Why make paper by hand?
What made you think of hand paper making as your next venture?
Why paper?
These are questions I often get asked by friends, well-wishers and customers.
The answer to this question is not simple.
The answer to this question has been a journey and a process.
Bluecat paper is a product of sleepless nights, feeling around in the dark moments, agonising helplessness and a sum total of several hands-on pursuits.
When the idea of Bluecat paper was conceived, it was most appealing that we were not cutting down trees to make our beautiful paper. Indeed paper manufacturers with the mismanagement of forestry have harmed planet earth enough.
Therefore at Bluecat paper, we take the waste of cotton hosiery, coffee husk among other fibres, cook it, pulp it and lovingly form it into sheets. The water is then recycled back into production making the products earth-friendly as it is beautiful.
Handmade paper makers are mostly concerned about the environment.
Do I fancy myself an upcyclist or a recyclist ? an environmentalist maybe?
Whatever the answer, there is no doubt the joy I receive when I feel a beautiful pressed sheet between my fingers, the rough texture that is almost like cloth lovingly pressed and formed in the hands of its maker.
Yes, there is something special about a handmade object. And a beautiful, gorgeous piece of handmade paper is sure to arouse your senses. You sense a person behind the product and not a machine.
Indeed people don’t pay too much attention to paper. It is so commonplace that it’s hardly noticed.
And therein lies its irony. As quoted by Tom Bannister `paper is exceedingly common, so an unusual handmade sheet is that much more exceptional.`
So why do I handmake paper? I hope this answers the question.
The next newsletter is about using one along with the other. The TOOT series.