VG Paper Blog

Building Period Moulde & Deckles

After building a couple of test moulde and deckles, I decided to build bigger ones that were more period to the AZ Ren Faire (1540-1590).

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Small Scale Pulp Making

If you want to make paper pulp on a small scale or for a classroom situation, acquire a blender (never to be used for food/drink ever again), paper to recycle and…

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Simple sheet forming

Along with small scale pulp making, small scale (or just small) sheet forming is perfect for the occasional user or classroom situation.

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Small Scale Press

There are a couple different methods you can employ to press your paper (for home and classroom).

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Research for Building a Hollander Beater

I wanted to create large amounts of pulp for papermaking at the AZ Ren Faire. The blender method won't cut it. I must find another way…

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Doing the Math: Holland Beater Building

I found that there are really no places or sites with exact plans for building a Hollander Beater. I had to figure out all the mechanics and ratios myself.

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The Tub: Hollander Beater

Building the tub for the Hollander involves making some critical decisions like, tub material, amount of pulp it is going to make, depth, and where am I going to put this thing…

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Bed Plate & Drum: Hollander Beater

Now that tub decisions are made, one of the most integral relationships is the Drum to the bed plate. How big, what are they made of…

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Assembly: Hollander Beater

Now all the pieces are done, how do they all fit together? What should I watch out for?

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The Shield: Hollander Beater

This should be simple… yet, I should have spent as much time on the shield as I did on the entire beater itself.

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Testing the Hollander Beater

In testing the beater I found the leak points, the weak points, and the capacities and items that need to be improved…

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Using the Hollander Beater

Here is what I have found in using my homemade (by a Dutch person no less) Hollander Beater

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The Cotton Caper: Making Paper from Raw Cotton

Paper has been made from cloth & rags made of cotton… so making it from raw cotton should be easy! Not quite.

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Dyeing Paper & Pulp

This describes the various ways that you can change the color of paper; before it's made and after.

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Dyeing Pulp for Paper

I wouldn't have believed it, dyeing pulp with sawdust from an Osage Orange Tree.

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Paper Made from Natural Plant Fibers

I have made a lot of paper (mostly recycled) but after dyeing pulp with Osage Orange tree sawdust, I thought lets explore!

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