DIY wood deckle for paper making

 

    This is a simple tutorial for a handmade wood deckle. All you'll need is some wood for the frames and a mesh.

    The mesh shouldn't be too soft because it otherwise would stretch when under the weight of the wet paper pulp. And it shouldn't be too hard either as it will leave some very noticeable marks on the paper. 

    The best result, as far as I have seen, is with a window mesh or insect mesh of a medium strength (feels quite sturdy).

    Choose freely the size of the frame, the limitation probably would be the size of the tub you plan to use for paper making. I find that just under A4 paper size worked best for me. You'll need to make two equally sized frames. I used screws to hold the frames together, but nails would work too.

     One of the frames has the mesh stapled or nailed over and the other is left as is. The empty frame is put on top of the mesh frame when the frames are submerged in the paper pulp solution. 

    Making paper is a forgiving hobby and a fun one. At first the paper may not come out as neat as expected, but that's okay, you can just dissolve the paper in water and make another.

    Once you have made a decent stack of paper and start to wonder what to do with it, I can suggest making a book and to do that you''ll need a text block. Here is a simple tutorial for that.