I had no idea it was so easy to make paper! Our Christmas Elf, Elfie, writes all our Christmas Elf Letters and Birthday letters from the North Pole on 100% recycled paper, so we’re naturally very keen on the whole homemade paper ‘thing’. Particularly when this homemade paper is made from paper that needs recycling!
I found a great recipe for it over on naturallyfrugalmom.com which I’ve adapted slightly, and as well as producing a beautifully rustic end product, the process is lovely and sensory too.
What you need:
- 4 Cups of shredded or torn paper
- 1 + 1/2 Cup of water
- Fine mesh sieve / strainer / cheesecloth
- Newspaper
- Baking Sheet
Optional – essential oil, food colouring dried flowers, rose petals or poppy seeds
What you do:
- Add the paper and the water (1/2 a cup of water at a time to stop it splattering everywhere!) to a food processor and pulse it until it’s a fine pulp. The pulp should be quite soggy.
- Run the pulp through the strainer but keep enough water to make it easy to spread and stick together.
- Mix any essential oil (e.g. lavender), dried flowers or seeds you want to use to the pulp.
- Place 3-5 sheets of newspaper over the baking sheet to absorb all the water.
- Spread the evenly pulp across the newspaper until it’s as even and smooth as you’d like your finished product to be and put the whole tray somewhere warm to dry (I put ours in the oven at 130 degrees for 15-20 mins to give it a head start).
- When it’s almost dry but still has a dampness to it, push it down with the heel of your hand to make the surface smoother.
- Once it’s dry (could be up to a day) carefully peel the newspaper away from your homemade paper and cut / rip it to the size and shape you’d like.
- Enjoy painting, colouring, sticking or writing on it!
We sent Grandpa a letter written on our handmade paper and popped one of the gorgeous suncatchers we’d made here into the envelope!
I’ve read this already and know I’ve commented but it doesn’t seem to be here 🙁 good thing I’m slightly obsessed with your blog and pop back to see if I’m missing anything 😉
Love this and it’s such a great idea. Will be trying this. Thanks for linking up with us on the #bigfatlinky hope to see you there this week
Oh! I wonder where it’s gone. I’m so sorry. Ha ha thank you for your lovely comment and yes do try it – lots of lovely squelchy fun!
I know that Jen taught this to the children at school and they loved it. Thank you for sharing #bigfatlinky
Oh I bet – it’s even fun for us grownups!
What a great idea and kids would love it. Great activity for schools too for eco week x. #bigfatlinky
Wow, this is so crafty! And doesn’t seem too hard to do either, I’m really impressed. That paper would make excellent North Pole stationary! #brilliantblogposts x
Oh I know – I absolutely love it. I want someone to make a pile of it just for me and bundle it up with some sisal! Elfie currently writes on recycled paper with elephant poo in, which is just as lovely but the North Pole printers cope with it better ;).
This is a revelation – I would never have thought of making homemade paper but now I can’t wait to give it a go. And I love that you can add scents or flowers to make it unique. Thanks for sharing – what a great idea.
Honestly it’s so easy and I love love the final result – you could easily make a few pages and tie them up in pretty ribbon to make a lovely present 🙂