how to make handmade paper

Post by **origami_8** » January 29th, 2011, 10:54 am

No, they won't because Origamido is a brand name. You will be able to make handmade paper. Depending on your skills it will be more or less suitable for folding. Maybe if you are really good you will get similar paper to the kinds Michael LaFosse and Richard Alexander produce, but it will never be Origamido.

HankSimon · Post by **HankSimon** » January 29th, 2011, 6:13 pm

Origamido paper making is not a secret, as far as I know, it is just difficult and time-consuming. I believe that Michael and Richard used to have papermaking classes at their shop. I'm sure they are more than willing to teach anyone who will pay for the class and materials, and come to their shop.

I believe that Satoshi Kamiya stayed with Michael for a while, learning to make a batch of his own paper to take back to Japan.

... I know that I have neither the patience not the time, and I'm happy to pay Michael for the expertise and time that he puts into the paper...

- Hank Simon

ahudson · Post by **ahudson** » January 30th, 2011, 7:23 am

Like Anna said, "Origamido" isn't a kind of paper, it's a brand name. Micheal Lafosse and Richard Alexander have made and sold a lot of different kinds of paper, and they're all called Origamido paper because *that's the name of the store*. Lots of other people have made similar paper... Eric Gjerde had some out at PCOC 2009 from a papermaker in Minnesota, and one of the sponsors at Centerfold has been working on developing a line of paper optimized for origami.

philipinorigami101 · January 30th, 2011, 5:49 pm

k, i get it, i can't make origamido paper because its no a type, its a brand name. i can only make something similar, not the same. no need to say the same thing all over again. oh, and hank, thanks for telling me the classes, not that im going to somewhere far away to just learn how to make paper (then again, it would help with enviroment issues with recycling

). and besides, look where im living now. by the time i'm grown up and can afford a plane ticket, michael would be gone!

HankSimon · Post by **HankSimon** » January 30th, 2011, 7:14 pm

Hey, hey, hey ... sounds like age discrimination to me !

Michael is in his fifties, we have lots of superior folders and designers in their 60s, and a few in their 80s... Don't know about 90s or 100s.

So, I am confident that Michael and Richard will still be around and will still be making paper, when you are a prosperous engineer, scientist, manager, artist, etc....

- Hank Simon

philipinorigami101 · January 30th, 2011, 8:07 pm

sorry if im sounding discriminating. i just want to see if i can experiment with papers. by the way, do you know where michael gets his abaca plants? i only know that it is in the philippine islands. so does he order it online? i want to make my own paper with it someday! ( not calling it origamido paper

)

fold-it-all · Post by **fold-it-all** » February 9th, 2011, 12:17 am

I'd like to clarify some of the questions that anyone might be having by forwarding some quotes and stuff from some emails I sent him.

I also have a question about your book "advanced origami" I've already bought it already, it says in the contents that you can make your own paper, will the recipes for the papers yield similar qualities to origamido paper if done correctly?thank you so much!

Skill counts in paper making! That issue aside, the recipes and procedures in my book are accurate for reproducing our papers. Forming thin, even sheets takes practice. Especially for larger sheets.

All the best.

Michael LaFosse

Here's another reply to when I asked further about beating methods:

A great resource for pulp, and all other paper making supplies, is Carriage House Paper, in Brooklyn, NY. Their web site is at http://www.carriagehousepaper.com They have some great books on paper making. If you do desire to beat your own pulp by hand you
should write to them and ask which books they recommend. The folks who work the are world-class paper making experts.

Michael is a very nice man, I am so thankful that he shares his knowledge on papermaking with us. I would like to add that you could, given the perseverance, make paper from any plants you can find by processing them enough to where it's just the pulp, and that is a long but hard process indeed. Well I hope I helped a few of you guys.