I really enjoy knitting and felting and making bags but there does not seem to be a market for these items. A nice felted bag costs me at least $30.00 in materials and I might be able to sell it for $30. Maybe. But common business sense tells me I am not going to get rich (or even afford a cup of coffee) selling things for the same it costs to make them.
I need to find something to sell that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg to make. I need to find something where the construction materials are dirt cheap.
I remembered reading something once about people making paper from elephant dung in Thailand. I don't have elephants, but I have alpacas. They make poop. Poop is free. And plentiful.
Paper it shall be. But first I needed to learn to make paper because not knowing how to do something has never been a reason to not do it.
You Tube here I come!
In a few short hours I learned a lot about making paper. Most processes started with uh.. paper. But I did find enough information to learn that I needed some basic equipment (frames, screens, couch papers..) Well - so much for a cheap enterprise.
The next day I was at the local second hand store and what should I find? A brand new paper making kit for $1.99! Never even been opened. It contained all the basic tools I would need along with directions that included pictures. How easy could it be?
I thought I would try something easy to start with. I took shredded newspaper and whirred it in a blender.
And I ended up with this.. a fine piece of thick gray paper.
I tried again but used college rule paper and added some plant life. (begonia petals to be exact)
And then again and added dandelion petals.
Feeling quite pleased with myself I felt it was time to try poop! I went out to the pasture and gathered up a nice fine FREE supply. I put it in a pot to boil. And boiled and boiled. Outside of course. In a second hand store pot. At this point I would like to add that Peter is not supportive of the PPP (Poo Paper Project). He kind of likes to use the alpaca poo for the garden and I will quote him here. "It's a shitty idea." Harummph to him I say!
After 2 hours of boiling and letting it cool down over night, I smashed it and smooshed it and then rinsed it through a screen, then through cheese cloth, repeatedly. I rinsed away most of the poop and I was left with this lovely stuff.
More rinsing resulted in even more fiber and less poop.
I was afraid that my remaining poo fiber was too fine and not enough of it so I added some paper pulp. I didn't use the blender - which would have been helpful I think, but Peter had this thing about putting poop in the blender he makes milkshakes with. I don't get it... all the boiling made the poop completely hygenic. I think he's weird.
The fact is, when all was said and done, I made poo paper:
Two days of boiling, soaking, rinsing, etc and I ended up with one sheet of 6" by 9" paper that isn't even usable. Not very encouraging. The materials might be free but I might have better things to do with my time. All is not lost though. I have learned a lot. I think I have learned how to do to better. I will try again because it takes more than one failed attempt to convince me to give up on an idea.
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