Earth | Paper | Sky 2016 - John Risseeuw, 2016 Anita Lynn Forgach Keynote Lecture

John Risseeuw, 2016 Anita Lynn Forgach Keynote Lecture, by Paul Romaine

President Jennifer Baker introduced John Risseeuw of Cabbagehead Press with a short, thoughtful speech about the importance of teaching to sustaining hand papermaking. Displaying the Hand Papermaking Family Tree, a family tree printed in the journal Hand Papermaking, based on a survey of 80 contemporary paper makers, Baker noted how "teachers build our community" and asked everyone to "honor the teacher of your teacher and your teacher's teacher, and their teacher," and so she thanked Andrea Peterson for bringing her to the craft. The map/tree is online at http://handpapermakingcommunity.wordpress.com

Baker acknowledged John Risseeuw as one such teacher, who had learned and shared the craft at Arizona State University from which he recently retired. A founding president of the College Book Art Association, he also had a long and proud history in using printmaking, papermaking, and letterpress for social activism.

John Risseeuw thanked Baker for her remarks and the Friends for honoring him in having him deliver the 2016 Anita Lynn Forgach Keynote Lecture. He began his talk by noting the many interesting topics in papermaking which he would love to see researched and published by hand papermaking researchers:

• Cotton fiber: we don’t know enough about how the manufacturing process affects cotton fiber in papermaking. For example, does mercerization change the fiber for beating? What are the effects on paper fiber of other industrial processes, such as those making fabrics wrinkle-free or flame-retardant? Is there a species of cotton that beats better or is processing more important or are other factors involved?

• Silk paper. Silk isn't cellulose, it's a protein, but how, from a chemical or molecular perspective, does silk make such great paper?

• Basket fibers. There should be more research on using indigenous basket fibers in papermaking--it's an under-studied area.

• Quarto and laid paper moulds. Were there ever vertical laid moulds? Printers and librarians know that printers have long preferred to have laid lines horizontal to the text, but in quarto format books, the laid lines are vertical. Did a printer ever commission a vertical laid mould? It was always said to be never done, but have there been exceptions?

• Paper presses. What were the technical differences between different types of presses and how did the pressure levels of 40 pounds vs 40 tons affect the resulting paper and at what threshold levels did those changes occur? Yes, higher pressures made papers resemble calendared sheets, but with what different pressure levels? From a technical perspective, what were those differences, and what are the threshold pressure levels? What are the advantages of a very powerful press? This seemed to be an incredibly important issue, for all papermakers. Perhaps it would do something to reduce press envy.