Materials Needed

• blender (do not use same one as for food)
• white paper (I bought white drawing pads at the dollar store)
• colorant (I used dyes meant for making soap - from Michael's - because it was the perfect colour. If you can be flexible with the colour for each batch, try food colouring)
• spoon
• 1 large bowl
• pot pourri (or dried flowers, leaves, tiny twigs, etc.)
• large basin ( I used a basin used in darkroom photo printing because I already had it. Any basin that is deep enough to dip in your mold & deckle will do)
• mold & deckle (see below)
• window screening
• felt sheets (I bought mine at the dollar store. I used 12 sheets per batch but wish I had bought twice that amount. They need to be larger than your intended sheet of paper. I recommend buying the colour that closest resembles your paper as some fibers stick to the paper)
• (4) 12X12 inch boards of hard, non-warping wood (they can be smaller, but again they need to be bigger than your paper size)
• 2 c-clamps (make sure they're big enough to handle your wood boards AND the paper AND the felt sheets)
• a drying surface ( I used my clothes drying rack with the extra window screening placed over)
• sponge

Mold & Deckle

• I bought (2) 5X7 wood picture frames from the dollar store and some window screening (the finest pores you can find). Remove and discard all the glass and paper from the frames, leaving just the wood frame itself.
• cut a piece of the screening just larger than the frame
• using a staple gun, staple the screening tight across the flat side (the back) of 1 of the frames. Make sure the staples aren't on the flat edge and that the screen is as tight as you can get it.
• leave the other frame as is.

Instructions

• tear your white paper into 1-inch squares (you don't have to be precise, just make them small so the blender can handle them. Tearing is better for the paper than cutting with scissors). I made several cups at one time. Experiment to see how much you need for one batch.
• soak all the paper overnight in a large bowl full of water
• cover your work surface with a towel and place your blender on it. Fill the blender with 3 1/2 cups of water and your colourant. Take a golf-ball sized wad of the wet paper and toss in blender. If you want small fleck-sized pieces of pot pourri, put a pinch in now. If you want bigger pieces, wait until it's nearly fully blended. Start your blender on a low setting and begin blending. I started at a few 1 second spurts just to get the paper cut up a bit, so I didn't harm the blender and then I went for 20 seconds. Then I stirred the mixture with a spoon and did another 30 seconds.
• pour the slurry into your basin
• repeat the blending process until you have enough in the basin to work with.
• the water/paper ratio above is what I used to get the paper thickness I wanted. If you want thinner paper, use more water. If you want thicker paper, use more paper pieces.
• once you have the slurry consistency you want, run your hand through the slurry to mix it up (it tends to separate quickly and forms a sediment at the bottom of the basin). Take the frame without the screen and place it against the frame with the screen so that the two flat edges are touching. Hold the mold & deckle tightly so it doesn't slip. In one motion, dip it lengthwise into the basin beginning away from you and bringing it towards you as you dip it in to the bottom of the basin and bring it up out of the slurry. As you do this, the slurry will collect in the mold & deckle. Make sure you bring it up flat out of the basin or the slurry will form unevenly. When you bring it up, give it a gentle jiggle to bind the fibers together (you'll see it look a bit "softer"). Rest the mold & deckle on the edge of the basin for it to drain for 30 seconds.
• take the top frame off the bottom. You should be left with a formation of slurry in the shape of your paper resting on the screen.
• take a sheet of felt and gently place it over the sheet. Holding the felt onto the frame edges (be careful not to put too much pressure on the area of the paper), gently flip the frame over and place on the wood board. You should now be looking at the underside of the frame with the felt underneath on the board.
• using a sponge, apply light pressure to the screen to lift as much water as possible from the paper. I do two passes lengthwise which is sufficient.
• now lift one corner of the frame slowly from the felt while tapping the screen at that end. The frame and screen should lift away from the felt leaving the paper behind. If the paper sticks to the screen, pull one corner of the felt while lifting the frame and screen.
• repeat the dip and dunking process, placing each new sheet of felt and paper on top of the last.
• once you've used up all your felts, place one last felt sheet on top and place the 2nd board on top of the entire stack.
• use your c-clamps to clamp the boards together to drain as much water as possible. I left mine to drain for 30 minutes.
• remove the c-clamps and board. Starting from one corner, gently peel each sheet of paper from its felt and place on your drying rack. They should all dry overnight or within a day depending on the paper thickness.
• when dry, place all sheets (no felts) back between the boards and clamp them together again as tight as possible. Leave them for 1-3 days and they will be relatively flat.

The finished product!