Paper, Book and Print in Stamford

THE BLUECOAT SCHOOL Stamford, Lincolnshire, England "FOOD FOR THOUGHT" PAPERMAKING, PRINTING, AND BOOKBINDING June 2009
An arts project working in The Bluecoat Primary School with 50 children , Years 5 and 6. and the artist Jonathan Korejko. The theme of India was the inspiration behind the idea of making handmade paper using Indian spices and English plants and herbs to create original and unique pieces of A5 paper. These papers were then printed on, using traditional blockprinting techniques. Special book covers were prepared with handmade papers. Once all of the papers, prints, and covers were dry, everything was bound together into a small booklet, which will be used for further writing and commemorative purposes. STAGE ONE : LEARNING ABOUT PAPERMAKING
After discussing the project with the children and the class teachers, we bought Indian spices from a shop in Lincoln, and we collected English plants and herbs from both the school's and the artist's gardens. We also saved all of the teabags which the teachers used in the staff room. Here we are sorting out all of the marvellous colours, textures and aromas, in preparation for papermaking.
Jonathan Korejko 12 Church Lane,Timberland, Lincoln LN4 3SB T:01526 378222 E:jj.ck@zen.co.uk W.www.timberlandand.co.uk 2009
Each year group had 25 children in it, so we had to work in the main hall of the school to make our A5 papers, operating out of four vats. This meant that we could have four different spice or herb papers on the go at any one time. The smell in the hall was amazing!
Forming Indian spices paper with mould and deckle onto the couching table. Paprika, turmeric, cinnamon, coriander and fenugreek!
STAGE TWO: MAKING LARGER FORMAT PAPERS

As the children gained in confidence and became more skilful, we took the opportunity to make A4 papers for the book covers. Using a mixture of fibres from previous batches of pulp, we made "Bluecoat Curry Paper" and "English Herb Paper" .At that time, there was also a wonderful tree on the school grounds known as "Wych Elm". This tree was shedding copious amounts of seeds, which hung down from the branches in large bunches, similar to Ash keys. (Wych Elm seeds, being very flat, are perfect for incorporating into paper). These seeds were used to enhance the curry paper, and hence a beautiful piece of yellow AngloIndian paper emerged from the vat. The English Herb Paper, greener in colour, was used to make "embossed" paper.
Using a large leaf from the Inula plant, to make an embossed piece of paper, which picks up the pattern of the veins from the leaf when pressed.
Children become quite adept at forming larger sheets of paper. Working the press was always great fun, so long as everyone cooperated and took turns to operate the handles!
. We also designed a special piece of A0 "living paper" This was constructed by couching several sheets of A4 paper with overlapping edges onto one large cloth.
A map of India was used as a template and we then "drew" the outline of the map using cress seeds. These were embedded into the large paper with a thin, white fibre overlay.
The large sheet of paper with its " Wych Elm Curry Paper" base had to be dried quickly so that it could gain some strength First, children carefully soaked off some of the moisture using hand held rollers and hands.The whole map was next covered in successive layers of cotton linter and "children power" applied the pressure, before the next event occurred
which was, the bursting of the seeds! In just four days, the germinating cress pushed its way through the top layer of fine white fibres to grow into a lush, green outline, following the line of the map of India which we created.
As India is 16 times larger than our island, the map of Great Britain, being smaller, grew into a much denser forest of cress.
STAGE THREE: PRINTMAKING

The children prepared drawings based on the theme of food and flowers, to reflect the various things we had already put into our papers. These were then transferred onto cardboard print blocks, cut out, inked up, and printed using a specially adapted mangle printing press. Prints were first "proofed" onto ordinary cartridge paper, and then a second print was made onto a piece of our Indian spice or English herb paper.
Children had to remember that these prints were destined to become a page in a book, so they had to place their image on the correct side of the handmade paper to account for the making of the spine of the book, which was the next phase of the project.
STAGE FOUR : BOOKBINDING

The leaf-embossed and curry wych elm A4 papers were gathered together. The children decided
When the covers were
THE BLUECOAT PAPERMAKERS
A pictorial review of papermaking, printmaking, and book making at a primary school in Stamford, England. June, 2009.
Credits: This Project is part of the Creative Partnership Programme Managed by : Creativity, Culture and Education Creative Agent : Leanne Taylor Supported by : Arts Council England The Bluecoat School Headteacher : Mr. Tim Howley Year 6 Class Teacher : Ben Bloor Year 5 Class Teacher: Ivor Waylett Workshop Assistants: Gill Burrows Jessie Hunt Claire Lake Sue Richardson Jo Tubb
Designed and written by Jonathan Korejko Papermaker and Printmaker Photographs by Jonathan Korejko July 2009
Jonathan Korejko 12 Church Lane,Timberland, Lincoln LN4 3SB T:01526 378222 E:jj.ck@zen.co.uk W.www.timberlandand.co.uk 2009 9

Paper, Book and Print in Stamford

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Paper, Book and Print in Stamford

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THE BLUECOAT SCHOOL Stamford, Lincolnshire, England "FOOD FOR THOUGHT" PAPERMAKING, PRINTING, AND BOOKBINDING June 2009

STAGE TWO: MAKING LARGER FORMAT PAPERS

STAGE THREE: PRINTMAKING

STAGE FOUR : BOOKBINDING

When the covers were

THE BLUECOAT PAPERMAKERS

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