The would - be papermaker sometimes overlooks one or two obvious resources when embarking on the potentially expensive hobby . Rather than investing in costly linens , consider using corn husks from last Nox ’s dinner , or the browning hosta and iris pull up stakes from the weekend ’s yard work , as your papermaking fiber . This harvested " refuse , " combined with a simple nature base on balls , often yields all the material you demand to make composition . Keep in mind , however , that in papermaking , different works types often need dissimilar variety of processing after collecting .
Woody Bast Fibers
Some plants possess both an inner barque , called the phloem , which results in strong paper . When the interior barque comes from the stems and branches of woody plant , these woody bast fiber usually must be steamed , stripped and rinsed , then dry in ordering to recover the functional fiber . arboraceous bast stuff suitable for papermaking add up from the paper birch , blackberry bush and raspberry vine , dewberry , various elmwood tree diagram , fig , hazel nut , hibiscus , juniper , mulberry , linden and willow trees . Collect about 6 feet deserving of branches and stems , ideally with a diam of between ½ to 1 inch , for make 1 lb of newspaper .
Herbaceous Bast Fibers
Herbaceous bast fiber fibers follow from the inner stems of non - arboraceous perennials . Like woody bast fibers , most plants within this category need a sure amount of steaming , ransack , rinsing and drying . They admit flax , althaea , jute , milkweed , stinging nettle , thistle and tobacco .
Petiole Bast Fibers
Petiole bast fiber , the internal part of sure plants connected to the stalk , often requires a proficient bit of leaden - duty scraping to recover fibers for papermaking . Some banana plant life and laurel wreath contain desirable petiole bast fibre .
Leaf Fibers
Papermaker Helen Hiebert observe that the harder you ascertain it to tear a plant ’s leaves by hand , the more probable those leaves will give way strong papermaking cloth . The leaves can be easily cut from the plants in spring or fall , yielding green - tint composition in the former and brown in the latter . Most only need drying after they ’ve been gathered . Leaf fibers include the leaves of agave , canna lily , cattail leaves , daffodil , hosta , iris , pineapple , raphia Agave sisalana hemp and yucca . Yucca and sisal hemp need much more processing than the other plants on the list .
Grass Fiber
Most papermaking plants in the Gunter Grass fiber family appendage well , but a few , such as bamboo , require across-the-board shredding . Others chop up fairly easy for drying and processing . Good choices in this class admit cattail chaff , corn whisky husk , crab weed , Joe - pye green goddess , some ornamental grass , mugwort , surge and wheat straw . Hiebert estimates that 1 Lebanese pound of this stuff , when dry out , will yield 10 little sheets of paper , so ready to tote a lot of these works if you aim to make a lot of newspaper from them .
Seed Fibers and Other Materials
Some plants have fluffy seed head which understand well into newspaper publisher . They admit cotton , milkweed and thistle . Obviously , many plants are take to move over enough " fluff " for seed paper , but in you receive a playing field of thistle , that may not be a problem ! Seaweed , another readily available plant in some areas , requires little processing before being turned into paper .
