Yeah, I had an afterthought about drying the grass before-hand; that would probably make it similar to using straw. Upon doing some research, I found that when using woody plants for paper, using sodium carbonate (washing soda, different than sodium bicarbonate or baking soda) is good to use. If a stronger effect is desired, use sodium hydroxide or lye. WEAR your gloves and goggles and remember to always add the lye to water never water to lye (it may splash into your face).

I’d only caution about boiling bleach because of the release of chlorine. Heating bleach would make it highly aggressive (read: dangerous) until the chlorine dissipated. In addition to using a ventilator, I’d use a respirator, open all the doors and windows and turn on all the fans; but I’m fairly paranoid about evil gasses!

An alternative to chlorine bleach might be oxygenated bleach (like Oxyclean) which would help to cut the color, if that is what is desired. Whenever I make paper, I only add a bit of chlorine bleach to the pulp to prevent stuff from growing in the water.

I probably should post a follow-up to how my paper actually looked when dried. The grass/pulp blend dried with a beautiful cream color, no chemicals necessary! The pure grass paper dried to a lovely golden color and smells like fresh hay. (A contrast to the vile cooked grass smell it had when fresh!)

1) use allready dry clippings, and pre-blend prior to cooking. This improves the fineness of the end product, and reduces processing time somewhat.

2) USE BLEACH. Take the pre-blended, dry clippings and add about a cup of straight bleach. This will produce prodigious ammounts of foam, as it breaks down various protien compounds inside the grass. It also helps to soften the grass fibers themselves somewhat in a chemical manner. Adding bleach prior to cooking replaces the “Boiled grass” smell with “My god, boiling bleach!” smell, but at least then you can blame it on cleaning the bathroom………… USE A VENTILATOR!

3) Cook for several minutes, until you start to see bits of the grass floating in a manner simmilar to a very coarse pulp. STRAIN the mixture through a section of polyesther or nylon fabric (tight weave– an old sheet works well) and squeeze out all the liquid. Place the wrung out chunks of coarse pulp back into the blender, and add a fresh cup of bleach. Blend on low setting. YOu will notice a temporary lightening of the fibers– this is good, since we want to disolve all that nasty stuff in the grass to get a nice light colored paper…. Blend until smooth and creamy, by slowly stepping up the power on the blender. If it is too thick add more bleach. try to avoid adding water at this stage.

4) Once nice and creamy, return to the cookpot and cook some more. If you notice any separation (heavy bits going to the bottom of the pan) while cooking, then simmer at medium heat for 15-20 minutes, then return to blender and blend again. Keep cooking/blending until it no longer separates, and has a decidedly ‘cream of wheat’ consistancy.

5) Strain again through the cloth. Be sure to wash the cloth first from the previous straining, to remove any large fiber chunks that evaded blending. Once strained, return to blender for the final time, and add another cup of bleach. Blend throughouly. You will notice by now a DECIDED lightening of the product, and it should even RESEMBLE cream of wheat completely by now. (If not, keep blending-cooking-blending-cooking-straining-bleaching until it does).

6) Cook on medium heat several minutes. If the mixture darkens, strain immediately, and add more bleach. Once the mixture remains light, fluffy, and cream colored after prolonged cooking it is time to strain, and RINSE.

7) Take the strained chunks and return them to the pan. Add hot water to re-melt the chunks into fluffy paste. Cook on the stove 15 to 20 minutes longer. Strain through the fabric again, return the chunks to the pot, and add water— repeat 3 times. By the end of the 3rd washing, your pulp should be more or less bleach free, and ready for couching.

Thin the mixture in your pot to a suitable consistancy, and pour into your resevior. Get out your mold and deckle, and prepare some paper. The grass clippings from my lawn made a nice cream colored paper this way.

And I think I’m going to have to catch my dad to get a photo of him in those shirts…

Who knew grass could smell so vile? :O

P.S. Can we see pics of the shirt you made for your dad?