Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
From Dave Bull, Tokyo-based woodblock printmaker and publisher, this video is the third in a series on Japanese papermaking, and takes us through the process of turning raw mulberry fibre into finished sheets of beautiful paper. The papermaking is done by Naho Murata, in her 'new' workshop in Echizen City, Fukui, Japan.
00:00 Cold open - the cauldron ...
00:30 Dave's introduction
02:02 Cooking the mulberry fiber
08:58 Interlude
10:13 Removing 'chiri' - bark scraps
11:31 Dave's comments on chiri removal
14:22 Beating and washing the fiber
18:30 Final preparation for rocking
23:31 Rocking the paper sheets
26:28 Drying the paper
30:54 Dave's comments
31:52 Testing the paper with a printing session
40:35 Dave's closing comments
The previous two episodes in this 'Adventures in Washi' series:
Part 1:
youtube.com/watch?v=xUpLl7BZ_JY
Part 2:
youtube.com/watch?v=IsLigsmxzTQ
************************
Update: about the 'Cooking' stage
The cooking of the fibre was not done with boiling water alone. Although I 'missed the moment', Murata-san added Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate - Na2CO3) to the water as it was heating up. You can hear her mention '14%' at one place in the video, and this is in reference to the amount of mulberry fibre - the compound goes in at 14% of the weight of the dry fibre.
This is the method most commonly used by traditional papermakers these days. Industrial scale workshops use the much stronger Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH), but this is extremely damaging to the fibers. In the 'old days', a more gentle lye solution made from filtered wood ash was used, and Murata-san and I will be exploring this in future 'cooks'.
In the case of this particular cook, Murata-san felt (when it was all over) that she had probably let too much water into the cauldron, that this weakened the effect of the alkali, and the fibers thus had not fully separated.
Experience!
************************
The archive of the live Twitch stream from Murata-san's workshop that was referenced is here:
youtube.com/watch?v=AvjSaWL1JLs
(Thanks again to str8edgedude for his work preserving these!)
The Mokuhankan website:
mokuhankan.com/index.html
Our Twitch stream (live three times a week):
https://www.twitch.com/japaneseprintm...
The Mokuhankan Patreon:
patreon.com/mokuhankan
From Dave Bull, Tokyo-based woodblock printmaker and publisher, this video is the third in a series on Japanese papermaking, and takes us through the process of turning raw mulberry fibre into finished sheets of beautiful paper. The papermaking is done by Naho Murata, in her 'new' workshop in Echizen City, Fukui, Japan.
00:00 Cold open - the cauldron ...
00:30 Dave's introduction
02:02 Cooking the mulberry fiber
08:58 Interlude
10:13 Removing 'chiri' - bark scraps
11:31 Dave's comments on chiri removal
14:22 Beating and washing the fiber
18:30 Final preparation for rocking
23:31 Rocking the paper sheets
26:28 Drying the paper
30:54 Dave's comments
31:52 Testing the paper with a printing session
40:35 Dave's closing comments
The previous two episodes in this 'Adventures in Washi' series:
Part 1:
youtube.com/watch?v=xUpLl7BZ_JY
Part 2:
youtube.com/watch?v=IsLigsmxzTQ
************************
Update: about the 'Cooking' stage
The cooking of the fibre was not done with boiling water alone. Although I 'missed the moment', Murata-san added Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate - Na2CO3) to the water as it was heating up. You can hear her mention '14%' at one place in the video, and this is in reference to the amount of mulberry fibre - the compound goes in at 14% of the weight of the dry fibre.
This is the method most commonly used by traditional papermakers these days. Industrial scale workshops use the much stronger Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH), but this is extremely damaging to the fibers. In the 'old days', a more gentle lye solution made from filtered wood ash was used, and Murata-san and I will be exploring this in future 'cooks'.
In the case of this particular cook, Murata-san felt (when it was all over) that she had probably let too much water into the cauldron, that this weakened the effect of the alkali, and the fibers thus had not fully separated.
Experience!
************************
The archive of the live Twitch stream from Murata-san's workshop that was referenced is here:
youtube.com/watch?v=AvjSaWL1JLs
(Thanks again to str8edgedude for his work preserving these!)
The Mokuhankan website:
mokuhankan.com/index.html
Our Twitch stream (live three times a week):
https://www.twitch.com/japaneseprintm...
The Mokuhankan Patreon:
patreon.com/mokuhankan
