Practical and innovative solutions are the hallmark of Gloria Zmolek Smith's Teaching Hand Papermaking: A Classroom Guide. This truly wonderful book offers a thoughtful and thorough explanation of how to teach papermaking in a classroom with 24 students, and how to incorporate papermaking in all aspects of the school curriculum. Although she states that her book is not a text on how to make paper and she encourages teachers to take a workshop to learn the basics, Smith's clear and precise instructions are more than adequate to guide a novice in the production of his first sheet of paper.
An art teacher turned paper artist, Smith offered papermaking workshops in schools and community centers for five years before assembling her book. As a result, her practical experience guides and informs what she writes and how she organizes it. Her descriptions and explanations are thorough without being encyclopedic. (She is quick to refer the reader to the bibliography for further enlightenment.) At the same time, her apparent - though low-key - enthusiasm for the medium is conveyed by the wide range of curriculum ideas offered in the book's second part.
To engage in a popular cliche, Teaching Hand Papermaking empowers the reader as a teacher. The early chapters on tools, materials and technique convincingly demonstrate that the messy business of papermaking is both possible and affordable in the classroom. Smith provides imaginative alternatives to traditional tools, using items found around the home or at garage sales. Her alternative to a stack dryer, for example, consists of a box fan, blotting paper and corrugated cardboard. In discussing technique, she anticipates problems students might encounter, then offers solutions and /or alternatives. She diagrams how best to configure classroom tables into papermaking stations. I especially appreciated the section on pulp as an art medium, since I imagine that many students could quickly become frustrated in attempting to produce a "standard" sheet. To cap off the how-to section, Smith offers a chapter of "Special Tips for Teachers".
Having taken the reader through the basic procedures, Smith offers wide-ranging suggestions on how papermaking can be integrated into both the arts and basic curricula. Especially strong here are applications in math and science: paper is used to demonstrate mathematical progression, hydraulics, and aerodynamics. This section also includes "Questions and answers on the Science of Papermaking" by Timothy Barrett along with his diagrams on paper chemistry. Concluding this comprehensive guide is an annotated bibliography, a section of reproducible handouts, a supply resource directory, and a well-defined index.
The text is well-illustrated - especially the techniques section - with numerous black-and-white photographs. Some of the photographs would benefit from better contrast (an improvement, perhaps, for the second edition), but each amplifies the text. Teaching Hand Papermaking is an excellent handbook and resource book: it deserves a place of honor on the bookshelf of every imaginative teacher.
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