The sustainable papermaking workshop at Studio An in Singapore is an interesting experience suitable for both kids and adults.
I chanced upon this sustainable papermaking workshop when browsing in Klook and decided to take the girls there before the June holiday ended - they really like crafting and Big E is big on recycling, so I thought they'd enjoy this rather unique two-hour workshop at Studio An. And guess what? They did!
The workshop started with the instructor explaining how recycled paper are made by breaking down used papers and natural materials. The studio provides the broken down cardboard, which are cardboard rolls from yarn rolls (they also do tufting), and leftover yarn, which you can add to your recycled paper for design. This is followed by a demonstration by the instructor. Thereafter you're free to start making your recycled paper for the rest of the two hours. The instructor doesn't hover around but is available if you need any help.
The process is actually quite simple. You start by scooping the pulp (blended cardboard) onto the papermaking frame.
Add any extras like the leftover yarn or your own dried flowers/leaves which you can bring along. Both additions turned out really nice! Dyes are available to dye your paper but the instructor explained that as the cardboard we're using that day are dark in colour, the dyes wouldn't show, so we skipped the dyeing.
Flip the frame over on a cloth and dry the pulp with a sponge. Then you repeat to make the next recycled paper.
Just to add that no chemicals are involved. There's a smell (but not too strong) that comes from cardboard being soaked in water but it's really just cardboard and water.
There's a learning to curve to getting the pulp off the frame and drying the pulp to detach it from the frame. Here's how it looks after it's removed from the frame.
There also needs to be enough pulp in the tray to fill the frame. When the pulp was low, we informed the instructor and she'd replenish for us.
Initially I had thought the girls might want to finish earlier because it seems quite "labour-intensive" with the pressing and drying of the pulp on the cloth but the girls wanted to keep going until their two hours were up. In fact, they wanted to make more so they could have more recycled paper at the end of the day!
The girls probably made around 20 recycled paper each, and these would be dried then mailed to us in two weeks' time at no extra cost. Here are some of the ones Big E made:
These are some of the ones Little E made:
The girls are very pleased with the end results! I would highly recommended bringing dried flowers to add to the recycled paper - they add to the texture and you can have fun combining them with the yarn to design your paper.
The workshop size is for 1-5 people but our girls were the only two participants on that day. The workshop room is small but there is a sofa where hubs and I could sit and wait at.
This is something you can learn to do at at home with used paper, newspaper, or any natural-based compostable material. You'll need a blender to blend the material into pulp and you can purchase the frames online on shopping platforms like Shopee (they are only a few SGD, I believe.) Still, I thought it was nice to have the hands-on experience first before we did this on our own!
This workshop is priced at $36/pax on Klook but I saw that at the current time of writing, there is a 25% discount which means it's $27/pax! This is an interesting experience and suitable for adults and children. I think children as young as around 5 or 6 years old should be able to tackle it but the younger ones may need a little help from parents at the stage where you dry and transfer the pulp to the cloth but of course, they can also ask for help from the instructor.
Studio An is located at 35 Kallang Pudding Road (Building A), Tong Lee Building, #05-03. Parking is available on site.
What fun workshops have you been to that you would recommend for kids? 😊
Disclaimer: We paid for our workshop, and my opinions and reviews here are strictly my and my family’s own.
©Vivian Teo. All content and photos are copyrighted to Vivian Teo unless otherwise specified.