I love working with the boys and showing them how things are made. Often projects stem from Caspar's questions, often from something he has seen or read in a book. Always from his natural curiosity.

Over the weekend we made our own recycled paper. It was fun, wet and pretty messy. It's a wonderful project because in the end Caspar has his own paper to use and share with others.   

Together we spent many hours tearing waste paper into little pieces. Then we soaked the paper for a couple of hours. 

We put the paper with water into the blender. 

Then blended until happy with the consistency. We weren't too fussy, certainly keep on blending for finer particles. 

Then poured the paper pulp into a big tub and used the deckle to form a consistent layer. No photos of this stage because I didn't want to cover my camera with lovely paper pulp. Did I mention messy? 

Then transferred the paper onto cotton (must be a natural fabric) and compressed to dry. 

Beautiful handmade, I made-it-myself paper!