Paper Samples

Beautiful papers made from various plants; hibiscus, philodendron and spider lily.

Papers from various plants grouped together. The light brown paper on top of the pile is a piece of tapa. Tapa is a polynesian word for bark cloth. Tapa is made from the inner bark of plants and trees. The inner bark is obtained by peeling off the outer bast or bark, soaking and pounding the fibers until the bark piece becomes very soft and the fibers have spread out to the desired size of cloth. Its very similar to making handmade papers except tht with tapa there is no cooking involved. For this little piece of tapa, I used the inner bark from a Ficus or Banyan tree and pounded the piece with a wooden meat tenderizer.

A very loose, lacy, fibrous brown paper made from the cooked and pounded leaf sheaths of a philodendron plant paired together with the soft, blotterlike white papers made from the inner bark of Hibiscus.