About the sheets: of COTTON & SILK

In India, the manufacture of handmade paper is a fairly well established industry at the village or small-scale-industry level. It is a good example of a sustainable model of development, which meets several desirable criteria: it is eco-friendly and provides rural employment for both men and women, usually near their homes, since the industry can be located near villages.  Further decorative finishing of the paper sheets, and production of paper products, provides employment for men and women in the cities as well, as the various paper units are small scale, with the workers living close by. All the equipment in use in the process of handmade paper manufacture is available in the country, is indigenously made and therefore does not require any foreign exchange.  

It is an interesting technology simply because it uses only waste materials, including tailor- shop cloth cuttings and agro-wastes, in the process of making extremely high quality paper, paper products and card. Papers are also made with 100% cotton and silk fibre, when agro waste is not requested. The technology is fairly simple to operate and requires no special training or certification. In particular, women are able to operate the equipment independently. This is an important factor in addressing the employment of unskilled women. The technology is also available in ready-made form and can be ordered on a turnkey basis.

The making of handmade paper is a fairly old process in India, going back several centuries.  Paper making was largely dominated by Muslim Kagzis.  Much of the industry was destroyed with the entry of foreign paper mills during the 18th and 19th centuries, under colonial rule.  It was under Mahatma Gandhi’s inspiration that efforts were made in the thirties to revive the nearly defunct industry. The revival was carried out under the umbrella of the Khadi and Village Industries Association set up in 1934 under Gandhi’s guidance and which was an important component of the Swadeshi movement (movement for indigenous and locally-produced goods).  Many freedom fighters in fact received training in the making of handmade-paper and these eventually were instrumental in setting up handmade paper units in different parts of the country. Eventually, after India gained her independence, the care of the industry and its research and development was taken over by the present Khadi and Village Industries Commission which has brought an enormous amount of talent and experience to bear on the problems associated with the industry.

The process of manufacturing handmade paper is very simple and includes.

(a) Preliminary operations and treatment: Cotton waste from ready made garment making units are cut into small bits with the help of hand knives or power-operated rag choppers after sorting (to remove non-cellulosic material). The cut material is next dusted on a wire-mesh frame. In the case of agro fibres, after chopping, the material is “cooked” in a small open digester with a low percentage of alkali and washed. In general, it is preferable to use 100% new cloth and other virgin agro fibres to eliminate dust and dirt at source.

 It involves several clearly defined stages. These are given below.

(b) Beating: Cut and dusted rags are beaten to pulp/stock in small power- operated Hollender beaters, with or without bleaching. This is done to remove knots and lumps. The material is washed by means of a washer drum, and is followed by further beating. Addition of natural fillers, loadings, dyeing and sizing chemicals, as required for the end product, is also completed during the beating operation.

(c) Sheet formation: Wet sheets are lifted by the vat man with the help of wire-mesh frames either by dipping these into the traditional vat containing pulp or by pouring a measured quantity of pulp into the mould held in the improved type of pedal-operated univat containing water. It is important to see that the pulp is well mixed and is in uniform suspension before this is done. The coucher now transfers the wet sheet over to the cloth napkin or woollen felt by a mild pressing of the mould. This lifting and couching process continues until a pile of wet sheets, each interleaved with cloth felt, is made.

(d) Pressing: The pile is then pressed under a hand-operated screw press or a small power-operated hydraulic press. Up to 50% of the water from the wet sheets is removed through this step.

(e) Peeling and drying: Pressed sheets are peeled, separated from the couching cloth/felt and loft dried for natural drying indoors. They should not be dried on floors because this is bound to pick up dirt and affect quality.

(f) Removal of dirt and dust: As part of quality control, dirt specks, if any, are carefully removed by hand with the aid of small knives and brushes.

(g) Tub sizing: Document papers, certificates, drawing and other specification papers in particular are dipped in a bath containing animal glue, starch etc. and dried again to build unique characteristics like permanence, erasability and long life by preventing mould growth and damage from insects.

(h) Calendering: Dried paper is plate glazed, interleaved between zinc/ galvanised iron sheets and passed to and fro under heavy mechanical pressure through a small power-operated calendering machine. Rough drawing papers are not, however, calendered but are only pressed flat before trimming and packing to maintain specific characteristics.

(i) Final sorting, trimming and packing: Calendered paper is hand- sorted, edges trimmed with the help of a hand- /power-operated cutting machine, and packed in suitable packets. Deckle-edged papers, however, are sorted and packed without trimmings.

 Source:  tcdc.undp.org/SIE/experiences/vol3/Handmade%20Paper.pdf -