Making Paper Postcards at Guan Xin Paper Factory
Putting the colors on the postcards
Since young I have been very interested to learn how make paper . I had always been intrigued to know the process which creates the material that we use heavily on a daily basis.
During the December trip to Taiwan we had the opportunity to create our own unique postcards from scratch.
capturing the pulp using the metal casements.
The kids had to first put the metal casement through the big containers of pulp. These casements would trap the pulp and compact them together.
Monkey boy looking at the amount of pulp collected on the metal casements
Soaking the metal trays again to “trap” more pulp
The kids had to repeat this process a few times to ensure that there is sufficient pulp collected on the case.
Putting some decoration on the piece of paper
Once the piece of paper was formed it was time to remove it from the frame and place it on the work area. The kids were given pressed leaves and colored ink to decorate their papers.
The kids at work
Our art work.
After the pieces of papers were decorated they were laid on a shelve before being stack all up to go into the press.
Placing the papers in a press to squeeze out all the excess water
Monkey boy turning the press
It required quite a bit of physical strength to turn the wheel to compress the pieces of paper that were clamp between the pieces of wood. It needed a bit of coordination work to ensure that the press didn’t move around too much while Monkey boy was turning the wheel. In the end we left it to the instructor to ensure that all the excess water was squeezed out of the papers.
Drying the pieces of paper on a hot press
After putting the papers through press it was time to dry it fully. I can’t remember off hand the temperature that this hot press was at but it was certainly quite hot as I could see steam escaping from under the paper when it was placed on it.
The instructor carefully removing the pieces of paper which were dry
It was a really fun and interesting experience to create a handmade postcard. It was a lot of work but certainly a memorable experience for all.
Have you made your own handmade postcards before?
地址： 南投縣埔里鎮鐵山里鐵山路310號
TEL：049-291-3037
