More Tips on Dyeing Paper Pulp

Mixing dyes into the pulp.

Paper dyed with beetroot and oak galls that had been soaked beforehand, by Newlyn School.

The 'couching' process pushes out moisture from the pulp mixture and flattens it into paper.

In the second session of paper dyeing children from Newlyn School worked with pulp that had already been soaked for at least 24hrs in plant dyes. The first group used beetroot dye and the second used oak gall dye. They then added more dye using pipettes and stirred in some decoration and 'binding' materials e.g. Calendula (Marigold) petals, chopped onion skins, Hydrangea petals, threads chopped from scrap materials.

The pulp has a very thorough stirring and it is great to work in pairs to do this-1 person to add the dye and 'binding bits' and the other to stir the mixture so that it is all blended in. This pulp is then pushed through the mesh frames as before, this process takes a while as all the moisture needs to be pushed out of the paper pulp and flattened in a process called 'couching'. Newlyn School were brilliant at this, working in pairs and being very patient with the moisture removal.

The paper is layed out flat to dry out as before and ironed when it is damp to help flatten and thin it.

Sarah Gatter, Creative Practitioner.