CHAPTER III
MANUFACTURE OF HAND-MADE
AND MOULD-MADE PAPERS
English hand-made paper is still looked upon as the best paper obtainable. Some fourteen firms still make paper by hand, and although the number does not increase, there is no sign of its diminution. The reduction of the rags to fibre was treated in the last chapter. Before leaving the beating engine the colouring matter is added; in the case of a white paper a small amount of blue is necessary to counteract the grey appearance which the natural pulp usually assumes. This is merely equivalent to the blueing which is resorted to for giving linen a bright appearance, and is not sufficient to tint the paper. If the paper is to be blue laid, azure, or yellow wove, smalts is the colouring matter used. This is an indestructible blue, being cobalt glass reduced to extremely fine powder, and is used for the highest grades of papers, but many hand-made papers will be found to be coloured with ultramarine, which is a very good blue, but not quite so durable as smalts. Coloured papers require different additions, some in the form of powders or dry colours, others in chemical solutions, which by combination produce the desired colour in the pulp. When thoroughly mixed, the pulp is let down to the stuff chests and kept in constant motion by revolving paddles. The vat at which the paper-
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