Andrea, Salento's paper maker

Jan 26, 2016 849

I can smell the scent of laundry cleaned with hot water and ashes, which reminds me of my grandmother's home. In fact, it's the basic wash that Andrea uses to get impurities out of fiber in a huge vat, before using a special sieve to lift out a block that is about half a centimeter tall. To me, it's magic. He says, "Look: it's paper," and goes on to blot and hang it to dry.

Andrea used to be a commercial artist, but now makes paper according to ancient methods and prints with typographic techniques everyone else has forgotten. He leads us to the courtyard that faces his small garden, and tells us about the papermaking process, step by step.

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Source: http://www.italianways.com/

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