How to make rice paper from bamboo?

While I was researching materials that I can use to solve my everyday problem, I found a article about making rice paper. In this article, however, 'rice paper' doesn't actually refer rice. This writer is showing how to make a paper from bamboo.

Things You'll Need:
1.5 lb. bamboo
2.6 lb. wood ash
3 3/4 gallons water
Fine mesh for straining
Large pot
2 towels
Mortar and pestle
Rubber gloves
Basin
Deckle and mold
Decoration for paper
Books for pressing

1. Find some bamboo and pull off the leaves. Shred the leaves until you have 1.5 lb. of shredded bamboo.

2. Create an ash mixture by mixing wood ashes with water, in a large pot. Boil the water for 20 to 30 minutes and then allow it to sit for 24 hours. The next day, run the mixture through a strainer lined with fine mesh or nylon.

3. Place your bamboo into a very large pot. Add the ash mixture and allow it to cook for 5 hours. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh material and then wrap the remaining fiber in a towel.

4. Rinse fresh water over the towel and then squeeze to remove water. Remove the fiber from the towel and use a mortar and pestle to mush the fiber to a pulp.

5. Fill a basin half full with water. Add enough pulp such that you have four parts water and one part pulp. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon.

6. Slip a deckle and mold into the vat and hold it flat under the water. A deckle and mold is a two-part wooden frame used to make paper. The mold has mesh covering the bottom.

7. Lift the deckle and mold straight up out of the water to capture the pulp in the frame. Then gently shake the deckle and mold.

8. Rest the deckle and mold on a towel and then remove the deckle. Hold the frame vertical to your towel, with the mesh on the outside. Gradually roll the frame toward the towel until it lays flat.

9. Press the back of the mesh to remove the paper from the frame. Decorate the paper. Lay a piece of cloth over the paper and then layer books over the cloth to press. Allow it to sit for 30 minutes before removing the books and allowing the paper to air dry.


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It seems really hard to try, but I'd like to make it sometime.
I think this is real casting paper!





www.ehow.com/how_2156025_make-rice-paper.html