GRIFFEN MILL SCRAPBOOK

Common Handmade Papermaking Terms

What is a sheet of Paper?

Reference Books


Common Handmade Papermaking Terms

  • ASS:
    • A curved wooden fitting on the bridge of the vat. The coucher props the paper mould against the ass to drain surplus water from the newly formed sheet.

  • BEATERMAN:
    •  Man in charge of operating the Hollander Beater. Often the knowledge & skills were handed down through the generations.


    Griffen Mill Scrapbook #01


  • BRIDGE
    •  The Bridge over the Vat at Wookey Hole Mill in the UK. One of the moulds has been propped up against the Ass to drain whilst the papermaker is forming another sheet on the second mould and the coucher is getting a felt off the horse(not shown) to cover a newly couched sheet.
    The Bridge is curved upwards and has a wooden stop at the end.This is to revent the moulds which are returned to the papermaker from falling off the end onto the floor.


    Griffen Mill Scrapbook #02


  • COUCHING:
    •  The act of transferring the newly formed layer of pulp from the paper mould to a woollen felt.

  • COUCHER:
    •  A member of the papermaking team whose job is to transfer the newly formed sheet from the paper mould onto a felt.

  • COUCHING FAULT:
    • There are various types of couching faults; the most common are seen along one side of the sheet either where the edge has flipped back on itself (at the top or bottom of the sheet )or where the mould has slipped during the couching. Such faults are usually caused by excess moisture in the pulp or in the felts.


  • DRY END:
    • This is where the paper is inspected for faults & graded into perfects,seconds & broke.Sheets may receive a dry pressing before being stored.

  • HOG:
    •  A mechanical agitator situated in the bottom of the vat.


    Griffen Mill Scrapbook #03



  • HOLLANDER BEATER:
    • Machine used for beating & modifying paper fibres prior to sheet forming.The Beater carries the mark "Jas Bertram & Son Ltd.,Leith Walk Edinburgh 1915"



  • KNOTS:
    • Clumps of fibres, particularly visible when a sheet of paper is held up to the light.

  • POST:
    • A pile of damp felts interleaved with newly made sheets of paper. Production is measured by the number of posts made per day. The number of sheets per post varies according to the type of paper being made.

  • SIZE:
    • A substance which reduces the rate at which a material containing it absorbs water. Common sizes are starch, rosin, alum, gelatine, Aquapel.

  • SALLE:
    • The area where the dried paper is inspected, sorted & pressed etc.

  • STUFF CHEST:
    • Large storage tank holding "stuff" or pulp.

  • VAT:
    • Large tank holding diluted paper pulp. The paper is made at the vat.

  • WET END:
    •  The area where paper is formed & receives its first pressing.Known as the Wet End because of the water needed to make the paper.


    Griffen Mill Scrapbook #04

  • WET END BOY:
    • Third member of the papermaking team working in the wet end - usually a trainee.The anonymous woodcut shows some interesting details.The vat is heated by a fire underneath which is called the pistolet.The usual three man papermaking team consisting of the papermaker,coucher and wet end boy is also shown.Part of the wet end boy's duties were to light the pistolet in the morning before the more senior members of the team arrived!


  • WILD:
    •  A paper is described as wild if the fibres are unevenly dispersed through the sheet.


    What is a Sheet of Paper ?

    Taken literally, it is a sheet with the same mass or same depth of identical fibres. The uniform structure should resemble a brick wall. The reason a brick wall can be made in an uniform way is because the bricklayer lays down each brick exactly to plan, i.e. he has control over the deposition of each brick the structure.
    The approach by papermakers to produce a uniform sheet is to disperse the fibres as uniformly as possible in a dilute solution of water by a violent agitation which by nature is a haphazard or random-like action.

    When you think about it, this approach is analogous to the bricklayer hoping that when a load of bricks is dumped on the ground from the back of a truck, they will land on top of one another in the configuration of the wall to be built!


    Reference Books


    Papermaking - The History & Technique of an Ancient Craft
    By Dard Hunter. Pub. Dover Publications, New York 1978.

    Double Fold-Libraries & the Assault on Paper.
    By Nicholson Baker Random House New York 2001

    Papermaking in Britain 1488 - 1988
    By Richard L.Hills. Pub. Athlone Press 1988

    Paper Making in England 1495-1788 ..
    By Rhys Jenkins AAL Reprints No5 1958

    Handmade Paper Today
    By Silvie Turner & Birgit Skiold. Pub.Lund Humphries 1983

    A Hand Papermaker's Sourcebook
    By Sophie Dawson & Silvie Turner. Pub.Estamp, London 1995

    Off the Deckle Edge - A papermaking journey through India.
    By Neeta Premchand. Pub. by Ankar Project, Bombay 1995

    William Balston Papermaker 1759 - 1849
    By Thomas Balston.Pub.Methuen 1954

    The Endless Web John Dickenson & Co Ltd 1804 - 1954
    By Joan Evans Pub. Jonathan Cape, London, 1955

    The Action of the Beater
    By Dr.Siguard Smith. Pub.Technical Section of the UK Papermakers
    Assoc. 1923

    Turner's Papers Vols 1 & 2
    By Peter Bower Pub. by order of the Trustees Tate Gallery 1993

    Chinese Decorated Letter-Paper
    By T.C.Lai.Pub. Swindon Book Company. Kowloon. Hong Kong 1978

    Sources of Early English Paper Supply
    By Edward Heaward. Presented as three papers published in
    the Transactions of the Bibliographic Society.


    A POEM by Carmen Sylvia 1889

    Those pieces of rag be quick and bring!
    the dusty old shreds are just the thing.
    For pulp,for pulp,for a poet's song.
    It comes out smooth and glossy and thin,
    from rollers and wheels and cylinder's din.
    for lords and ladies their notes to indite:
    For pretty poets who scrawl by night.
    And newspaper scribblers who bluster and blow:
    For little love-letters where compliments grow:
    And stories in which the afflictions of men
    Are wretchedly told by an unskilled pen.
    on just such rags as once wiped away
    The tears whereat thou weepest today.