On Saturday, Feb. 24, students in my “Exotic Fibers for Hand Papermaking” workshop learned to make handmade paper using 8 different plant fibers: kozo (Paper mulberry tree bark from Japan), lotka (Daphne bush bark from Nepal), abaca (a banana relative fiber from the Philippines), blue jean (cotton pulp from old recycled blue jeans), cedar (bark from cedar trees on the Oregon coast), eucalyptus (bark from local eucalyptus trees), Sitka spruce (bark from Sitka spruce trees on the Oregon coast) and Sitka sedge and beach grass (leaves from grass and wetlands plants along the Oregon coast). Students in the class were very creative and experimented with many different fibers and techniques. They learned to form sheets using the Japanese method with formation aid and multiple dips into the vats. Here are some photos of the workshop taken by my husband Timothy S. Allen (https://alltentimphotos2.wordpress.com)
Here are also some photos taken by one of the workshops participants, Tina Hittenberger, showing the hand beating of eucalyptus bark fiber on my Craig’s list-purchased table and the Japanese papermaking sugeta ( bamboo screen and wooden frame) that I got in Mino City, Japan, when I was an artist in residence at the Mino Paper Art Village Project in 1999-2000. Tina also took some photos of the handmade paper artworks hanging to dry at the studio on Saturday.
I will be offering other hand papermaking workshops during the summer at my Santa Rosa studio, the Studio Santa Rosa, 3740 Finley Ave., Santa Rosa, CA. Keep watching this Blog for announcements about future papermaking workshops, or contact me by email at info@janeingramallen.com
Jane Ingram Allen Art Projects 
I can’t wait to get out there where you are, Jane… Still waiting on that apartment to open up in San Pedro… Mimi ❤
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Hi Mimi, So nice to hear from you, and stay in touch to let me know when you get out to California! It was fun teaching in my own studio and not having to move everything!
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Hi Mimi,
Thanks so much, and it was fun teaching in my own studio without having to move everything around! Do let me know when you get out to California!
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I know it surely must be, Jane… I bet you have felt like the “children of Israel” with your wanderings across the world, making paper wherever with whatever and making do with “equipment” of the typical kitchen. You have always done an amazing job “making do” wherever you are. It is wonderful and deserving that you now have your own studio and place to teach and pass along this ancient art… I will stay in touch!
Mimi
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Looks like a great class, with some beautiful paper! Love the ‘beating table’!
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Thank you! That beating table was a real find in the local Craig’s List. It seems to be handmade and very sturdy and ideal height for beating fibers while sitting on a stool or chair. Also, it’s a real work of art!
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