Flax fibers are new to me and they are a surprisingly lovely fiber to work with. I am used to fibers that are longer, when you look at the vat, the clumping pattern tends to be much smaller. I specifically wanted to use flax to make a paper that has a crisp feel and where I could score the edges easily to make a book jacket. I wanted the jacket to be bright and stand apart from the books surrounding it. So naturally, I decided to dye the whole vat bright yellow.
I prepped the fibers, blending the batches for around ten minutes each and adding retention aid. The yellow looked good when added to the mixture, the retention aid did its job, and it was bright! I pulled many sheets, as the vat got thinner, I added some freshly blended fibers. I ended up with a gradient exhibiting a variety of hues by the end.
The jacket still has yet to be made, but I pulled so many wonderful sheets I impulsively threw some into the laser cutter to be cut along with some Abaca and Kozo papers.
