Flora and Sylva
This week we are highlighting Paper from Plants by Santa Cruz book artists Peter and Donna Thomas, printed letterpress with Centaur and Newland type and hand bound in an edition of 150 copies. The illustrations are by Donna Thomas. There are 30 examples of paper made with plants growing in the United States. Many papermakers contributed to the book, and “it took thousands of hours to process the plants and to make the 4,350 sheets of paper necessary for the edition. It is a companion to their earlier work, A Collection of Paper Samples from Hand Papermills in the United States of America.
Peter Thomas wrote in the introduction:
“Kudzo, Cotton, and Hollyhock – any plant can be used to make paper. Walk through a field and grab at the foliage as you pass by. Some of the plants will break easily while others will cut your hand. The plants that are difficult to break can be made into paper too, but it might be that their strengths are more aesthetic than functional.
All paper is made from plants. Even the rag or linen papers of long ago were made from cloth woven with threads of spun cotton, flax, hemp or nettles. By the 1850s the consumption of paper outpaced the rate at which people wore out their clothes, and papermakers were forced to seek a new source of raw material. Experiments were made with various bast, leaf, & grass fibers, but in the end trees proved to be the most economical source for the pulp in a commercial papermill. Today we have once again reached a point in history where consumption of paper is outpacing the production of raw material. Aware of these ecological problems, many of the hand papermakers whose paper is displayed in this book are actively involved in the search for a new source of pulp. These samples which follow reveal the possibilities offered by alternative fibers.”
This book is featured in our digital exhibit on the Peter and Donna Thomas’ 40+ years of work in book arts.
View more posts from our Flora and Sylva series.
–Sarah, Special Collections Graduate Intern
