I cooked Japanese paper material alongside the curry.
It may be difficult to imagine making Japanese washi paper at home, but it is not so wired.
Especially if it is the old way, like the way it was done in the Edo period, it is surprisingly realistic since it does not require machines or chemicals.
Washi can of course be used for writing and drawing, and its thinness can also be used for various crafts such as lighting. Above all, paper making itself is a very enjoyable process.
However, even in the simple process of making washi, the process of boiling the raw materials, cooking is a bit of a hurdle to overcome at home. It needs to be cooked in alkaline water, and in Kamikoya we use slaked lime, which is relatively safe and produces good quality paper, but even so, it is not something that can be found in an ordinary home.
So we tried an experiment of cooking with baking soda, an alkaline substance that is most likely to be found in the kitchen of an ordinary household. In this post, I will report the results.
In the first place, how do you make Japanese paper?
If you are wondering how to make washi, a PDF file “Kamikoya way of Japanese papermaking” will be sent to those who have registered for our e-mail newsletter. It is free of charge, so please register here and get your copy.
Washi material can be cooked with baking soda.
From the conclusion, it is possible to boil with baking soda and make Japanese paper!
It became a definite handmade Japanese paper.
The good thing is that the beauty of the fiber has not been lost. The luster is still there.
Note that the fibers will never be completely loosened, and the paper will still contain bundles of fibers.
Work steps
Let’s take a look at how it was made.
This is where it all began
Although the melting of the fiber was not perfect, I found that it would be finished into unmistakable Japanese paper. From here, there are various ways to devise the direction of the paper you want to make.
In addition, the remaining theme is the formation agent, Neri, which is added to water with fiber. At Kamikoya, we use tororoaoi, but this is not something that can be easily obtained at home. Since tororoaoi is a type of okra, I would like to experiment with making neri with okra next.
Of course, you have to have the tools. If you can’t imagine making paper at home at all, please watch this video. How to become an artist right now. It is in Japanse but you can get some ideas.
Please let us know what kind of paper you want to make
If you were to make washi at home, what kind of washi would you like to make?
The technique of traditional handmade washi is deep and can go in many different directions. We can say, there are so many directions that it is hard to know which way to move.
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