#mobilepapermaking

INTRODUCING THE ‘PAPERMAKER’S PACK’ – A STUDIO AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Inspired by The Mobile Mill and developed by Better Decisions, I am pleased to announce that a first edition of Papermaker’s Packs are now available for sale at  PAPERMAKERSPACK.COM

Originally invented as a smaller iteration of The Mobile Mill’s paper-studio-in-a-truck concept, I built the original Papermaker’s Pack as a practical means of taking my mobile hand papermaking practice abroad to Sarajevo, Bosnia for collaborative work on artists Melissa Potter and Adam Pantic’s project ‘Pulp & Pastry’, an interdisciplinary artwork exploring the intersection of food and the art of hand papermaking.

After this Papermaker’s Pack prototype made its debut abroad, the fully functional studio-in-a-suitcase was introduced to persons in the United States via a series of pay-it-forward style papermaking workshops that I taught while on a solo cross-country tour with The Mobile Mill project from September 2015 to April 2016. Roaming about with the Papermaker’s Pack, I discovered that a hand-carried studio enhanced my physical mobility and reduced my operating budget, which in turn widened my geographic reach as an independent practitioner, a socially engaged artist, and an arts educator.

My mobile hand papermaking inventions have undoubtedly increased the accessibility of rare craft tools and resources through the transportation of professional paper studio equipment into public realms for community use. That said, in the process of bringing my students how-to knowledge of - and a unique opportunity to use - the tools I have available on hand, my transient roadwork has revealed a widespread public call for specialized papermaking tools:

‘Where can I buy a mould and deckle?’

‘How can I make paper on my own at home?’

‘How can I press my paper without hydraulic power?’

‘Where can I source felts and pellons?’

If you’re practiced in the field of book arts then you very well know the sort of time and energy it takes to track down and acquire the bare necessities.

My yearning to provide solutions was met by my brother Maxum’s inclination to manufacture. Now living in the same city, we have fused our minds and energies to reimagine the future of mobile hand papermaking. Working together as a creative development team self-dubbed ‘Better Decisions’, we are pleased to introduce our first joint venture – the production of Papermaker’s Packs – created with the aim of disseminating high-quality tools for hand papermaking.

The Papermaker’s Pack is an all-encompassing, easy-to-use toolkit for hand papermaking that offers papermakers ease and convenience of practice, equipped with all the necessities for turning pulp into handmade paper. Our handcrafted professional tools have been paired with the highest quality process accessories, housed in a lightweight portable carrying case that doubles as a papermaking vat.

It is my intent to develop The Mobile Mill project in such a way that it will grow with, as well as beyond, me. Inspired by a spirit of activism and a passion for movement, the Papermaker’s Pack is a logical continuation of the work that I do as a traveling teaching artist. As I explore this new vein of The Mobile Mill trajectory, I am thrilled by the potential of so many mobile paper studios out there moving about the world. The Papermaker’s Pack is a practical instrument. It is an artisanal invention. And it is a functional artwork. With aims of perpetuating an ancient handicraft practice and promoting an ethos of tool-sharing, it is my hope that our Papermaker’s Packs get into the hands of persons who wish to use them.

An international paper exchange emerged organically as an offshoot of this teaching work with the Papermaker’s Packs, taking the form of a traveling handmade paper archive – due to be exhibited in the ‘Pulp as Portal’ show at NY Center for Book Arts in February 2017, co-curated by Jessica Cochran and Melissa Potter. The collection contains postcard-sized recycled paper artworks made by public workshop participants. This community-generated archive is in constant rotation as papers are taken from the collection as well as added to the collection during workshop happenings, the making/sharing cycle permanently sustained as labor is exchanged for labor.