The Khadi Paper Mill in Southern India employs about 50 men
and women and produces some of the world’s finest and
most beautiful handmade cotton papers. The raw base material
is recycled T-shirt cuttings and to this is added a variety
of organic materials which give it colour, texture and character
The flower petal range is gorgeous with tiny petals from marigolds,
cornflowers or asters or the larger petals of the bougainvillea
sprinkled on to the surface of the paper. Also appealing are
the more discreet wool or pond weed fibres and tea leaves which
add subtle colour to the sheets. Gunny paper is made from recycled
jute sacking, bagasse paper from sugar cane fibre and banana
paper from the leaf fibre of the banana plant.
Khadi Rag watercolour paper is a strong gelatine sized white
paper with 4 natural deckles. The rough surface differs from
mould-made papers in that it has no directional grain making
it truly random and, being hand-made it does not lie uniformly
flat, nor are any 2 sheets identical.
We now have this in packs of 20 in A4, A5, and A6 perfect
for small watercolours and card making.
The papers from Nepal are very different. They are made from
the inner bark of the lokta plants which grow in the forests
of the Himalayas. It is harvested without destroying the plant
and the paper is made without environmental damage to the
forests. These are lightweight, fibrous tissuey papers in
natural white and a variety of gorgeous colours suitable for
drawing in ink, printmaking and wrapping.
The Nepalese Washi papers are made in the Japanese way and
we have a light and medium weight version suitable for calligraphy
and printmaking.
Traditionally used by Tibetan Buddhist monks for manuscripts
and wood block prints we stock a very unusual paper called
Tsasho which is a browny coloured paper made only in Bhutan.
It is made from the bark of a tree which regrows after harvesting.
The paper bears the watermarked lines of the bamboo screen
upon which it is made.
These papers seem to me to be made in perfect harmony with
the environment, re-using natural products to provide artists
with beautiful papers. If you’d love to try them but
can’t decide which to choose we stock 4 different assortment
packs of 20 A3 sheets.
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