Papermaking - day 3

Onion paper

Back to London today for day 3 of the Papermaking course.  This is my kind of holiday.  I might be exhausted by the end of each day but my sense of achievement and excitement with what I have learnt makes it all worth while.
Over the last month or so I have been collecting the skins from the onions I cook with.  Last night I boiled them with washing soda for a couple of hours and this morning I mashed them up in a blender and made beautiful paper with them.  As everyone had used a different plant fibre I got to try out all sorts including green tea and rushes.

Layering colours

The whole day was spent playing with textures and colour.  I love the combination of purple and green layered above.
I also made my first A4 sheets using my own mould and deckle.  Sadly its too big to fit in my vats (washing up bowls) so I will have to get bigger vats and smaller mould and deckles. I feel a list coming on.
Tomorrow we start to look at Japanese papers, so learn a new technique.  I can't wait.