I shred a lot of documents and I reuse the paper by making my own paper.
Approximate Time:
Supplies:
- shredded or torn paper
- water
- 2 plastic pans
- blender
- plastic canvas any size
- sponge
- pieces of white felt
Instructions:
- Use a blender dedicated to just crafts. Fill the blender with paper. Fill with water. Blend until all the paper is just mush.
- Pour into a large flat plastic pan. (An unused kitty litter pan is just the right size.)
- Put the plastic canvas in the pan under the paper pulp. Lift out and set the covered canvas in the other pan and let drain.
- Take the damp sponge and press the water out of the pulp.
- Turn the canvas upside down so the pulp will come off in a sheet.
- Dry. I usually set in front of a fan to speed drying.
- When the paper is partially dry, you can use felt as layers between sheets and set a weight on top of stack of sheets to get a stronger paper.
Variations:
- You can add pieces of dried flowers, weeds, grasses, herbs, any thing into the pulp while in the blender. Blend the additions just a little if they are already small.
- I also like to separate different colors of paper white, blue, yellow, pink, etc.
- You can add a little liquid starch to pulp water to strengthen the paper.
By Nightsong from Hay Capitol of the World