Thursday, September 07, 2006

My blue jeans could be paper

My friend and I drove up and down from Mazamet to Carcassonne trying to find the mill that made paper by hand www.moulinapapier.com

We had seen it advertised on the paper place mat as we ate under the trees in Carcassonne and talked to the family with the identical twin girls (who looked a bit like Dakota Fanning had she been blond at three).

At the time it had seemed simple, but we missed the small sign among the scenery. Just as we were about to give up after a couple of hours in what should have been a 20-minute trip, my friend spied the small blue arrow with our destination. We turned and missed the next sign, but finally we reached the parking lot.

We still needed to walk through the woods along a small brook that bubbled and gurgled until finally we found the mill.

As a child two friends and I had tried to make paper. We made a mess instead, but our basic techniques were on track.

Not only did I learn that paper could be made from blue jeans, I learned it could be made from elephant dung, and that paper had been used by a winery to print its labels.

When I see another piece of beautiful hand-made paper, I will never take it for granted again whether it is made from cloth, plants or dung.

No comments: