MUSEUM OF KENT LIFE

Paper from Hops September 2008

The first couple of weeks in September are Hop Picking Time in Kent. These papermaking sessions with local schools were timed to fit into the traditional harvest. Using material from the Museum's hop fields, children were taught how to make handmade paper which incorporated many parts of the hop plant into the paper: hop flowers, leaves, bines, and even the coir string which held the bines in place. There were four vats on the go , each with an adult helper who had been trained to assist the kids as they formed their sheets. Over the two -day period, we produced over 250 sheets of A5 paper, all of which were taken back to school and dried. The paper we created was unique, as it was very specific to the event: it was part of the harvest process, and thus looks like the place where it came from, and the material contained within it.

Jonathan Korejko 2009 12 Church Lane, Timberland, Lincoln |LN4 3Sb T:01526 378222 E:jj.ck@zen.co.uk

Hop Flowers. The colour from the pollen dyed the paper light yellow. The petals mix in well with the fibres.

Hop Bine. This was first cooked and ground up in the studio, then added to paper pulp:it made a beige dye.

Hop Leaves. These were liquidised, allowed to steep in pulp for 12 hours, which created this green paper.

Hop Words. Using a special technique, the word "hops" appears at random all over the paper, which also has coir string in it.

Jonathan Korejko 2009 12 Church Lane, Timberland, Lincoln |LN4 3Sb T:01526 378222 E:jj.ck@zen.co.uk

A display board in the workroom was filled with samples of handmade paper, as well as with a description about how the hop bines were turned into paper pulp.

The event was organised and financed by the Museum of Kent Life as part of its "Local Industry Days " Both papermaking and hop growing are part of Kent's rich agricultural and Industrial heritage. This was a good example of how papermaking by a contemporary craftsman can be integrated into an existing schools programme, whilst also teaching children about the place where they live and its local resources.

Jonathan Korejko 2009 12 Church Lane, Timberland, Lincoln |LN4 3Sb T:01526 378222 E:jj.ck@zen.co.uk