Handmade Paper in a Stockholm School

Today we share the work of Ann Juuse. Originally from Estonia, Ann lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. She participated in our handmade paper workshop this past June and recently experimented with the pour-in method of papermaking with her students. We are happy to reach more and more corners of the world an inspire people to develop sustainable practices in art and art education. 

"When I was setting it up I was simply trying to make it as free as possible for the kids. I fixed the boxes and made the working environment that would be inspiring for the kids but also easy to understand. "

"I explained what we were going to do and why. My students thought it was really exciting to blend different papers and see the results of mixing various colours of paper."

We tried with different amounts of paper in search for a good balance, so some sheets we made were thicker than others."

"They were all very patient and careful when doing it but also meticulous. They were really eager to get it as a paper and some of them thought it was too beautiful to use it and wanted to frame it at home."

"I couldn’t find any good spots to hang them up in our classroom, so I improvised lying them down on towels and flipped them over during the day so they would dry evenly. That seemed to have worked out fine. I also put some boxes on them later so they would stay flat."

"There was a kid who said that this should definitely be a part of the art class."

"There were six kids who got to make paper. It’s not many but we sure did take time to figure it out and understand the process. I’ll be working with another group of kids next year and they’ll be younger. I am definitely planning to do it with them and next time will try to blend the recycled paper with more materials from nature."