How to Make Long Continuous Handmade Paper Without a Full-Length Mould

Here, continuous means one connected piece assembled before drying. Each section begins on the same small mould, and the joins become part of the finished strip. The overlapping areas contain additional paper, so plan for transverse bands rather than an entirely uniform surface.

Wet joining is documented beyond small craft projects. Papermaker James Kleiner describes assembling a large sheet from freshly made, pressed flax sheets, overlapping their edges and letting them dry together on netting. That supports the underlying technique, although it does not establish how a particular recycled-paper pulp will perform. “Old and New: Learning and Adapting Traditional Hand Papermaking”.

For a drawing strip, decide where those bands can sit before you begin. You might place them between planned images or incorporate them into the composition. If an uninterrupted, even drawing surface is essential, make the two-sheet trial below before committing to the full length.

Gather the following:

• A small rectangular mould and matching deckle.
• A vat large enough to dip that mould comfortably.
• Prepared papermaking pulp, or plain scrap paper, water and a blender for preparing recycled pulp.
• A continuous length of couching fabric, wider and longer than your planned strip.
• A flat, water-resistant support beneath the entire fabric.
• Additional fabric or non-fusible interfacing, absorbent towels and a sponge.
• A ruler and alignment marks placed beside the working area.

The mould is the screened frame that catches the fibres; the deckle is the frame placed above it to define the sheet edges. A basic home papermaking setup uses these tools with a vat, pulp, couching material and a sponge. Florida State University’s Museum of Fine Arts provides an illustrated introduction to that equipment and the sheet-forming process. “The Art of Craft: Handmade Paper (And How to Make it at Home)”.

Choose your long support before preparing pulp. Hand Papermaking recommends supporting wet paper on a portable, water-resistant surface and identifies non-fusible interfacing as a useful couching material. For this project, use one uninterrupted strip of fabric where possible, so fabric seams do not coincide with your paper joins. “Couching and Felts”.

Lay everything out at full length. If you cannot accommodate the wet strip and its drying support, shorten the first project. Removing the need for a long mould does not remove the need to support the assembled paper.

Calculate the length lost at the overlaps before pulling your sheets. For equal sections, use:

Assembled wet length = number of sheets × sheet length − number of joins × overlap

A strip made from seven sheets has six joins.

For an illustrative layout, suppose each wet section is 30 cm long and you try a 3 cm overlap:

7 × 30 − 6 × 3 = 192 cm

Six sections would give 165 cm. Seven therefore provide more working length for a nominal 180 cm project. These are planning dimensions, not measured drying results; the 3 cm overlap is a trial choice, not a universal specification.

Measure the dried two-sheet trial to learn what your own pulp and drying method produce. Use that result when planning a precise finished length. Keep the same mould orientation throughout: the sheet dimension running along the strip must stay consistent.

Make two sections using the pulp and approximate thickness intended for the final piece. Join them with your chosen overlap, press them and let them dry completely. This small trial checks the entire process rather than only whether two wet sheets appear to stick.

Inspect three things: whether the overlap remains connected during normal handling, whether its thickness suits your intended surface, and whether the paper releases cleanly from the fabric. Record the overlap and the finished dimensions. If you want to roll the finished strip, gently curve the dried trial as well.

Keep the first trial plain. Decorative additions can wait until the basic paper and join behave as you want. Landes’s documented example uses prepared abaca paper; treat it as evidence for wet joining, rather than a prediction that every homemade pulp will have the same properties. “casting on edge”.

Form the first sheet

Dampen the couching fabric evenly and smooth it over its support. Stir the pulp in the vat, dip the mould and deckle, and bring them out horizontally. Gently distribute the fibres as water drains, then remove the deckle. The museum tutorial describes this sequence for forming an even sheet. “The Art of Craft: Handmade Paper (And How to Make it at Home)”.

Transfer—or couch—the first sheet onto the fabric. Lower one edge of the inverted mould and roll it across in a controlled movement, then lift it away. Drain sufficiently before inverting, and keep the receiving fabric evenly wet: both are identified as important couching conditions in Ted Snider’s technical explanation. “Couching”.

Overlap the next wet sheet

Form a second sheet of similar thickness. Align it with the first so its leading edge covers the selected overlap. Couch it onto the same long fabric, with the overlapping portion landing on the previous wet sheet. Do not place a separating cloth between the paper layers at the join.

Use marks beside the fabric to maintain the width and overlap. Check the mould’s placement before making contact; avoid dragging a newly couched section sideways to correct alignment. The documented small-mould method is to place wet sheets beside one another with overlapping edges until the desired size is reached. Western Sheet Forming Techniques.

Extend the strip

Continue one section at a time, keeping the joining edges wet and using the same overlap direction. Re-stir the vat before each pull. Aim for comparable formation throughout, and pause to check alignment after every transfer. Leave the assembled paper on its supporting fabric while you work.

For a first strip, use a sponge-based pressing method rather than trying to fit the whole piece into a small press. Cover the wet paper with clean fabric or interfacing, then press through that cover with a sponge. Wring the sponge repeatedly and work across the whole strip, including every join. Helen Hiebert describes this low-tech method for removing water from handmade sheets. “How to Make Your Own Paper”.

For the long-strip adaptation, work in manageable sections while leaving the remaining length supported. Apply pressure vertically rather than rubbing along the paper. If an area shifts or wrinkles, stop and inspect it before continuing; pressing harder is not a useful substitute for correcting the setup.

Leave the paper attached to its couching material for drying. Hiebert identifies drying on the couching material as a simple option, followed by peeling the paper away when dry and flattening it under weight if needed. For this first long strip, retain the full-length support instead of transferring the wet paper unsupported. “How to Make Your Own Paper”.

Allow the entire piece, including the overlaps, to dry before release. Peel gradually, supporting the released portion as you go. Keep the first finished strip flat while you assess its joins and surface.

Use the trial to choose one adjustment at a time:

What you observe	What to check or try next
A join separates	Confirm both edges were wet when joined; test a wider overlap and more even pressing.
A join feels too bulky	Try thinner sections before reducing the overlap; compare both appearance and connection.
Paper remains on the mould	Review drainage, fabric wetness and the couching movement.
The strip curves sideways	Add alignment marks and check placement before each transfer.
Fabric removal disrupts the surface	Test another couching material on a small sample before repeating the long strip.

These are diagnostic trial changes, not fixed settings for every fibre. Couching depends on sheet formation, drainage and the receiving surface, while fabric texture can transfer to the paper. Those conditions deserve attention before changing several parts of the process together. “Couching”; Western Sheet Forming Techniques.

Start with a two-sheet join, use its dried dimensions to plan the full strip, and keep every section supported through pressing and drying. Once that trial gives you a surface you like, the same small mould can build a longer piece one wet overlap at a time.

• Western Sheet Forming Techniques
• casting on edge — Barbara Landes
• Old and New: Learning and Adapting Traditional Hand Papermaking — James Kleiner
• The Art of Craft: Handmade Paper (And How to Make it at Home) — Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University
• Couching and Felts — Helen Hiebert, Hand Papermaking
• Couching — Ted Snider, Hand Papermaking
• How to Make Your Own Paper — Helen Hiebert, Artsy