Welcome
to the ever expanding world of Papier Mache,
you will see in the following pages examples of early Papier
Mache and read facts about Papier Mache that not many people
know and few believe are true. The aim of this site is to communicate
the versatility of both the material - paper - and the techniques
of decoration. Paper is a wonderful invention, which people
usually take for granted. This attitude is probably the result
of familiarity - Paper is so much a part of every day life that
one does not stop to consider either how it is made, what it
is made from or the many ways in which it is used.
Paper
can be defined as a substance made from cellulose fibres extracted
from rags, wood or straw and formed into thin flat sheets. Sometimes
additives are included in the paper pulp, depending on its final
use and the manner of its making. Most of the paper in general
use today is machine made. The paper is formed when the pulp comes
into contact with a rotating mesh cylinder and is then passed
over a series of rollers along a moving belt - draining and drying
the length of paper prior to cutting it into sheets. Hand made
paper is formed on a 'mould', drained on a bed of felt and left
to dry in a pile with other sheets. It is for this reason that
it is important to know how the paper has been made - Handmade
paper does not have a grain direction, as the fibres are evenly
shaken on the 'mould'; in machine made papers the fibres settle
in the direction of the moving belt. With a little basic knowledge
and some experience one can soon develop an appreciation of the
various qualities of paper and an understanding of the papers
reaction to different treatments. For example, a sheet of hand
made paper has a completely feel to a sheet of machine made paper
with a very smooth 'Hot Press' finish - Two such dissimilar papers
could not be used for the same project.
