Hand-made corn paper (7) - Drying the sheets

This was a late Spring and early Summer production that resulted in dry corn paper sheets ready to be made into hand-made books!




It takes about 24 hours to squeeze/drain most of the water. After this, the sheets are separated from the stack and placed on a flat surface in a shaded area. Each sheet of corn paper should still be attached to a piece of felt. At this point, I place newspaper sheets underneath each sheet of corn paper to collect more water. I usually place three to five sheets of corn paper with their corresponding felt and alternate them with a stack or section of newspaper. Finally, I put a board and a heavy object (a brick) to continue the drying process.

This process takes between two to three days depending on the humidity and the temperature of the room. I do not use a blow dryer in this process, but the following link for the video 'Make Paper - Loading the Drying Box' gives you an idea of the process when a drying chamber is used.