Can Leaves Be Turned Into Paper? DIY Experimental Leaf Paper 

I made paper last year from my old school notes and fresh mint and the mint made paper edges turn dark brown as if they have been burned on purpose, so that got me into trying out new textures and materials. Thanks to your videos I found out even more about how I should go around with the whole process as I'm thinking of using one after trying as many as I can way to make paper for my print making final. Thanks for inspiration, now I'm a bit sad for not finding this video at fall.. one dude printed his final on cement blocks so I have to step up my game for crying out loud!!

Bro…we could have been doing this for the last hundred years instead of cutting down trees

Instead of the stick and flat surface or chopping with the paint scraper, you should invest in a Mexican molcajete. They are like a mortar and pestle but with a more course surface. They're used to grind vegetables to make salsa but would be excellent for grinding down the wet leaves into finer pulp. They're around $30-$70 depending on the size you want.

Why not put the leaves in a blender or food processor instead of cutting with scissors? Then boil. That would make the paste much faster and easier than beating it. Strain that mash and press it to remove as much moisture as you need to. I’ve made paper myself and that is what I find is most efficient and produces a good product.

After doing experiments like this, don’t you wonder what it was like thousands of years ago when people had ideas to create things no one ever seen before and the processes they went through to finally come up with a finish product. We use paper all the time but who could sit down like you did and make it from scratch using your own imagination. Good work, it sure gives you a better idea of what it takes to become an inventor!

Did you notice that a cat is sneaking around in your professional paper making facility?

I have no knowledge on paper making nor leaves. But I couldn't stop thinking when looking you cutting down the leaves into 1" pieces: wouldn't it be easier, safer and much faster to stack a bunch of them flat on a board and slice with a knife? Just like when cutting herbs or pasta sheets in cooking. And if you don't need precise cuts and bit sizes, just put everything on the board and chop fast, you can even do it with one knife in each hand. Or even just put everything in a blender.

First off, use brown dry leaves that crumple in your hand. The ones that are not fully dried can make it difficult because the fibers don't break down as well. Boil until most all the moisture is gone, then blend or use a food processor. You're making it harder than it should be with too many steps. You are also putting the pulp in way too much water, thinning it out too much. Put on the screen, use a plastic putty knife to smooth it out and squeeze out as much water as you can. Place on something that won't hold on to it like the shirt does. And, to make it white, use real bleach. That's where the term bleaching comes from. I understand that you live in CA, and everything chemical there is going to kill millions of people, but people in other states use it all the time without harming anything. (I can say this as I was born and raised in CA until I was 15. Thankfully, we moved before my brain turned to mush.) Doing it this way, the paper should dry in about a day, not a week.

I see you have a cat. Could something colored but non toxic (beet juice?) be used to get paw prints on your paper?

One thing you sometimes see added to the paper pulp is actually a mild and dilute adhesive to promote bonding with the fibers. It does mean that the paper has to be transferred from the deckle before it finishes drying to prevent it from adhering too strongly, but it can help prevent fibers from being pulled out of the paper so easily. I suspect that the mucilage from the okra somehow replaced that in your previous grass paper. If you want your paper to be particularly white (for some reason) you can bleach the fibers and add in kaolin clay. The clay also improves surface durability but inhibits ink absorption to a certain degree. Almost all common white printer paper contains kaolin clay, or a similarly white and fine particulate clay. Chalk or talc would also work decently well. Another cool option if you were to take on making a white paper would be to finely shred some dried flower petals and toss them into the basin just before you go to make your paper. You don't want them to rehydrate, but instead just get trapped in the paper fibers to make colorful little confetti dots in the paper. If you live in the south and have access to what is known around here as a "Sweet Betsy Bush" (calycanthus floridus), try to get some clippings of new growth branches and twigs. You'll need to boil them and scrape the bark off to make them usable, but the process should be roughly the same as making washi paper. The wood inside these shrubs is particularly white and pliable, so the fibers should be well suited to the role of paper making. Their flowers also smell particularly nice, or at least I think so.

Brings a whole new meaning to the word "leaflet"

You should experiment with different types of leaves. Looks like you chose something in the rose family for this one (pears, apples, plums, peaches... all related to roses). I'd suggest trying leaves with a high lignin content, like oak, beech, or chestnut. Should give you a different fiber structure and a more durable end result, if the strength of the lignin itself doesn't interfere with processing. If it does, go the opposite direction and try something like green maple, linden, or mulberry leaves.

Ziplock bag=> cut corner=> Funnel!! 🎉

you might get a clear paper if you soak the leaves in soap water for three days and change the soap water every three days. typically this is used for making transparent leaves but I really want to see what the paper would look like if you got rid of everything but the leaf bones?

This is awesome. When I worked at a paper and pulp factory, we only used cotton and cotton fabrics to turn into the pulp. Sometimes we would use a hay-like grass, but it was the annoying one because after just one run, we would have to spend 2 days cleaning everything out. I did some research and found out that any plant with fibers could theoretically be turned into paper. Gave me the idea that even something like pineapples could be turned into paper but I never tried.

I really enjoy your voice overs and how you express curiosity. I tend to forget that its okay to be curious and experiment with art. I think your channel will be an incredible influence on how I approach creating going forward

If you have plantains (Plantago sp.) growing around you, they might make a good binder because the leaves get gooey when crushed. The seeds are what are used to make psyllium powder.

This just popped up as a suggested video. I made paper out of leaves in California in high school in Placentia, California in the mid 1980’s. So just wanted to see your success doing the same thing.

You can probably tan leather with that leave tea, since i assume that it contains a lot of tannins. Dog "bones" from rawhide are an easy way to get started. I've turned them into leather. But you should start with small quantities of rawhide, since you want to have enough tannins to finish the experiment.

Nothing like a nice crisp piece of loose leaf.