Origin

Kathmandu valley and Gorkha district, Nepal. Trashi Yangste, Eastern Bhutan

Fibre

Himalayan papers are made from the bark fibre of lokta (daphne bholua) or mitsumata (edgewothia papyrefera). These are native plants which grow at high altitude in the Himalayan forests. In Bhutan lokta is called de-nar. This fibre is a renewable resource. Plants are cropped above ground level and regrow from the radial root. They can be reharvested after 3-4 years.

How they are made

The stripped bark is boiled in an alkali solution which breaks down the lignin in the cell walls allowing the fibres to separate. Traditionally a lye of ashes was used for this purpose, formed by dripping water through a basket of hardwood ashes. In the last 20-30 years this has been replaced throughout Nepal by caustic soda. Caustic soda, however, damages the fibres producing paper that lacks the strength and durability of traditional Nepalese papers. Our lokta papers are the only papers produced in Nepal using soda ash instead of caustic soda. This does not harm the fibres and results in papers of a quality not seen in Nepal for a generation. The run-off can also be used as a fertiliser so the environmental impact is actually positive.

The fibre is beaten with a wooden hammer on a flat stone. Nepalese mountain papers and Bhutanese resho paper are made by churning the pulp in water and pouring onto a mould which is a wooden frame with a cotton cloth stretched over its surface. The mould is positioned in a shallow pool and the sheet is formed in water by spreading the pulp over the surface of the mould. The paper is dried on the frame which is propped up and angled towards the sun. This is the most primitive way of making paper, unchanged for over 1000 years.

Himalayan washi is made by the more sophisticated Japanese dipping and layering method called nagashizuki. The pulp is stirred up in a vat of water and the mould (suketa) is dipped into the vat. The mould consists of a fine bamboo mat (su) supported on a wooden frame (keta). A coagulant derived from the vegetable, occra, is added to the vat to aid sheet formation. The sheet is couched and the su mat peeled off the wet sheet. The papers are pressed and brushed onto zinc sheets to dry.

Bhutanese tsasho is the only traditional Himalayan paper made on a bamboo mould using a dipping method similar to nagashizuki. Sheets are brushed onto mud walls to dry. Tsasho paper has a distinctive laid pattern, the impression of the bamboo screen.

Himalayan papers are not sized but the fibre is naturally non-absorbent and these papers are used for pen & ink and various of printmaking techniques.