Making Paper

I have been saving up mail for about 5 years now. Most of it contains sensitive info - mostly bills, statements and the like. My thinking was that I would "someday" get a shredder and dispose of them properly. I didn't, BUT even better, I am turning all this mail into - my own paper!

First the time consuming step of ripping up all that paper - this is definitely a work in progress as my shoe box full of old bills yields bags and bags of ripped paper.  The soaking the paper in batches, followed by pulping...

As it turns out, pulped paper looks remarkably like fruit smoothies. Once the paper is pulped I have been using a screen to pull sheets, slap them on the counter and then use scrap paper for decorative bits. They squeezing out the water, flattening, and drying.

and VOILA! finished paper. So many more bills to pulp, but I think there are lots of possibilities for making art with this paper- both in the process of paper making and with my own paper being the foundation of new drawings and paintings.