I have been busy in Uvita, Costa Rica, during the second week of my art-in-residency at Le Diamant Vert with host Marie M’Ayala Saurat, choreographer and dance originally from France. I have cooked up and made pup from four local plants: Banana leaves, Corn husks, Shell Ginger leaves, and Red Hibiscus bark. I have succeeded in finding caustic soda (Sodium hydroxide) at the Uvita supermarket in the cleaning aisle and used for unstopping drains. I am trying it today and cooking some bark from an at present unknown tree that looks and acts a lot like mulberry or at least in the Moracae family, that is one of the best plant families for making handmade paper. I hope it turns out to be a good paper source as this tree is in Marie’s backyard and I also saw it in a vacant lot near the creek across from Marie’s place. Here is a photo of a leaf from this tree. I’m going to try and contact a local nursery to get some more information about this tree. It does appear to have green mulberry looking fruits on it too.

I’m also continuing to make paper with all four pulps mixed together now and also adding in some blue jean sheet pulp and abaca and Japanese kozo I brought with me in the suitcase.

Here are a few photos of some of the paper I have made in Costa Rica.