Cornflower lokta paper
Lokta papers are made in the mountains of Nepal. The fibres from which this paper are made are obtained from a type of laurel bush that only grows at great heights. The bushes are temporarily damaged by stripping the bark. They regain normal growth in a few years ~ ready for a future harvest. This method of making paper has been going on for centuries, and scraps of it have been discovered and dated by archaeologists.
The sheet we show here has a sprinkling of blue cornflower petals embedded in it. All lokta papers are made entirely by hand, and the word 'sprinkling' is true ~ a handful of petals is thrown into the paper-making mould at the last minute so that the petals are trapped inside the paper. Every sheet has a different distribution of petals. I am not an expert on varieties of cornflower, but I suspect that these are different from the commonUK plant. More notes and examples on lokta papers are available [122241]. Lokta paper ~ especially this cornflower petalled version ~ is quite different from European supermarket paper [122242]. Inserting artefacts such as petals into paper is a common practice amongst artisan papermakers [126790]. It is important to note that most sheets of lokta paper are made in a large size ~ for which a handful of petals is an appropriate measure. The A4 sheets we describe here have been cut from them ~ in bulk ~ by guillotine. They have also been pressed to give one side a smooth enough surface to provide fair results in some printers.
