Sycamore Bark Paper Additive

June 30-July 4, 2010

     The last week of June, the sycamore trees began shedding their bark and it was everywhere, especially on the public trails.  So we went collecting to determine of what value the bark would be to papermaking. It is far too brittle to made into complete sheets, but makes a wonderful additive to cotton pulp to make cotton sheets. In a bit of festive patriotism, we used cotton pulp that had been dyed red (but really came out closer to pink), cotton pulp that was bleached white and recycled cotton blue jean pulp. All paper was pulled on July 4th. 


Recipe and more images after the jump.

Materials:

1 lb dry bark

shed sycamore bark, collected on the MKT trail first ½ mile on June 26th

Process:

Prep:

soaked dry bark in 2 gal water overnight for 24 hours

Cook:

brought 2 gal water and 1 lb bark to a boil on high

after 20 minutes, added roughly 3 ½ oz soda ash to water and bark

turned heat down to medium-low

cooked fiber for 2 hours

let bark rest in pot overnight to cool

Pulping:

rinsed bark until water ran clear

beat bark in a standard-size blender (5.5 cup capacity)

11 batches of fiber beat as follows

    2 cup bark, 5 cups water for 30 sec on 7 (Liquify)

    2 cup bark, 4 cups water for 10 sec on 7 (Liquify)

    2 cup bark, 3 cups water for 6 sec on 7 (Liquify)

    2 cup bark, 2 ½ cups water for 10 sec on 7 (Liquify)

    2 cup bark, 2 ½ cups water for 10 sec on 7 (Liquify)

    2 cup bark, 2 ½ cups water for 15 sec on 7 (Liquify)

    2 cup bark, 2 ½ cups water for 15 sec on 7 (Liquify)

    2 cup bark, 2 ½ cups water for 15 sec on 7 (Liquify)

    4 cup bark, 4 ½ cups water for 20 sec on 7 (Liquify)

    4 cup bark, 4 ½ cups water for 20 sec on 7 (Liquify)

    4 cup bark, 4 ½ cups water for 30 sec on 7 (Liquify)

    4 cup bark, 4 ½ cups water for 30 sec on 7 (Liquify)

Paper-Making:

added beaten bark to three different cotton pulps:

    white cotton pulp

    cotton pulp dyed pink/red

    cotton pulp made from blue jeans

pulled 35 sheets 10” x 10” of varying thicknesses with a varied amount of bark additive

pulled sheets were pressed under 60 lbs of weight for 2 weeks

after pressing, sheets were moved to dry felts and left to dry

Expectations:

Chunks of brown bark on the surface of the paper.

Observations:

Bark tended to sink to the bottom of the vat, so much stirring was needed before pulling. Alternatively, if little bark was wanted in the paper but the vat already included bark, the water in the vat could be left to rest and stirred lightly before pulling.

Conclusions:

Sycamore bark makes a wonderfully beautiful addition to handmade paper. Shed bark cannot be made into paper on it's own.

References:

Experience

Other notes:

Used this opportunity to teach two friends how to make paper.