Imagine my delight when I got a call from the docent group at the Tucson Art Museum requesting that I do a studio tour/workshop for them! After some deliberation we decided on a workshop to make paste paper. Paste paper is a decorative paper, and I think of it as one big sophisticated step up from finger painting. Or maybe it’s finger painting for adults. The results are spectacular, as you’ll see below.
The process itself is pretty simple, although preparation for making the paper takes a lot of time. And when doing it as a workshop, there’s even more preparation. In this case, the challenge was to get everything organized for the group so that when they arrived, after introductions and a few demonstrations, they could get right into the fun of making the paper.
Here’s a photo essay of the morning. Many thanks to Val Bembenek for taking most of the photographs.

These tables show the set-up for 6 of the docents. Gerri and Val are in the background, awaiting the arrival of the rest of the group.

One of my jobs while the paste paper making is going on is to whisk away the wet, completed paste paper to make room for the participant to make another. No time wasting allowed around here! Here I am carefully laying out the wet papers

Kind of like finger painting but with much more sophisticated results. Jashio really got into the process!

Into production mode. At this point everyone is excited and hard at work making as much paste paper as possible!

As the paper dries, it curls. Here’s part of the big pile of dry but curled paper. The docents have gone home, with the promise of receiving the flattened paper in a few days