A short 1.7-mile walk from the Pith Factory at Sea View Works - along Spittal Beach, up the mouth of the river Tweed and across the 16th century ‘Old Bridge’ brings you to Bridge Street, Berwick upon Tweed. Here, you will find Tidekettle Paper, the studio, and a shop for book and paper artist Lucy Baxandall.
Tidekettle exists to pursue and promote hand papermaking using traditional and experimental techniques. It makes small-batch paper for Lucy’s work and sparks creativity in other artists of all ages and disciplines. Tidekettle seeks to use recycled, salvaged, and locally sourced papermaking fibres, which are sustainable and unique in their aesthetic qualities.
With Lucy and her son Sam, we have created three colour combination papers using waste material from our manufacturing process. Each colour covers a limited run of our Yuzu Notebook (Dot grid) and Cara Cara Sketchbook.
Below, Lucy takes us through how these papers are made.
WORDS
Liam Goward + Lucy Baxandall
READ TIME
3 minutes
PHOTOGRAPHY
Cal Cowie + Liam Goward
STEP 01
Once the board offcuts arrive at Tidekettle, we weigh the board by individual colour to create recipes for colour ratios that can be logged and replicated for subsequent batches.
STEP 02
We soak the board in plain water to soften it before processing. This also removes some of the glue holding the board layers together, which can cause the pulp to foam if left in.
STEP 03
We tear the board into smaller pieces to make processing smoother – the board tears easily once thoroughly soaked. Now, the board can enter the Hollander beater (pulping machine). The colours are kept separated at this stage.
STEP 04
We fill the beater with water and gradually add the main base colour board. The proportions of the main colour to the fleck colour vary according to the degree of contrast and the intensity of each colour. The dark blue board is particularly intense!
STEP 05
Because the board is being recycled, it does not need much further processing, just thorough rehydration for the papermaking process so that the cellulose fibres will lock together well and produce a strong board. We keep an eye on it and add the fleck colour late in the process so that larger pieces remain intact and visible.
STEP 06
With very strong fleck colours such as dark blue, we process them separately in a blender and add them by hand (and eye) to the papermaking vat, which prevents the colour mix from becoming muddy.
STEP 07
Once tested for readiness, the pulp is transferred to a vat, and sheets of new board are formed with a mould and deckle. We make double-thickness laminated sheets that bond together to ensure sturdy covers. Each one is unique.
STEP 08
The sheets are pressed to remove excess water, then dried under pressure between layers of blotter, felt and corrugated cardboard with fans blowing air through the stack. Because the sheets are so thick, they can take up to a week to dry.
STEP 09
The finished sheets are returned to pith to work their magic and turn them into books.
Tidekettle + Pith® Yuzu Noteobok and Cara Cara Sketchbook are available to shop now in-store at Tidekettle Paper (16 Bridge St, Berwick-upon-Tweed TD15 1AQ) and pithsupply.com
A special thank you to Lucy Baxandall, Sam Stokes and the manufacturing team at Pith (Lyndsey, Lizzie, Kristina and Mhairi).
