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We made a large piece of paper as a prototype, which measured 4x5 feet. We used the paper as a sign to promote the project, and to sell off sections of the paper in advance. |
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After calling 15 potential locations without any luck, Patterson Management Group donated 3600 sq. ft. of warehouse space at the Indiana Enterprise Center for our use. Our supplies for the project are gathered here. |
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We first laid down approximately 30 blankets, sheets, bedspreads and towels to measure slightly larger than the expected size of the paper we were about to build. |
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We began blending the shredded office paper with water through a garbage disposal to create our pulp. However, we overtaxed the disposal in the first hour of work, and ended up using 2 Osterizer blenders (one was 40 years old!) to make the rest of the paper. (Harriet Wittman, Pallas Stanford and Ellen Keese) |
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We mixed the pulp, wildflower seeds and water in a baby swimming pool on loan from Monroe County Parks and Rec. and scooped this pulp up on papermaking screens that were only 8 1/2 x11 in., 11x14 in. and 16x20 in. (Sheryl Woodhouse-Keese, Mary Ann Williams, Pallas Stanford, Harriet Wittman, Ellen Keese) |
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After the paper pulp was on the screen, we turned the screens over onto the blankets, and sponged away the excess water to transfer the paper onto the blankets. Each new piece slightly overlapped ones before it, to create the very large paper. Deb Christiansen and Joshua Martin laid down some of the first pieces of wet paper. |
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HaAnh Le worked on the middle section of the paper. 10 of the 36 volunteers were children or teenagers. Our youngest volunteer was 4 years old! |
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The finished piece of paper,
looking quite like the surface of the moon. The paper took 42 pounds of
used office paper, 200 gallons of water, 4 lbs. of wilflower seeds, 36
volunteers, and 18 hours to build.
The small fans in this picture did little to dry the paper. When the paper began sprouting prematurely about 4-5 days later, Rick and Larry who managed the warehouse brought us some industrial strength fans that completely dried the paper in 2 days. |
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The Twisted Limb staff laid down head to toe to show the scope of the paper for the video that is being sent to Guinness World Records. |
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The warehouse door was too small to get the paper out of, so our engineer and photographer, Richard, came up with the idea of rolling it up. We duct taped it at the edge to heating and cooling duct, and rolled it up in less than five minutes. This also helped separate the dried paper from the blankets underneath. |
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We carried it out of the warehouse and tied it down in the back of a 26 foot U-Haul. (on left-RichardTorstrick, Mary Ann Williams, Kim Cooley; on right--Emily Butwin, Karen Vavra, Lindsey Rhoeder, Kris Donnelly) |
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We displayed the paper in the Showers Plaza on Saturday, May 3rd, the opening day of the 2003 Farmer's Market season in downtown Bloomington. Members of the city council came out to officially measure the paper for our Guinness video. This is when we learned that we had made the paper 2 1/2 feet wider than planned. |