Hand Made Hemp Paper
The finest art grade papers are made from 100% cotton .Eg Arches from France , St Cuthberts in England, Fabriano from Italy; all highest quality 100% cotton paper . Production volumes from these mills is very small by global paper mill standards , but paper sales prices are extremely high in comparison to commodity paper grades . The Hemp Bast Fiber is a plant based cellulosic fiber like cotton but longer and stronger . A Bast fiber paper has similar qualities to cotton papers and therefore can be used in the very highest and most expensive paper grade. Ie art grade papers for artists.
Hemp and its uses
For hundreds maybe thousands of years, hemp ( Cannabis Sativa) was a very useful plant in human society. The seeds were eaten, the leaves fed to livestock and the stalk stripped to separate the most useful bast fiber for conversion to sailcloth, rope and clothing. The remaining woody stalk was used as animal bedding and domestic fuel. Unfortunately in the early 1900’s, particularly in the USA, Its relation to its Cannabis cousin Marijuana gave it a completely undeserved stigma as an unwanted narcotic, since only marijuana has the TetraHydraCannabidol THC psychoactive component, hemp has no THC, and hemp was demonised, vilified and the hemp industry shut down. In very recent years, the world is now realising the value of Cannabis Sativa, both marijuana and hemp, with new understanding of the medical benefits of both the THC and CBD chemical components of marijuana and also the various uses of Hemp, – for food and for industrial applications of the fiber.
Examples of wet hand mould paper
