Six-Week Papermaking Course

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Location: Stratford

Date: Monday 21st October — Monday 25th November

Time: 10:30 — 12:30

Join book artist and paper expert Mandy Brannan to discover the creative possibilities of papermaking, using both traditional Japanese techniques and modern recycling techniques.

Mandy’s years of practical experience, knowledge of historic and contemporary papermaking and understanding of materials will facilitate an explorative learning environment that encourages new ideas. In this course, Mandy will encourage you to push traditional techniques and papermaking for book arts; inspiring you to think big in order to create new, exciting papers.

Mandy Brannan is our Maker in Residence, based in our Stratford workshop, from Monday 21st October – Wednesday 27th November. Find out more about her residency here)

In this course you will learn how to:

Prepare fibres by steaming and hand-beating plant material

Work with recycled pulps and found paper

Create experimental paper sheets by combining both kozo fibers and recycled pulp

Use decorative techniques from pigmentation, pulp painting and layering

Forage and embed plant fibres from the wild

Create large scale, collaborative pieces

Participants will leave with a comprehensive understanding of the social and cultural importance of papermaking throughout history. You will come away from the course with a variety of experimental samples, and adaptive creative techniques.

Course timetable:

This course runs every Monday for six weeks, from Monday 21st October to Monday 25th November. Students will be divided into two separate groups:

Group A: 10:30 - 12:30

Group B: 14:30 - 16:30

Please indicate your group preference in the application form. We will do our best to accommodate your first choice.

Application Process:

We’re looking for a group of UCL staff and students who are interested in all things papermaking!

Whether you’re interested in this course for professional or personal reasons, we’re interested in hosting a group of participants with diverse interests, who are passionate about making and are committed to learning a multitude of various papermaking techniques; bringing creativity and experimental flair to the course.

To apply for this six-week course, please let us know why you’re interested via this form, by Monday 23rd September, at 12:00. We will notify all successful applicants by Friday 27th September. You must be an inducted member of the Institute of Making to apply to this course.

Note: you must commit to all six sessions of this masterclass. Because of the specialist materials that this masterclass requires, and the anticipated popularity of this series, we ask that you do not book this series unless you can guarantee that you will attend every session.