From Fire to Fiber: A Journey into Handmade Paper

By John Weaver · August 2025

In a small village along the banks of the Mekong River, I watched a young woman press fresh bougainvillea petals beneath the surface of a vat filled with Kozo pulp. She shifted them gently with her fingers, then lifted a screen slowly out of the water, revealing a sheet of handmade paper. Translucent, floral, fragile — and yet somehow ancient and permanent.

I was hooked.

Papermaker in a Lao village carefully places bougainvillea petals into Kozo pulp before pulling a handmade sheet. This moment reshaped my artistic direction.
My Work Has Always Started with Flame Raku ceramics taught me how to collaborate with the elements. Pulled from a red-hot kiln and reduced in sawdust or open air, each ceramic piece emerges with the unpredictability of alchemy. I learned to surrender control, to let fire leave its mark — and that tension is
what kept me in clay for decades. But as I grew more curious about other tactile processes, I started asking: what else carries this same energy of transformation?

• Papermaking as Parallel Practice
  That question followed me from Laos back to my studio. Inspired by what I saw in that riverside village, I began working with Thai Kozo — the same long-fibered material used in traditional Asian papermaking. The process starts with beating and blending the Kozo into pulp, then pigmenting it using natural and archival colorants. Each sheet is formed by hand in a vat of water, layered with pulp painting techniques and sometimes embedded botanicals — mimicking, in some ways, what I saw by the Mekong.There’s no fire here, but there’s still heat. Still breath. Still tension between gesture and material.What I’m Making Now
• Pulp Paintings – Built entirely from pigmented Kozo fiber, these layered works function as paintings but without paint.
• Botanical Envelopes & Sheets – One-of-a-kind handmade paper for stationery and collectors.
• Textural Wall Panels – Sculptural works for interior designers and collectors.

The Studio Process: From Vat to Vacuum
In the months since returning from Southeast Asia, I’ve built out a full papermaking setup:

• A custom water tank and moulds for large-format sheets
• A vacuum table for rapid and even drying without flattening the surface texture
• Pigment retention techniques adapted from my ceramic glaze experience
• A catalog of Thai Kozo fiber blends, botanicals, and pulp painting methods

This system lets me create 18×22 and 24×36 pieces — large enough for wall display, yet intimate in their handmade quality.

Coming Soon: Behind-the-Scenes Visuals
I’ll be debuting a looping video at the Brandywine Arts Festival, showing how these works come to life — from blending pulp to embedding plants, from couching to drying. I’ll also release:

• A short photo essay on how my process evolved
• Studio updates via Instagram
• First access to new pieces via my Studio Insider list

From Clay to Paper, Still Grounded in the Elemental
Papermaking didn’t replace Raku. It expanded it. It gave me a second way to think about imperfection, time, and presence. Fire and fiber — both leave their mark when you let them.

If you’re a collector, curator, or fellow maker, I’d love to hear how these materials resonate with you. And if you’re curious where this path leads next, you’re invited to walk it with me.

— John