This is a great way to recycle used paper into something pretty and useful. It’s a fun project that can be done indoors or out. Paper making kit area available online and in craft stores, but this article is about doing it without buying extra equipment.
You will need:
- Newspapers, used notebook paper, construction paper, printer paper-any non-glossy scrap paper
- A bowl
- Water
- A mesh, a screen or a “splatter guard”
- Seeds – Small and tiny seeds are best for plantable seed paper, particularly if you plan to write on them. Seeds that work the best are flower seeds, a wildflower mix, or even herbs and vegetables (https://bluecatpaper.com/plantable-cards-paper-facts)
- Optional: an old blender (Your blender may not be safe for food after using it to make paper.)
- Optional: Dried flowers, food coloring, fruit and vegetable dyes
Making Paper
- Tear up your paper into small pieces. You can use your hands, a hole punch, or scissors.
- Soak your paper in a bowl of water for a few hours or overnight. Waiting is hard! But this is an important step so that the next step goes smoothly.
- When your paper has softened, use your hands to massage it and squeeze it into a pulp. Continue to mash your pulp until it is unrecognizable as paper.
- Drain any excess water from your pulp mixture. Do not squeeze out or remove all the water from the pulp. Just drain any water in the bottom of the bowl.
- Add your seeds and gently mix them into the pulp.
Optional: add any food coloring, natural “dyes” like beet juice, flower petals, or decorations and mix in.
- Hold your screen over a sink, a bowl or a towel. Spread the paper pulp over your screen and gently press it into a flat sheet. Try to squeeze out as much water as you can without disturbing your sheet of paper. You can also gently blot it with a towel.
Optional: Use cookie cutters to make shapes in the paper pulp. (You can also cut the paper into shape after it dries.)
- Allow the paper to dry. Once it is dry you can lift it off the screen. This takes a while! Be patient.
- Once you’re ready, plant your paper under a shallow layer of soil and keep it moist. Seeds should begin to germinate in a few weeks.
NOTES:
If you use newspapers only, you will get gray paper. Using a mix of newspaper and copy paper makes a lighter colored paper. Junk mail is also a good source of lighter colored paper – just don’t use the glossy or slick pieces.
Newsprint will make your hands black – and may stain clothes. Wearing an apron or an old shirt is a good idea.
If you have an old blender, you can soak your paper for ten minutes and then blend it into a pulp. Warning: This might ruin your blender. Most paper does not contain toxic materials, but it’s best if you use a blender you don’t plan on using for food.
www.nesdis.noaa.gov/about/k-12-education
by Lea Sandoz, ECMG