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Paper Making Experience at the Blended Monkey Studios - May 2026

  • Writer: siloutaggart
    siloutaggart
  • May 23
  • 3 min read

Updated: May 24

Today's lovely small group of students enjoyed paper making in the Blended Monkey gardens.


Today's paper making experience taught by our guest tutor Zakiya - bookbinder & junk journal artist from Fanoggins - was a great success. We had a small but perfectly formed group of students who learnt how to create their own unique papers from scratch. We held the experience in our outdoor covered workspace - the weather was warm with a slight breeze, so ideal for drying the papers.


The morning started with Zakiya demonstrating the processes. She showed everyone what consistency of pulp was required and how to ensure there are no bubbles in the mix; the correct way to use the mould and deckle; plenty of tips and tricks for ensuring you get perfect results with your paper making; and how to turn out the paper on the couching material.


We hung the papers on lines in the garden and they dried out quite quickly. Those made towards the end of the session will be posted out to the students once the pages are sufficiently dry.


We fuelled the group's creativity with regular drinks and some tasty home-baked refreshments.


While enjoying their well-earned lunch, I took a video of some of the papers drying outside in the sunshine.


After lunch, the students continued with their paper making. Some used dried flowers and seeds; some experimented with the natural dyes and inks.

This was a really lovely, relaxing experience - I'm interested to see how the students use their papers in the future. Some of them are just too beautiful to give away!


If you missed out on this wonderful workshop, Zakiya is teaching it again in July:


PAPER MAKING - Full Day Including Lunch - Blended Monkey Studios

- Sunday 12 July - £95.00


BOOKBINDING & JOURNAL MAKING - Full Day Including Lunch - Blended Monkey Studios

- Saturday 26 September - £80.00


All our experiences make lovely crafty GIFTS & you can also purchase open certificates so the lucky recipient can choose their own experience.

Here's the link for our gift certificates:

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We can also provide private bookbinding, journal making & paper making experiences for parties or friend groups. We can come to you, host in the Blended Monkey studios, or at a venue of your choice!

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REVIEWS


"I had a truly wonderful day at Blended Monkey Studios. From the warm welcome on arrival to the expert tuition throughout, the whole experience was first class. Zakiya’s guidance in the art of papermaking was clear, patient and encouraging, making the process both enjoyable and accessible. I left feeling confident to try papermaking at home and inspired by the creative possibilities.

Thank you also for accommodating my specific dietary requirements — it was very much appreciated – as were the timely refreshments throughout the day.”


- Sarah -


"Absolutely fantastic day making paper with Zakiya at Blended Monkey on the Norfolk/Cambridgeshire border - made even better by the incredible weather enabling us to work outside in the shade of a gazebo.

Depending on what you intend the paper for, we could decorate the sheets using flowers from the garden or graft materials such as metallic foils. Some awesome sheets were created.

From my perspective as I am studying historic papermaking at the moment it was wonderful to find that we were following the whole process from scratch - using waste paper (junk mail) to make the pulp before forming the sheets. The warm weather ensured that most of the paper we made was dry enough to take home with us but anything that was still wet will be posted to us.

Drinks and snacks were available throughout the day with a marvellous lunch during a mid-day break.

Blended Monkey is highly recommended for an authentic papermaking experience.”


- Sue -






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