Amate Paper

I used this paper to draw the Weekly Drawing Thread, drawing at Wet Canvas but found out quickly it is not the best paper for graphite. I know people use it for pastels and it could have looked better with the colored Derwent Drawing pencils because of the natural tone the Amate paper has. It does not show up much in the photograph.

"This bark paper is boiled and soaked over night until soft enough for the fibers to pull apart. It is then pounded using a rectangular rock with finger grooves until the pulp is evenly spread out in the shape the paper-maker wants.

The sound of people pounding pulp into paper can be heard echoing off the hills around the town of San Pablito in the Sierra Norte in Puebla.

The color and grain of the paper depends on the bark used to make it. The typical coffee color comes from the Jonote tree (ficus family), white from the Xalama Limón, and the silvery beige color from the Mora (mulberry family), to name just a few varieties. Years of practice let the Otomí artisans make different sizes and thicknesses - from poster-board to crepe-paper weight.

The paper is dried in the sun on the same boards where it is pounded and shaped."

More at this link......http://home.earthlink.net/~kering/amate.html

Tchnorati Tags: Amate, paper, Otomi, Jonote+tree