Recycled Paper


I received a birthday surprise in the mail.  Above and beyond my normal birthday cards, I received a card from the owner of my company and included inside of it was $100 visa gift card.  For a long time, I have been wanting to trade out my ten year old paper shredder that jams up all the time with a shredder that gives finer shred.  Since it was still in working order, I could not justified it. 



Paper Press

I shared a few weeks ago that I bought a small paper maker for recycled paper.  I was thinking about how long that it was going to take to rip that paper into small pieces.  Then the idea popped into my head ~ ping!  I think it was spawned by the brightly colored birthday card envelopes.  I wanted bits of those colors in my recycled paper. 


Junk mail and paper to be shredded

I decided to use the gift card to buy a new shredder that I could shred paper for making paper.  When I brought it home, I shredded my birthday card envelopes, some newspapers, and some other junk mail.  You know some junk mail has pretty nice color in it.  I just needed to make sure that there wasn't "shiny or glossy" paper because that would not break down enough.  

Shredded paper to recycle

The bottom sample is dry and the top sample is freshly pressed and still wet paper.  You can't fold it because it is a heavier paper. 


Samples of Recycled Paper

It can be cut, written on and used as a background base for a birthday card.  I can't wait to see how I decide to use it.  (I have too many projects going on right now to think about the plans of how to use it.)  When the pieces dry, I will pack them up and put them away for a time.  I also have a few more pieces of tissue paper to shed into the mix and then I will empty the tray so that I have a good base for making more paper later.