Hemp Paper Update

   I ended up cooking the hemp fiber in the washing soda for 4 hours yesterday evening. That seemed to be the suggested time from what I had read online. I decided to let it set in the hot water solution til this morning.
   Early this morning I rinsed it well, and then just covered it with warm water. I needed to drive into town to put gas in the car and pick up a few fresh fruits and veggies before the weekend.
   Of course we were 90 degrees f by noon again today and 95 for the high plus humidity heat index-not my favorite weather-I needed to get corn in for the wildlife too.

  About an hour ago I decided I wanted to try a couple sheets of paper and see what happens.
   I had bought a bag of cotton rag-it is cut very very fine and one is to add it to your paper pulp. I didn't catch the part where it said to just add a pinch.  I was going for allot more since I want to dye these papers.
     As I whirled everything up with water in my craft dedicated blender the cotton pieces just all clumped together in globs of cotton fiber-ugh not happy about that at all. 
   So I fished all that out and whirled the hemp fiber more. The hemp fibers did not totally break down although it is quite soft-I think the next batch I will cut the hemp roving into much smaller lengths. I did cut it small but I am going to cut so it is just really really short fibers next time.
   One can dip into the pulp or pour over the mold to make the paper sheets. I have learned that just kinda depends on the pulp you are using.
  My first piece turned out really nice-although thinner than what I was going for. I dipped in-didn't work as well so then I poured over. However for my second sheet the pour over didn't work out as even over the sheet-this sheet will be an art paper for sure. 
   I am going to kinda dip in and swish the pulp water into the deckle next time.
   This paper making will go slower than say a paper pulp that goes pretty fast and easy. My corn husks papers were very time consuming to make-the dried grass papers actually worked up really nice and easy-but I am thinking these will be a bit slower to accomplish.

   I can not believe how soft these papers are. They feel like cloth.

What do I need to improve upon:   I need to get my papers thicker for my eco dye project, and work on getting smoother sheets like my first paper.
      I may just see if I can cut these wet hemp fibers smaller before blending them-that just popped into my head lol

Some photos: click to enlarge to full size

Hemp fibers cooking in washing soda water solution

Strained out Hemp fibers

The fibers need to be rinsed in cool water very well-I love this old vintage strainer-I found it years ago at a farm garage sale-it became my dedicated craft strainer-it's heavy stainless steel-love it.

I put the fibers to one side of the strainer after rinsed and then fluffed them up a bit before I covered them again with cool water til I was able to work them up into papers--my frig is soooo full that there is no room in there-so I will just change the water evening and morning til all worked up into papers

Very pleased with this first sheet-you can see some of those little stems that I left in

This second sheet came out a bit thinner in spots-and you can also see the "clump" of fiber lower middle of paper  art paper ha ha

I was surprised how white these are considering this is only hemp which is a tan color
  I just showed Hubs these two papers and he was quite impressed and loves the second one with the textures. He is familiar with hemp rope making.

Stay tuned

mini update:
       I did just try another paper-- cutting the hemp fibers with a sharp scissors into the blender water-cut it very small.  I got a thicker paper although still thin in spots I need to really look at the pulp better on the deckle-the textures came from some textures from my blotting papers I hadn't noticed-grasses from last batch  Its been another long hot day today-I think I will make one more sheet and work on the rest tomorrow-when I am more fresh

4th sheet tonight was the "charm"  cut the wet fibers much smaller again, added just a pinch of cotton rag fibers-blended longer and at the highest setting-never needed to do that before - best sheet of the night
     happy dancing 
I think this calls for a bowl of chocolate mint ice cream ha ha