June 28th and 29th, From Plant to Paper, with Gail Stiffe - MEMBERS
Gail Stiffe
From Plant to Paper
Paper making with Plant Fibres
A 2 day, weekend workshop.
28th and 29th of June, 11am - 3pm.
Firestation Print Studio back room and acid room
$295 / $255 members
Maximum of 8.
Day 1
Learn how to select common garden plants and weeds into paper. Learn techniques for harvesting,
preparation, cooking, beating and sheet forming. Paper can be made from cumbungi, NZ Flax, grasses, red
hot poker and many barks. This session will be spent preparing and cooking fibre from Mulberry bark and
ginger lily. Other pre-cooked fibres will be processed in preparation for making paper on the second day. The
class is suitable for beginners and those who have done some papermaking.
Day 2
Learn to make sheets of paper from the pulps prepared on day one. You will learn what additives can be
added to the vats to ease sheet formation, various ways to press and dry the papers and how to add
dimension.
What to bring
Plastic apron (day 1)
Wooden or rubber mallet or a 60cm long piece of thick dowel (3-4 cm diam) (day 1)
Secateurs and scissors (day 1)
A piece of thick plywood (2-3 cm thick and about 30 x40 cm) an old cupboard door would suffice or an off-
cut of laminate. You will be using it to beat the fibre on. (day 1)
10 pieces of sheeting or other smooth fabric approx 30 x 40 b (day 2)
2 pieces of fibro cement approx 1m square (optional)(day 2)
A clean paint roller standard size (20+cm) (day 2)
ABOUT GAIL STIFFE
Gail started her creative life in knitting and crocheting before discovering hand papermaking in the early 1980’s. Quickly becoming addicted to hand papermaking and the many possibilities it offers for creative expression led to a build up of paper supplies that in turn led her to investigate bookbinding as a way of presenting her work. She hasn’t looked back since then and her books are held in many public and private collections.
Gail has held several solo exhibitions and participated in many group shows both in Australia and overseas. She is currently President of Papermakers of Victoria and has been both President and Bulletin editor for the International paper association IAPMA and convened the Australian Women’s Art Register. She has had a web presence since 1997 and her current websites are www.gailstiffe.info and www.papergail.blogspot.com.
Although she has been making paper and books for over forty years she still finds joy in discovery of new structures and effects. Her work has appeared in several International books and magazines and she designed two books Lark Books’ “Eco Books”.
