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Traditional Japanese paper!

Welcome to the Nik Nak Box!

Recently, I travelled to Japan (before the pandemic hit) and went to a small country town called Iiyama in the Nagano prefecture.

I had the fabulous opportunity to create a postcard using the traditional style of paper making, with the paper being called Uchiyama.

The paper is made from a natural bark in the region. The heavy snow the town receives is made advantage of in the process as the bark is spread over the snow, turning the bark white.

Here is a photo of how the paper is made:

Step by step guide to how we made the postcards!

Step 1: Filled the wood templates with the paper

The paper had been mixed into a large trough, along with freezing cold water and we were instructed to fill the templates by placing them in the water and sifting the paper through. We did this about 3 times, letting the water drain each time.

Step 2: Once the paper was evened out in the template, we then started to decorate the postcards. We used natural plants and paper to create whatever designs we desired.

Step 3: After we were satisfied with our designs, we cupped the watery paper from the trough in our hands and gently sprinkled this over the designs. This was done to make sure the designs did not move and there was some protection over them.

Step 4: The final step was drying the postcards. Our instructor had a special machine, sort of like a vacuum, that sucked all the water out.

You can see that the paper has gone white from the water being sucked out.

Even after this drying process, the postcards were left at the shop overnight to fully dry.

Our postcards were completed and ready for use and I was very happy with how mine turned out!