Hands on Traditional skills and where to learn them

Papermaking and conservation

How do you make paper?You start by mixing chips or shavings of wood or other fibrous materials with water. You can also add petals, dried flowers, seeds, grass, spices, herbs, newspaper or parts of photographs, for decoration. Then you slide a mesh or mould into the liquid pulp. The materials form a thin layer on the deckle – the top of the mesh – which you then rock back and forth in the water to get an even covering. You can create a watermark by stitching patterns or letters on to the mesh. Next, having allowed as much of the water as possible to drain from the moist pulp, you use a sheet of felt to absorb the remaining liquid from what will become your sheet of paper, putting it in a press to dry out overnight.

What's next?The next day, you can paint the paper with a paste, to strengthen it for writing on. Then you can marble it, if you wish, by putting it back in a mixture of water and ink. You can make pasted paper by mixing colour with paste and applying it using techniques such as combing, stippling or freestyle drawing. Then you rinse, dry and press your marbled or pasted paper.

How long does it take? It takes a matter of minutes to make a sheet of paper, but you need to allow a day or two for it to dry out fully and be ready for use.

What about paper conservation? This is a much slower process, as it involves the meticulous removal of water marks, brown spots (known as foxing) or other stains with vulcanised rubber. You fix tears by adding strips of fine Japanese paper to the back of your sheet before retouching its front.

Where do I sign up?Tunde Toth, a Hungarian-born papermaker who founded the Irish Paper Art Network (paperartnetwork@gmail.com), will give a workshop in traditional and contemporary papermaking on August 20th and a workshop in silk fibre papermaking on August 21st at the Studio, Bennetsbridge, Co Kilkenny; €75 per day or €130 for both days; 087-2543362, kozogallery.com, tundetothpaperart. blogspot.com.

Paper conserver Pat McBride will give a two-day workshop on making paper, on June 25th and 26th, at his Paper Conservation Studio, the Design Tower, Grand Canal Quay, Dublin 2; €250, including materials; 086-2451318. See thedesigntower.blogspot.com for other workshops held this month as part of the Design Tower Summer School.