Historical Paper from Plants article

http://gardencollage.com/heal/mind-spirit/make-paper-plants-history-paper-comes/

Throughout history, paper has functioned as both a medium on which to create art and a mode of art in itself. At it’s most basic, we rely on paper to record information. Yet, there’s no limit to how elaborate paper can become, between the textures, materials, dies, and decorations that go into making one of Earth’s most natural products.

Even though we’ve become an increasingly paperless society, there are still centers dedicated to preserving paper as an art form. Today, paper making often goes hand in hand with bookmaking. The Center for Book Arts in New York City, for example, teaches workshops about bookbinding, and hosts artists exhibitions of their handmade books. At the Center, these elaborate books are on display as works of art unto themselves, composites of beautiful papers forming their aged pages. Given that we use paper to record, educate, share and inform, it makes sense to create it from materials that are essential to our lives, like foliage. Doing so manifests our delicate relationship with the nature, and the innovative and enduring ways in which it continues to give.