Hand Papermaking Magazine and the Handmade Paper Guild

At a recent Handmade Paper Guild meeting we had an opportunity to help out papermaker extraordinaire, Andrea Peterson, and the Hand Papermaking Magazine.  The magazine is publishing a 25th anniversary book that celebrates the art of hand papermaking and the artists that are at the top of their game. 

This book, spearheaded by Andrea from LaPorte, IN, features amazing paper swatches of 25 papermakers.  As Guild members, we touched the swatches, drooled over the swatches :) and then glued the swatches into the books.  This project is monstrous.  With a group of about 12 we only finished 30 and a limited edition of 1,000 is planned for.  Andrea has been assembling these by herself and others in her studio too. 

We were glad to help and it was fun.  In return for our labor, Andrea showed us two of the past Hand Papermaking Magazine portfolios.  These were filled with incredible gems.  One portfolio featured watermark samples and the other was filled with pulp painting samples.  Oh my!

Handmade Paper Guild helpers assembling the books at the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center.

One of the finished books.

As you can immediately see just by looking at the type, this book was well designed.

Each page has an entry by the artist as well as a description of the sample.

Another beauty.

At one point I remembered what artist did which swatch.  I'm sorry I can't remember anymore.  Note to self:  write things down!

Can you read the artists featured for each year?  Not household names perhaps, but in the world of paper:  wow!

If you're interested in more information, here is the post on the Hand Papermaking website.  It was written by Andrea:

I chair a committee of Hand Papermaking’s board of directors working on a project called “Hand Papermaking 25” to commemorate our upcoming anniversary. This exciting project will bring together 25 paper artists who previously appeared in Hand Papermaking magazine. Each will represent a particular year in which they were featured, and each will produce a distinctive new paper specimen.

These noteworthy contributors to the advancement of the field will be asked to write a short text reflecting on their magazine article, and the evolution of their work from that year to the present. This statement will appear with a 4x4 sample of the handmade paper they produce for this project, along with a description addressing the materials and techniques they employed. The book will include a preface by Tom Bannister and an introductory essay by Michael Durgin, one spread for each of the 25 artists, and some concluding remarks. Each copy in the edition of 1000 will be uniquely bound into a letterpress printed cover commissioned from one of four distinguished mills.


“Hand Papermaking 25” will be published in October, 2010, and sell for $65 per copy. A special price of $50 each is offered to those who purchase four copies, with unique covers commissioned from four different mills. Postage is $4 in North America and $9 overseas. Please support Hand Papermaking, as we look forward to celebrating our 25th anniversary year in 2011.



If you want to purchase these books you can go here.   This book is beautifully made.


Lorrie