Introduction to Western Papermaking

with Alyssa Sacora

Tuesday, May 26 | 10 – 4pm

The craft of paper making is gaining in popularity as it is discovered by folks who want to go beyond using store bought paper in their creative practice. Handmade paper can be personalized by adding bits of plants, string and images to create unique materials for other creative endeavors.

This workshop will give you hands-on experience working with several commercially available pulps to learn the basics of western style mould and deckle papermaking. As you understand how different fibers react in sheet form, you will be able to identify what kinds of paper will be best suited for your upcoming projects.

This is a hands-on experience. Each participant will take home a stack of sample papers. It’s up to you how you use the finished sheets.

All are welcome. No experience necessary.

Alyssa Sacora is a crafts person exploring plant-based mediums in the form of papermaking, book arts, basketry and natural dyes. She finds inspiration by observing relationships in the wider world. To reduce her human footprint and encourage creative thinking, she primarily works with locally available and repurposed natural materials. Leaves, vines and bark from iris, daylily, kudzu, okra, tulip poplar and willow leaves are often combined with salvaged cotton fabrics to create her palette. Her artistic pursuits are directly related to her lifestyle choices with reciprocity and mindfulness as a guiding force. In addition to and in support of her craft, she tends a 3-acre homestead in Western North Carolina with her husband, Adam. They grow fruits and vegetables, medicinal herbs, and art plants. They use solar electric and solar thermal systems for electricity and heating, collect rain water and continuously look to design their space with sustainability in mind. Alyssa has taught for a variety of organizations in WNC and often utilizes an outside setting to help her students make the connection that we are nature and that our lives are intertwined with the plants, the soil, and the air around us.

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