About Washi" for more about paper making.
Eli