Handmade paper flower

Get the latest handmade paper flower here!

Handmade paper flower

Get the latest handmade paper flower here!

The technique of watercolor painting was born during the renaissance. Handmade paper flower is the ideal media for this technique; from the time watercolor was born and for several centuries afterwards, the only existing paper was "handmade paper", which remains the best paper for this form of expression.

From the second half of the 19th century, technical progress has made possible the manufacturing, on "in tondo" [circular] machines, a good imitation of handmade paper. Nonetheless, even today better-made machine paper is but an imitation of the handmade one.

The real "handmade paper" for watercolor must possess several characteristics, without duplication in machine based production:

All the four edges must be natural (called deckle edges): in handmade paper they are created by nature (they are left by the deckle used to form the sheet) while industrial papers are produced in rolls that are cut afterward (or ripped to imitate manual manufacturing). The manufacturers of industrial papers for watercolor try to maintain at least one natural side to give more value to their product. Handmade papers don't need these trickeries. Handmade paper flower fibers have no prevalent direction, because the plant particles that compose it have not been forced by the circular motion of the machine to take a particular direction. The surface is natural, as the sheet comes out fom the hands of the "master papermaker" and is particularly "soft" to the touch.

Other features that any paper for watercolor should have, whether manufactured by hand or machine:

The ph should be neutral, normally 7, so that the paper is resistant to mold and remains unchanged over time. The raw material should be of 100% natural fibers, preferably cotton. Often industrial papers have only a small percentage of cotton because, for cost reasons, a part is added, sometimes predominant, of less valuable cellulose, industrially extracted from trees. Sizing (glue) should be homogeneous, both on the surface and inside the sheet, to avoid uncontrolled absorption of water-based colors by the fibers.

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