Saturday, July 14, 2012

Handmade natural paper in Kalimpong

A writing pad made out of
handmade paper
While in Kalimpong, we heard of a handmade paper factory. I was really keen on visiting this place, I am quite hooked on to natural products.

I am  happy we visited this place, worth the effort. I was fascinated with the entire process of manufacturing paper manually!
What I gathered from my conversation with the person who was supervising the work was that the paper comes from a shrub, the local name of which is Argaylee.

This shrub is indigenous to this region, usually found at altitudes between 2000-3000 metres in the Himalayan region. The bark from the shrubs is used to make paper. The technique I believe is Japanese, and quite ancient.

Dried bark of the shrub
Paper sheets

The bark is cleaned and boiled. The pulp that is obtained from boiling the bark is then processed. It is processed with wooden receptacle, wooden frames, and bamboo screens that is used for handsifting the pulp. The wet sheets that are obtained from this process are dried under the sun. It is a time taking and laborious process, but quite interesting. The papers are then dyed with natural dyes to arrive at the final product. 


A carry bag made out of  handmade paper

3 comments:

Anu said...

Very interesting! And what a novel / natural way to make these papers! They should be of great quality!

Ashley Mendis said...

Dear Sir,

Can anyone get me a contact with this paper factory. I like to visit it.

Thank you
Ashley Mendis

Ranjana Jha said...

Hi Ashley,

The contact details are given below-

Himalayan Handmade Paper Industry
K D Pradhan Road, Kalimpong Central, Kalimpong - 734301

Phone: 09932388321

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Ranjana