Making paper. There is absolutely nothing digital about it. I don't even know if it's possible to run handmade paper through a printer. Stumbled across this gorgeous paper website today. I don't even know how, or why I ended up down that rabbit hole. I think it may even have been an advert.
I am seriously, geekishly passionate about paper making. But I have not done it in years. And looking over the Neenah site rekindled this passion and left me with a sense of yearning.
So I googled 'Melbourne paper makers' and found the Papermakers of Victoria
Is there some kind of irony in a web professional being so transfixed by paper? Why do I love it? In some ways paper and the Internet are the same. They are but a blank canvas for the transmission of mind. And there's something a bit "Tao of Pooh" about that.
Paper making is quiet, soft, tranquil - at least my experience has been. Water and pulp. Mould and deckle. Patience. Tactile. Feel it between your fingers. Whilst wet it will disintegrate, once dry it has the potential to carry thought forward through time.
Long time ago I met a woman working in information security who did her own document destruction, recycling the most sensitive paper documents herself because that way she absolutely knew it could not go astray, and could not be reconstituted. Better than shredding.
Here's a totally random list of websites I've hit today.
Australian Paper is a commercial paper maker specialising in office, packaging and printing papers
At the Blue Lake Paper Mill pure white rag is beaten with water from Mount Gambier's volcanic Blue Lake to create paper for fine artists and printmakers using oils, watercolours and acrylics.
Euraba Artists and Papermakers is a group of Northern NSW indigenous artists specialising in handmade paper art.
Australian Paper Recovery buys and sells high and low grade secondary paper fibre.
Paper Online is an info site provided by CEPI the European confederation of paper industries
How to make paper is a nice illustrated step-by-step guide to making paper with a couple of videos embedded to show not tell.
Creative Paper Tasmania began as a Work for the Dole project, exploring paper making by hand, using traditional methods and unique local fibres.
IAPMO - International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists