Arrividerci, Italy. Yo! Philly! I am home. Eyes, sketchbook, heart, mind and clothes so much fuller.
And so ... I will share with you and hope that you'll enjoy this virtual tour.
We begin with our papermaking adventure at the Museo della Carta e della Filigrana. And yes, the watermark was invented in Fabriano.
Georgio Pelligrini was our host while we were in Fabriano. He is director of the Museo and also of Tourism in the LeMarche region. Very handy fellow!
The equipment we used has been around for Ages: Medieval, that is. Here is Cynthia with her mold and deckle scooping up a frame full of pulp. Master Papermaker, Roberto was our instructor. The molds that we used are handmade with handstitched watermarks. You can see some of the screens on the walls behind us.
Here is Roberto showing us the beginning motions of tilting the screen after scooping the pulp. This is a very revered and honored craft. We all took this seriously and Roberto was quite exacting and patient.
Maggie Brew, owner of the elegant B&B Fonte Fresca was our tour guide and translator. She is moving the screen both to remove the water and knit the pulp fibers together. More about Maggie and Fonte Fresca in a few days.
Here is a very quick video of Denise with the final motions that will take the paper from pulp to couching. After we had made stacks of paper, Roberto and I carried the stack to be pressed and then we all peeled the pressed paper from the couching felts to be dried.
Holy Pulp, Batman!
