11/7/2017 0 Comments Cottonwood papermakingIn March and April the entire Bosque was covered with a fuzzy white blanket of cottonwood seedlings, similar to a fresh snowpack. The frizzy parachute of fiber that transports the seed to its germination destination makes for a great paper fiber. We began collecting the cottonwood seeds in the spring from places layered with too much fiber to germinate in the moist, flooded Bosque soil. Together Rachel and I cleaned, cooked, beat, pulled, and coughed (all the best papermaking verbs) over the course of a handful of days. Two gallon bags of fibers weighed just less than one once and produced about 20 sheets of delicate, thin sheets. Its dreamy to imagine how light a paper cottonwood canoe would be...
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