12 August 2015

Paper Making (Craft)

Chua, Mary Antoinette
Malinao, Hugh Lambert
Mercado, Armel Jay

1. Objectives of the Activity

- To be able to produce paper from leaves found in the locality
- To be able to sell the paper in the market competitively
- To apply different techniques in paper making

2. Historical Background
The paper originated from papyrus. Papyrus was used in Egypt, ancient Greece and
Rome for as early as 3000 BCE. Parchment or vellum replaced papyrus later on. China
introduced the first modern method of paper making. It is believed to that a Chinese
court official named Ts’ai Lun is behind the invention. He created a sheet of paper out of
mulberry, bast fibers and fishnets, hemp waste and old rags. It took long before other
countries were able to manufacture paper since China was reluctant to share the
procedure. In the 8th century, the laborious process of paper making was refined by
using machineries that were designed to mass produce.
The manufacture of paper remained relatively small until the 19 th century when it was
industrialized. They made paper using fibers from wood pulp wherein the Fourdinier
machine was used as basis for most modern craft of paper making. In 1807, the
machine was patented and it worked in a continuous process in France which produces
a continuous roll of paper. Newly innovated machineries provided an enlargement of the
web width and an increase of working speed by the second half of the 19 th century to
suffice the demand for papers. Then, the innovation in paper making increased rapidly
until now. Nowadays, paper can be impregnated, waxed, glazed, bent, folded, cut, torn,
creped, enameled, dissolved, molded, embossed, and twisted. The paper continuously
offers new applications and end-uses.

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3. Theoretical Background
Paper making involves the dilution of fiber suspension in water and draining this
suspension through a screen; a mat of interwoven fibers can then be produced. The
water from the dilute suspension is then removed from this mat by pressing.
The general process of manufacturing paper starts with the separation of useful fibers
from the raw materials. Secondly, the fiber is beaten down to pulp. Addition of special
chemical premixes can then be added to adjust the properties of paper. The resulting
solution is then screened, pressed and dried.
Separation of useful fibers starts with cooking, cleaning and beating once the raw
material for fiber is done making. The cooking and cleaning makes the quality of the fiber
better. Cleaning involves removing small particles of dirt and grit using screens.
The beating process helps the fibers to separate in the water. The refining process is
also called beating. This part is vital in the art paper making. The violent abrasive and
bruising action during beating opens up and declusts the fibers and making ends divide.
This part is called fibrillation. Fibers are now pliable with greater surface area that
improves the bonding of fibers.
The fairly damp fiber is then dried using a variety of methods; one example is simple
air drying. The individual sheet can be rolled to flatten, harden and refine the surface.
The paper can then be cut to the desired shape or the standard shape and packed.

4. Materials Needed
- 1500 g pandan leaves
- 300 g soda ash
- 7000 mL water
- 40 g starch (Zoy)
- 450 mL bleach

5. Equipment/Apparatuses Needed
- scissors
- mold (wooden frame with screen)
- deckle (8” x 10”)
- rolling pin
- sponge
- felt sheets

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 - mortar and pestle
- rectangular container (enough to fit the mold)
- spatula
- casserole
- heater
- rubber gloves

6. Workplan
The work was divided by the three members. The first member, Mr. Malinao, was
assigned to acquire enough pandan for the experiment and do the prelab activity of
cutting the leaves to 20 cm each and during the experiment, was assigned to blend the
leaves after the pulping and digestion. He was also assigned to transfer the finished
mixture to the molds to form the paper with the help of Mr. Mercado and Ms. Chua.
The second member, Mr. Mercado, was assigned to prepare the felt paper to be used
during the molding part of the experiment and the soda ash solution to be used in the
digestion part. He was also assigned to pulp and the digested leaves before blending
them and assigned to transfer the finished mixture to the molds to form the paper
together with Mr. Malinao and Ms. Chua.
The third member, Ms. Chua, was assigned to prepare the ingredients and materials
to be used for the experiment. She was also assigned with the binding agent solution to
be mixed to the digested leaves and was assigned to transfer the finished mixture to the
molds to form the paper together with Mr. Malinao and Mr. Mercado.

7. Definition of Terms
a. Couching – the process of transferring the wet sheet from the mold to another surface
to dry
b. Felts – couching sheets; pieces of material used to separate sheets of wet paper
while they dry
c. Mold and Deckle – frame used to make paper; bottom portion is mold including the
stiff mesh that the screen rests on; upper portion is deckle which determines the shape
and size of the paper
d. Pulp – the mix of water and plant fibers in which paper is made of

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8. Procedure
A. English Version
Pre-Lab Activities:
1. Cut the leaves into 20 cm. Soak overnight.
2. Add soda ash to water in a casserole. Bring nearly to a boil. Add the soaked leaves
and simmer, stirring and checking the fibers every 30 minutes until the fibers can be
separated by hand but not becoming mushy. Cool the fibers.
3. Rinse thoroughly until the water is clear.
Lab Activities:
1. Beat the cleaned fibers in a mortar and pestle. They are beaten until it becomes a
mass of separated fibers.
2. Fill a rectangular container with enough water to completely cover the mold.
3. Pour the pulp into the container and mix it with water. Add the starch and bleach.
4. Immerse the frame in the container, collect part of the fiber suspension and slowly
remove the frame draining water back to the tub.
5. Lift the deckle box and lay the felt on the wet sheet. Carefully turn over the felt, sheet
and mold. This is called couching.
6. Use a sponge to soak up any excess water.
7. Slowly lift the mold holding down the felt.
8. Place another felt paper on top and press with a rolling pin to remove any excess
moisture.
9. Stack the sheets, one on top of the other with felts between each sheet. Place a
heavy book on top to press them. Let it dry for hours or days.
10. If drying takes more than a day, change the felts once a day.
Post-Lab Activities:
1. When dried, remove the felts.

B. Cebuano Version
Mga Pangbuhaton bag-o Magsugod ang Buluhatunon sa Laboratoryo:
1. Putla ang mga dahon hantod mahimong 20 cm. Ihumol ug usa ka gabii.
2. Ibutang ang soda ash sa tubig nga naa sa kaldero. Inita hantod hapit na mubukal.
Ibutang ang mga dahon ug ipabukal samtang gahalo. Ipadayon hantod 3 – 4 ka oras.
Ipabugnaw.
3. Hugasi ug pamaayo hantod matin-aw ang tubig.

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Mga Buluhaton sa Laboratoryo:
1. Dukduki ang mga dahon gamit ang mortar ug pestle.
2. Pun-i ang usa ka butanganan ug sakto lang nga tubig para sa hulmahan nga gamiton.
3. Ibutang ang gidukduk nga dahon ug isagol sa tubig. Ibutang sad ang almirol ug
kloroks.
4. Ibutang sa tubig ang hulmahan para makakuha ug parte sa fiber suspension. Hinay-
hinayi ug saka ang hulmahan.
5. Isaka ang deckle ug ibalhin sa felt paper ang basa nga papel nga nahimo.
6. Kuhai ug ubang tubig ang basa na papel gamit ang espongha.
7. Tangtangi sa hulmahan ang papel.
8. Pagbutang ug lain nga felt paper sa taas sa basing papel dayon iduot gamit ang
rolling pin.
9. Ipatong-patong ang mga papel ug pagbutang ug bug-at nga libro taas ini. Ipauga ug
pila ka adlaw.
10. Kung mulapas ug usa ka adlaw ang pagpauga, ilisi ang felt sheets kausa sa usa ka
adlaw.
Mga Pangbuhaton human sa Buluhatunon sa Laboratoryo:
1. Kung mauga na, tangtanga ang mga felt paper.

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9. Schematic Diagram of the Procedure

Cutting of leaves into 20 cm Soaking of leaves overnight

Addition of soda ash to the

Washing and rinsing
leaves and boiling

Preparing the fiber

Beating of the fibers
suspension

Immersion of frame in the Addition of starch and

rectangular container, molding bleach
the paper

Couching or transferring of wet

Drying
sheets to the felt paper

Product Characteristics
The product’s brand is called Dr. Paper. The leaf used to produce this is from the
pandan plant. The dimensions of the paper produced is 8”x10”. The product also has a
brownish color and does not contain guidelines similar to intermediate paper. The
texture of the product is smooth and it’s easy to fold.

Applications
Paper is one of the wildly used materials for school, offices and all forms of
establishments worldwide. Paper’s usage could range from being a writing material to

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wrappers for gifts and other objects. In the household, papers could be used to make
cups, for writing, for bagging groceries or for reading.
In the industries, paper is used for smoothing wood or metal in the form of sand
paper. It could be used for car insulation, for filtering air, and for covering the walls.
Papers’ usage is not only limited to the industries and in the household; papers could
also be used for recreation and entertainment. For example, papers could be used to
make origami, paper dolls, puppets, party hats, stickers, streamers, etc.

10. Marketing Strategy

Paper can be a valuable content marketing tool. Its scope could stretch from
households to different business firms. The product may be sold to book shops, gift
shops, shops selling school supplies or different small businesses where selling paper is
of great asset.
For easy marketing, dealers and retailers will be contacted and may establish
partnership. This will assure the destination of the product. Discounts, flyers and
brochures will be made available to increase the popularity of the product.

11. Problems Encountered

There were so many problems encountered during this activity. Our product cost us a
week to finish. The first problem encountered was that the digestion process took us
almost two 4 hours in the laboratory. The first 4-hour digestion took place during our
group laboratory schedule last August 29, and the pandan leaves still wasn’t soft enough
for pulping so we decided to digest it again on the Saturday of the same week. On that
Saturday, we cleaned the leaves and digested it again for 2 and ½ hour. Although the
leaves weren’t that soft we proceeded to pulping since we were running out of time.
During blending, the pandan leaves were so long that it was so hard to blend. So, we cut
it using scissors and pulp it using the mortar and pestle.
We were then able to mold our papers on August 3 and let it dry. Another problem we
encountered during the molding was that we weren’t able to achieve our desired
thickness for the paper which is 0.07 mm. An attempt for the desired thickness will give
us a product that has lot of holes. Our paper also doesn’t have uniform thickness. The
dried paper also was slightly curled so we placed a heavy book on top of the paper to
straighten the paper.

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12. Product Yield/Costing

Ingredients Mass
Pandan Leaves 1500 g
Soda Ash 300 g
Starch 40 g
Bleaching Agent-
499.5 g
Zonrox (450 mL)
Total 2339.5
Table 1. Mass of Ingredients

In Table 1, the density of Zonrox is 1.11 g/mL.

It was found out that 210 grams of paper were produced after weighing it in a kitchen
balance.

Percent Yield ( ww ) %= MassMassof final product

of total initial materials
x 100 %

210 g
¿ x 100 %
2339.5 g

¿ 8.98 %

Price
Ingredients
(pesos)
Pandan Leaves 300
Soda Ash 6
Starch 6
Bleaching Agent-
17
Zonrox (450 mL)
Total 329

Table 2. Expenses for Paper Making

Computations for costing:

Profit=Total Revenue−Total Cost

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 15 peso x 210 grams
¿ −3 29 peso
12.5 grams

=-77 peso

No profit was gained. A loss of 77 peso is computed.

13. Conclusions and Recommendations

During the marketing stage, knowing the right places to find the necessary
ingredients is needed to save on costs in buying them. Buying pandan leaves in bulk
would be more efficient since it would cost lesser compared to buying them in small
amounts.
During the experiment stage, it is important to note that you are able to do pre-lab
activities that don’t involve chemicals in your home to save time in the lab like the
soaking step and cutting the leaves before digestion would reduce the amount of time
needed to make them soft in the digestion process. Lastly, preparing the right amount of
materials like felt paper would help save time in making them since you would not need
to go out and buy another set of rolls.

14. References
http://www.awagami.com/awawashi/process.html#boil. Date Retrieved: July 23, 2015
http://www.ehow.com/how_6968246_make-paper-out-leaves.html. Date Retrieved: July
23, 2015
Carboni, G. (2005). Making and Recycling Paper at Home. Date Retrieved July 23,
2015, from http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/paper/paper.htm#3
Hand Paper Making Inc. (2012). Cooking with Caustic. Retrieved on July 23, 2015, from
http://newsletter.handpapermaking.org/beginner/beg99.htm
Vigneault, F. (2015). Paper Making 101. Retrieved on July 23, 2015, from
http://makezine.com/projects/papermaking-101/