Here are some of the loveliest features from the Papermaking studio at Arrowmont, in Gatlinburg, Tennesee, where I just spent a week with a stellar 3D papermaking class of 12, assisted by Heather L.G. Bella:
This sweet little Valley / Voith beater lives outside in a roofed area between the Paper and Ceramics studios, along with the press and hotbox. Before arriving, I was concerned about having only a 1lb capacity machine for 14 people working with overbeaten pulp, but it did the job very quickly, overbeating abaca beautifully in 3.5 hours.
The Monster press, with a view of its Monster springs, built to an undisclosed papermaker's specifications. Most efficient!
A very nice feature was the washout station, inside the studio. But the major revelation for me is below:
The Hotbox!
It is located outdoors in the roofed area, opposite the beater and press. A small room containing sturdy drying racks, heaters, heat lamps, fans and a dehumidifier, we shared it with Heather Mae Erickson's Ceramics class, who used it to dry the incredibly precise plaster molds they were creating. (You can see a few of the last ones and an abaca piece in the photos). In here, I dried a cast kozo piece that would normally take 24 hours in just 3 1/2 hours! It's a 'harsh' dry, imparting a rougher feel to the kozo, and I would not use it for everything, but I will definitely be building one for my own studio (stay tuned)!