New Class Added – My Kozo/Japanese Papermaking Class on March 22, 2025, is already full, so I am adding another class the following Saturday, March 29, for more people who are interested in learning Japanese hand papermaking techniques and using Kozo fibers.  The wonderful exhibition at the Sonoma Valley Museum, “Book Becoming Art” has generated lots of interest in Japanese papermaking!  

Celebrating Kozo – Exploring Japanese Papermaking 

Dates:  Saturday, March 29, 10 am to 4 pm

Class Fee:  $175 (includes materials and equipment)

Instructor:  Jane Ingram Allen

Location:  Jane’s home and studio, 5017 Maiden Lane, Santa Rosa, CA 95409 (in the Rincon Valley area on Santa Rosa’s Northeast side).

Jane’s Cell Phone:  857-234-2432 

Website:  https://janeingramallen.wordpress.com

Email:  info@janeingramallen.com

Description of the class:

Learn to make paper with Japanese Kozo (paper mulberry bark) and other plant fibers in the Japanese way to create unique handmade paper that can be super thin but still very strong and used for everything from clothing to sculpture.  This class will use some of the Kozo fiber I order from Mino City, Japan, where I was an artist in residence for 3 months in 1999 and returned in 2009.  Also, other locally-available Mulberry tree fibers and various plant fibers will be used in the Japanese way to create unique handmade paper.  We will use an authentic sugeta (wooden frame and bamboo woven screen) as well as Western molds & deckles (wooden frames and nylon screening) and formation aid from powdered polyethylene oxide and from okra juice. The class will cover preparing fiber, preparing the vat, adding formation aid, various ways of sheet forming and drying handmade papers as well as creative and unique ways to use the long fibers of the paper mulberry and other plants. Information about getting kozo fibers and a Japanese-style sugeta as well as growing and gathering your own fibers for Japanese papermaking will be shared in this workshop.  No experience required, but some papermaking experience will be helpful. 

To register for the class:  Send check or money order for the class fee by mail to Jane Ingram Allen, 5017 Maiden Lane, Santa Rosa, CA 95409, or pay the fee with a credit card using PayPal (www.paypal.com) and send money to info@janeingramallen.com   Class size is limited to five people!  Jane will contact you by email as soon as your money is received, and she will be in touch to send complete instructions for the class and handouts as we get closer to the date.