Aimée Kligman / Victoria Paper

NATAN KAAREN

When I received an email from Natan on October 29th with compliments for the website, I became very interested in the fact that he had grown his own Kozo on a kibbutz in Israel. Though he now resides in Amandola, Italy, he continues to seek out Israeli grown Kozo, which is reputedly quite strong. If anyone reading this is interested in purchasing Israeli Kozo, please contact Natan as he is looking for buyers.

Natan mentioned that Kozo is making its debut in Italy in an area previously dedicated to silk. Since Natan does not have his website up yet, I asked if he'd be kind enough to share his experience with me, so I could show it on my website. The story below is in Natan's own words, and there are also some precious pictures of the Kozo as well as Natan at work. Enjoy! 

The images to the right represent Nathan's work at a recent exhibit he had at the Fabriano Mill.

NATAN'S PULPED MARBLES

If you thought you'd be looking at ordinary marbles, well, these are far from that. Natan believes that he is the only papermaker producing hand pulped marbles.  Please click on each design below and you'll see that absolute marvel of layering of each sheet. 

The photos below are of the pulp marbles he had  made for the Rijswijk Museum during their 2004 Biennale. It should give you a view of the variations of the design when forming the sheets; Natan usually works with three vats and three colors of pulp and the order of pulling the layers changes the character of color.  If you are ordering them in a specific order, please do state your preference. Otherwise, they will be done at his discretion.  He did use some of these to make lampshades, and said that:" Cotton fiber has a translucence to it making the sheets excellent for lamp shades",

It takes him an hour to produce just eight sheets.  Below are the suggested retail prices for the two sizes referred to above:

A4 (8.27 x 11.70 inches) - US$20.00/ea.

40 x 50 cms (16" x 20") - US$32.00/ea.

PULP NON-FICTION from con't from home page

The paper is couched and then pressed on Plexiglas to dry and usually after 24 hours it is pealed off making a nice crackling sound.  Most sheets are made from cotton rag but Natan has also made some with a layer of wheat straw that gets a much higher gloss from the smooth surface of the Plexiglas and has a golden yellow tone.

What he says about them:

"my specialty is pulp marbled sheets (I think that I am the only one doing it); usually A-4 size but I can do them in a 40 x 50 centimeter format.  It is a slow process at the vat since a single sheet is dipped a few times in separate vats.  They have a similar character but each one is different (complicated, but I  can explain further if need be)and I can make about 8 sheets an hour not counting preparation and drying."

HANDMADE ENVELOPES & CARDS

Natan's talent as a papermaker seems to know no boundaries. When he sent me jpgs of his handmade envelopes, I had to take a very long, deep breath. Is such beauty still possible in this highly mechanical, electronic world we live in? Seems so.. My understanding is that the combinations and designs are endless after his "23 years at the vat".

NATHAN'S STORY

Hello Aimee

I will write how I got to grow Kozo in a disorganized way (dyslectic)(sic).

I grew up in L.A. till 1972 when I decided to go live on a Kibbutz in Israel. I studied fine arts -drawing, sculpting. pottery, photography but liked pen and ink the best (rapidograph) at State University at Northridge in the valley. On the Kibbutz it was farming - Wheat, Cotton, potatoes and whatever else was decided from year to year.

In 1982 while working in my studio making airbrush drawings, I was listening to a radio program where handmade paper was described by a panel of women with a strong American English accent in Hebrew. Actually they would start their sentences in Hebrew but somehow they would end in English. It amused me but also fascinated me. In fact as I listened I knew that papermaking was for me. at the end of '83 I took a course taught by Joyce Schmidt (may her memory be blessed) at the Uncle Bob Leslie Paper Mill in Be'er Sheva . In 1987 I joined IAPMA  and attended the congress in Cappallades, Spain at an old paper mill. In '89 I was invited to study in Japan at the Awa Museum in Tokushima Prefecture.

At the paper Mill in Be'er Sheva , they had a garden with various plants used for papermaking around the world, including Kozo. I took 13 rootlings and planted them near my workshop. I fertilized the plot with Nitrogen and Phosphate and put in drip irrigation - the plants did the rest. In four years I had 450 trees going. There they grew up to 6 meters in height in a single season which started at the beginning of April and ended when the leaves fell in the middle of December.

During the growing season I would weed three times the area by hand - I tried herbicide one year and saw that it thwarted the plants as well so I didn't do it again.

The branches would grow from the stumps and I would pick in the end of May three to five of the best looking branches and pruned the rest. in the beginning of June I would clip the side branches starting to grow so I would have less "eyes" when pealing the bark. That is basically the growing treatment.

When the trees are totally dormant then the branches are cut - if they are cut when active, then the bark turns brownish (like biting an apple and leaving it for a while in the air - the bite turns brown) side branches trimmed and then steamed. after that they are pealed and dried for storage and the woody part is burned.

When paper is to be made than the bark has to be cleaned of the outer bark (chiri) and cooked. I separate the cyan bark from the white bark after cooking because it is easier and the cyan bark paper is beautiful as well.Each stage has its logic and substages that can be more developed and separated so that the quality becomes higher as the subtleties are discovered. The dry bark yield was approximately 500 kilos from 450 trees grown a meter apart on 500 square meters of land. water was given plentifully and not measured (I wish I did measure just to know). It was a jungle. In Italy where I live now at about 600 meters above sea level near the mountains the trees grow slower, so that I might have to harvest them only after three years of growth or work a lot more cleaning the bark.

FABRIANO WATERMARKS

1276 ad - The important invention of watermarking was made at one of the Fabriano Mills in Tuscany during the second half of the 13th century. One can assume that the reason for the watermark was to give the product a branded trade mark of superior quality. There exists a remarkable archive of Fabriano watermarks going back to the first one in 1276, showing a mark for each year until modern times.

Source: The Book Information Website

Currently,  the Fabriano Mill is not actively producing these watermarks anymore, and if you are ever in that region, you can view some of them which are housed in the Museum of Paper in the town of Fabriano. Or you can click on this link, and have a look at the most popular watermarks such as the Mona Lisa, David, Michelangelo and some others.

We are very fortunate to be able to offer a vast collection of  276 Fabriano watermarks for sale.  We are showing the grouping on this page, and please remember that they vary in size.  The entire lot can be purchased by serious collectors for US$62,000.  Individual watermarks can be acquired for US$245.00 each (please keep in mind that freight charges from Italy will apply). Minimum purchase is 10 watermarks.

* Special Note: When you click on each watermark, you will see across the page a "for show only" insignia which appears only in the photo as copyright protection.