Seed Paper Making
Handmade paper with wildflower seeds that you can plant right in the earth.
When spring starts to come around, it is usually feeling very much like winter on the mountain where we live in Colorado. Being a native to flatter lands, I start to get garden fever and there is usually many more weeks of snow before we can dig into the soil. One of my favorite things to make while my family and I anticipate spring, is seed paper. We take down the basket of seeds and plot out the next season of gardening, I feel brightened as we envision the future plants we will tend through the summer.
Any seeds that are small and can be held by the fibers of the paper will work. We chose wildflower seeds and marigold seeds for this batch of paper. The paper can be shaped into sheets as well as molded into a shapes with cooke cutters. We use these papers for jotting down intentions we want to cultivate and see flourish in our lives for the summer. For May Day, a time when we don’t yet have many flowers growing in the mountains, we leave a few seed paper surprises for neighbors with simple planting instructions.
Making this paper is pretty simple and you probably have most of the ingredients on hand.
Supplies you will need:
Small pieces of paper cut or ripped up.
Cookie cutter shapes, a piece of thick cloth (flannel works best) and a screen.
A blender, water + seeds!
Instructions:
Add the ripped up paper to the blender, fill with water and blend untill smooth.
Stir in the seeds; don’t blend them!
Scoop the paper mash onto the fabric or screen and start rolling into sheets of paper and pressing into the cookie cutter shapes. In this step, you can press dried plant leaves, flowers and corn stalks. Squeeze out as much water as you can in this step.
Wait for the paper to completely dry. You can flip them over once one side is dry. We place ours in from of the fireplace to speed this step up!
Note: The thinner the paper, the lighter but less sturdy it is.
Once they are completely dry, share with friends and neighbors for a May Day Surprise!
