2-day washi (Japanese paper) workshop in Tosa, Kochi, with Inoue-sensei (https://www.tosawashi-inoue.net). Shown here scraping the skin off kozo (paper mulbery) bark. These are then boiled in an alkaline solution until soft, then rinsed thoroughly. They are then picked clean (chiri-tori) to remove nikawa (hard and dark spots on the bark) and impurities.
The cleaned fiber is then thoroughly pounded with mallets. The pulp is added to a vat with water and tororo aoi neri (mucous extracted from roots, used to evenly suspend the fiber in the water).
Using specially made screens, paper can be created by tamesuki and nagashisuki.
In tamesuki, thick paper is made by plunging the metal screen with wooden frame into the vat, scooping up fiber, distributing it by shaking quickly and briefly, repeated as desired for increasing thickness, then allowing the water to drain through and the pulp to settle. Then the paper is pressed from the screen onto a stack, each layer often separated by a sheet of synthetic cloth.
In nagashizuki, a suketa frame is used. "Su" refers to the screen, made from thin reeds or bamboo and a cloth strengthened with kakishibu (persimmon tannin), and "keta" refers to the frame, made of wood and/or bamboo which holds the screen. The suketa is plunged into the vat and pulp liquid is distributed across the screen, allowing the water to splash off the edges. This is repeated a number of times according the thickness of paper desired, then the frame is removed and the screen taken off. The paper is then stacked sheet upon sheet, again, often separated by a synthetic cloth or string.
The freshly made paper is then pressed in a hydraulic press, or by heavy stones, increasing pressure gradually over a period of time so as not to damage the paper. After pressing, the paper sheets are separated and dried either on wooden boards in the sun or on a metal apparatus that is heated from the inside by steam. This picture shows a sheet of nagashisuki paper I made, which we took to be inscribed upon by a local priest in Tosa, then made into a hanging scroll.
Here I am spinning washi into thread. I mentioned to Inoue-sensei that I wanted to learn how to do this so she took me to a friend of hers, Oono-san who showed me the process. A large sheet of washi is folded, cut with a craft knife, torn into one continuous long strip, then spun. The spun paper is wound onto a large bobbin then steamed to set the twist.
On the right is the thread I made with Oono-san on the spinning wheel, and on the left is my personal attempt to spin washi using a homemade spindle (knitting needle and coin).
Nagashisuki paper made with Inoue-sensei.
Tamesuki paper made in Ino, Kochi with fellow traveler Barbara, under the tutelage of Parisian artist duo, Emma and Gaga. From left, one sheet dyed with cherry tree leaves, one sheet dyed with cherry tree bark, undyed sheet, and thinner sheet made using rakusui technique (dropping water onto freshly made paper to create pattern in the pulp).
Kite made from our Tamesuki paper, reinforced with frame made from kozo sticks, shoji screen paper, and craft glue.