How to make papyrus at home. Secrets of Ancient Egypt: what is the technology for making papyrus? What is papyrus

Like the usual wood paper, papyrus is of plant origin. It is produced from the plant of the same name, which grows in abundance (now, however, the population of this plant has noticeably decreased) on the banks of the Nile.

The plant looks something like this:

The paper itself is made from papyrus stems, which are first cut into small pieces and then peeled, removing the green “peel”:

The remaining “white” stem is cut into strips. So far, before processing, these strips wrinkle very easily and do not look particularly durable:

After this, the white stripes become stronger. Now we need to put them in water for 6 days - if we ultimately need light paper or for 12 days if dark. After this time, we take out the strips and lay them crosswise on the fabric. First one vertical strip, then one horizontal, another vertical, another horizontal - and so on:

Cover the resulting canvas with another piece of cloth and place it under a press (in ancient times a heavy stone was placed on top) for another 6 days:

Do you want to write a mysterious message, draw a treasure map or make an interesting postcard? For this, it is best to use aged sheets of paper. They will look original, beautiful and at the same time slightly mysterious.

Learn how to age paper with your own hands at home. You can do this using several simple and quick methods.

  1. Take a regular sheet of A4 paper or other size.
  2. Brew some coffee. For a more saturated color, you can also use coffee grounds. Wait until the liquid has cooled to avoid burning your fingers while working.
  3. Now you need to take a baking dish of the appropriate size. Place the piece of paper you plan to age there. At the same time, it must fit completely on all sides, without peeking out.
  4. Add some plain water to the container, creating a small puddle under the leaf. Please note that it should not be completely covered with water.
  5. Start pouring the reagent into the mold. It is advisable to add coffee not in the center, but from the corner of the container so that it does not fall directly on the leaf.
  6. Leave the paper in the mold for 5 minutes until it is well soaked. Make sure there is liquid over the entire surface. If necessary, add a little more coffee to the specific area using a spoon.
  7. At this time, start preheating the oven to 90 degrees. While the paper is soaking, the oven will reach the desired temperature.
  8. Press the paper lightly with your fingers to help it adhere to the pan. Then you need to drain the remaining liquid by tilting the container over the sink. If you have another mold of a suitable size, you can transfer the leaf into it.
  9. If you want to add special elements to the paper - scratches or uneven edges, you can do this right before baking. While the leaf is wet, it will be better susceptible to various influences. Try running your fingernail in some places to create scratches, or make imprints with hard objects and tear the edges of the sheet in several places.
  10. Place the mold with the prepared material in the oven, it is advisable to mark it in the middle.
  11. Bake the sheet for 5-7 minutes. At the same time, watch how the paper changes during heating. As soon as its corners begin to curl, you can turn off the oven and remove the leaf.
  12. After you remove the paper from the oven, wait until it cools down. This will take about 15 minutes.
  13. Your aged paper is ready! You can start writing or drawing a postcard on it.

You can also use regular tea as a reagent for this method. Dip the bag into warm water several times to obtain a light dye. If you want a richer shade, you can make a strong brew from black tea.

There are also other ways to quickly artificially age paper; you can easily find videos and photos of these options on the Internet. For example, you can expose the sheet to fire or heat it on an electric stove. But with such methods you need to be extremely careful; they can hardly be called safe.



Now you know how to age a sheet of paper with coffee and tea, you can safely start creating beautiful antique sheets. The process itself will not take much time, and very soon you will get the finished result.

Aged paper looks very beautiful both in real life and in photos and movies; it will help give your message a mysterious and intriguing look. After all, how nice it will be to write on such a piece of paper lines of your favorite poem with gentle words or a pleasant wish for a loved one.

Even after the advent of the digital era, paper and ink continue to be widely used in all parts of the world. However, long before paper existed, the ancient Egyptians found a way to produce a prototype called papyrus. In fact, the word paper in many modern Romano-Germanic languages ​​comes from the ancient word papyrus.

Steps

  1. 1 Find a papyrus plant. Papyrus paper is made from a plant of the genus syt, which is a lightweight but durable reed. This plant can be purchased from papyrus nurseries.
  2. 2 Cut off the top of the plant with pruning shears. The cut should be made diagonally.
  3. 3 Remove the outer skin from the plant. If you are having trouble, take a pruner or other sharp object and use it to cut off the peel.
  4. 4 Cut the remaining papyrus pith into thin strips. Try to keep the strips approximately the same size and thickness.
  5. 5 Place the strips into which the plant core was cut into a bowl filled with water. Let them soak in water for at least 72 hours. The plant contains a number of natural sticky substances that must be removed when producing papyrus.
  6. 6 Place the papyrus core strips on a hard, flat surface. Take a rolling pin and roll the strips over the surface, squeezing out the moisture and smoothing them out.
  7. 7 Prepare dry linen or felt cloth. You will place strips of papyrus on it.
  8. 8 Spread the strips on the fabric. They should be folded in two layers, so that the stripes in the top layer are perpendicular to the bottom ones. The strips in each layer should overlap each other slightly so that they do not fall apart in the future.
  9. 9 Cover the folded strips of papyrus with another linen sheet.
  10. 10 Place the resulting layer of papyrus between two wooden boards and compress it. Place the papyrus sandwiched between the boards on a flat, flat surface and leave it under the gravity of the boards pressing on it. Every few hours, replace the wet linen with a dry one. This process should take approximately 72 hours.
  11. 11 After the papyrus has dried, smooth it out with a rolling pin. After this, home-made papyrus is suitable for writing.
  • Use fairly heavy wooden boards. In order for the strips of papyrus to be pressed against each other, quite a lot of pressure is required.
  • This work is quite suitable for practical classes at school.

Warnings

  • Wash your hands after handling papyrus. The sticky substance contained in the plant is toxic.
  • Do not soak papyrus strips in water for too long. If the adhesive is left to dissolve in water for too long, the papyrus strips will dry out completely and there will be nothing to hold them together.

What you will need

  • Papyrus plants
  • Secateurs for plants
  • Bowl of water
  • rolling pin
  • Linen fabric
  • Heavy wooden planks
  • Smooth flat surface

Last year, my friend visited the land of the pharaohs, Egypt, and, as expected, brought a souvenir - a decorative papyrus with images of Tutankhamun, Cleopatra and Nefertiti. Everything is very beautiful, one “but” - it’s just a piece of papyrus and fitting it somewhere turned out to be a real problem. After a long rest on the shelf, I decided to give the gift some thought. Bamboo would naturally fit such an image, but where can you get it? In construction stores they are sold only in bunches, and this is not a cheap pleasure. I didn’t rack my brains for long and looked on the Internet. The proposal to make bamboo from cardboard rolls (from cling film, for example, or from foil, parchment paper) also did not please me, because, as a rule, you always throw away all this treasure, but in vain. And so, with these thoughts, I was looking for a way out. One day I was walking past a trash can (no need to laugh) and saw an ordinary plastic water pipe. I happily brought it home, washed it and began working on a mat for Egyptian papyrus.

For the work I needed the following materials and tools:
- plastic pipe;
- linen cord;
- corrugated cardboard;
- black fabric (preferably velvet);
- PVA glue;
- paints;
- putty;
- acrylic lacquer;
- “zero” sandpaper;
- saw;
- scissors and stationery knife;
- brushes.

We take corrugated cardboard and cut out the base 5 cm (on each side) larger than the size of the papyrus.

We cut the fabric to the size of the base with an allowance of 3-4 cm in order to wrap around the edges of the cardboard.

Glue the fabric onto the cardboard and set it aside to dry. We saw the plastic pipe in half lengthwise. We measure and cut pieces 5-7 cm larger than the base (cardboard).

Now we use linen twine to imitate bamboo knots or so-called ribs. To do this, we simply wrap the twine around the pipe in several layers to create a fairly high tubercle, about 0.5 cm in height.

This should be done at approximately a distance of 15-20 cm, but there is no need to measure the gaps with a ruler. The uneven distance between the ribs will give our bamboo a natural charm.

After drying and sanding, you need to paint the bamboo ribs. This should be done as follows: the first stage is to paint the bamboo with brown paint, let it dry, the second stage is to highlight the most convex element of the assembly with black or dark brown paint.

Then cover the entire bamboo with lighter paint and use a dry brush to wipe off the paint in several places. Cover with varnish. Dry.

In the meantime, we glue our papyrus onto the finished mat (cardboard covered with fabric). We leave it to dry again and take up the dried bamboo. Now I will call the pipes that way, because they have really become like him. We need to make a frame. To do this, take twine and tie the sticks crosswise. You need to tie it very tightly!

Here is our frame.

Using a needle or awl, we pierce the passe-partout on all sides at an equal distance of 0.5 cm from the edge. We thread the twine through the holes, wrapping it around the frame. In the end it turns out like this.

This is how, with a small investment of money and time, you can get an exclusive, unique, designer piece of furniture.

Papyrus handmade is quite expensive. From this material you can make an exclusive postcard, a cover for a diary, a photo album, or a lampshade for a lamp. Nowadays, there are designer wallpapers made from such paper. Having studied the technological process in detail, you can make original papyrus with your own hands.

Instructions

  1. Before starting work, decide what shape and size you need to get a paper sheet. Think about what kind of decor you want to decorate and for what purposes you are using your work. Use waste paper of various colors, add colored threads to the pulp. Feathers and pieces of dried or living plants, as well as foil balls, will perfectly decorate the paper.
  2. Finely tear or cut the paper sheets, place them in a bowl, and then fill with warm water. Mix well and let stand for a day. If you want to speed up the process, boil for ten minutes.
  3. Add glue and starch. This is necessary so that the paper fibers are seamlessly connected to each other, and the future sheet becomes strong and flexible.
  4. Take a mixer and mix everything well, or knead it with your hands to get a homogeneous mass. Squeeze the resulting lump from the water.
  5. If you originally used gray or scribbled paper, you can bleach it with hair bleach. Dilute the resulting lump of paper fibers again with a small amount of water with the addition of PVA glue or starch.
  6. Take a basin or other deep vessel, tray or tray. Strain the resulting mixture through a frame with a metal or plastic mesh. Make sure that the layer is applied evenly.
  7. Start decorating. For this purpose, you can sprinkle seeds on top of the mixture. Place flower petals or crushed shells. Any small decorations that your imagination allows you.
  8. Prepare a stack of newspapers, lay a terry towel on top, and place the finished paper mass on it. Cover with another towel and place the press on top. Dry this way for several days, periodically changing wet towels for dry ones. You can speed up the process by using an iron or hair dryer immediately after the first blotting with a towel. But the accelerated version requires some experience. You can get colored paper if you wish. At the soaking stage, add dye.