Audio Interview with St. Armand’s David Carruthers by Nigel Beale: On Making Paper for Books
David Carruthers, owner/proprietor of St. Armand Papers in Montreal takes us through the process of how he produces paper that is used in the letterpress
printing of books. We talk here ( please see bottom of this post) about pure fibre rags,
old jute coffee bags, cover stock, denim
and blue paper, beaters
vat-like
structures
and machines that take 95% of the moisture out of pulp
and flatten it so that it can been stored in sheets that look and feel like blotting
paper,
and then treated with substances such as potato starch, clay and/or chalk, depending upon the end use of the paper. We also talk about opacity, smooth laid paper, end leafs, machine grain and bookmarks.
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Please listen here:
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October 13th, 2008 at 7:31 PM
Fantastic. Great interview at a booklover’s paradise. Making paper is the last skillset I want to learn with regard to books; I have done literally everything else in book and magazine publishing, from bindery to pre-press to designing typefaces. I’ve always wanted to make handmade paper, then make a book using that paper. It would an art book project, not a mass release book, but it would be fun.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:11 PM
Excellent interview!
I think it is wonderful that you are sharing this priceless information online. Basically, I am passionate about books and bookmaking. I would love to learn anything and everything possible about the making of beautiful, natural paper.