Making Paper Called a ‘Recycler’s Dream’

The Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus will be hosting a workshop in September on the ancient practice of making paper.

Stories of how paper making started vary but most agree it was the Chinese who started it, said a VAC release on the workshop. The Chinese created sheets of paper using mulberry and other bast fibers along with fishnets, old rags, and hemp waste.

Centuries later people still use old letters, newspapers, and rags to make paper the “old fashioned” way, said the release. Any fiber that can be changed by maceration or disintegration can be used to make paper — even lint from your dryer.

“Paper making is truly a recycler’s dream,” said the VAC release.

Paper-making instructor Lisa Louise Adams will hold a Paper Making workshop 10 a.m.to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus.

Cost for the workshop is $60 for VAC members and $70 for non-members. There is also a $25 supply fee, and those who come should wear clothing that can get wet.

The workshop will teach you how to make the pulp, make your paper and embellish it with different elements and techniques. Adams will supply all the materials.

Adams is a painter, potter, printmaker, bookmaker, papermaker, jeweler, poet and quilter in Volcano whose work has been displayed in exhibitions around the world for more than 20 years. She works at her Spiral Triangle Studios and teaches art in schools and workshops throughout Hawaii.

The Volcano Art Center is a non-profit educational organization created in 1974 to promote, develop, and perpetuate the artistic and cultural heritage of Hawai‘i’s people and environment through activities in the visual, literary, and performing arts. Visit www.volcanoartcenter.org for information.