Paper Pulp Experiments

A while back I saw a video of someone making paper out of grass. It looked messy and fun. I built a deckle, blended some grass, and pressed a few sheets. The paper came out textured and earthy-smelling — not great for drawing on, so I put it to one side.

Later, while planning a trip to Mexico, I came across amate cut-outs — folk art characters cut from bark paper. That’s when I realised the paper didn’t have to be a surface — it could be the artwork itself.

I folded my grass paper in half and cut out a monster.

After that, I experimented making paper with whatever I could find — I waded into tidal pools to collect seaweed, picked nettles with gloved hands, and made dozens of unique papers using materials from the kitchen cupboards, garden, and recycling bin treasure.

This ongoing project is a celebration of transformation: from something into pulp, pulp into paper, paper into monsters.