Introduction of the Month
Introduction of the Month gives you information about natural materials, experts, events or phenomena, which are actual in each month.
February 2011:Paper
- Details
- Created on Friday, 11 February 2011 09:33
- Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 January 2014 09:33
Paper from natural material 
Paper as we know it is mostly made of natural material. But what is really paper and how can it be so strong when it is so thin? Let’s look at the paper more closely under a microscope. Paper is made in a very much similar way as a carpet or a fabric. It is made of millions of short fibres that are bound together both by gripping each other and also by a very great number of weak chemical bonds. That means to make paper yourself you do not even need glue, the fibres attach to themselves naturally! Strange, is it not? Not really, since Nature is a cleaver engineer. Evolution has provided the fibres in plants and woods with an important task in the living natural material. They give strength to the plant, so that the plant can grow high above the ground and by that maybe win the competition of sunlight from the lower bushes and grasses. Therefore the fibres are designed to be long compared to their thickness and hollow inside, making them strong but still light weight, and also to easily attach to its neighbour fibres. Consequently, and problematically for us, the fibres are usually strongly cemented into the plant material and not very easy to remove. That is why special treatments are needed to obtain pulp fibres for paper.
According to history books, already 100 years BC an ancient Chinese named T’sai Lun discovered that the fibres from the inner bark of a mulberry tree can be used for making paper. Nowadays commercial paper is mostly made from wood, especially from different conifers (softwoods) like spruces, pines, fir, larch and cedar, and from different deciduous or angiosperm (hardwood) trees like birches, aspen, eucalyptus and acacia. Also crop fibres like bamboo, cotton and flax can be used for commercial paper.
From a local point of view, plants like wheat straw, reeds and willow also contain the necessary fibres needed for paper, perhaps then mostly to be used in small quantities and for special purposes.
Try to make paper at home: Take a little bit of an old news paper or white printing paper and tear it to small pieces in a beaker with a lot of water with a kitchen mixer. You can colour the pulp if you like. Distribute the wet thick pulp to a thin layer on top of a smooth plastic, metal or ceramics. Press it slightly to remove water. Let it dry or blow-dry it. Now you have made your own paper!
(Picture by Joakim Järnström, Åbo Akademi)
February 2011:Paper
- Details
- Created on Friday, 11 February 2011 09:33
- Last Updated on Friday, 11 February 2011 10:01
Paper from natural material Paper as we know it is mostly made of natural material. But what is really paper and how can it be so strong when it is so thin? Let’s look at the paper more closely under a microscope. Paper is made in a very much similar way as a carpet or a fabric. It is made of millions of short fibres that are bound together both by gripping each other and also by a very great number of weak chemical bonds. That means to make paper yourself you do not even need glue, the fibres attach to themselves naturally! Strange, is it not? Not really, since Nature is a cleaver engineer. Evolution has provided the fibres in plants and woods with an important task in the living natural material. They give strength to the plant, so that the plant can grow high above the ground and by that maybe win the competition of sunlight from the lower bushes and grasses. Therefore the fibres are designed to be long compared to their thickness and hollow inside, making them strong but still light weight, and also to easily attach to its neighbour fibres. Consequently, and problematically for us, the fibres are usually strongly cemented into the plant material and not very easy to remove. That is why special treatments are needed to obtain pulp fibres for paper.
According to history books, already 100 years BC an ancient Chinese named T’sai Lun discovered that the fibres from the inner bark of a mulberry tree can be used for making paper. Nowadays commercial paper is mostly made from wood, especially from different conifers (softwoods) like spruces, pines, fir, larch and cedar, and from different deciduous or angiosperm (hardwood) trees like birches, aspen, eucalyptus and acacia. Also crop fibres like bamboo, cotton and flax can be used for commercial paper.
From a local point of view, plants like wheat straw, reeds and willow also contain the necessary fibres needed for paper, perhaps then mostly to be used in small quantities and for special purposes.
Try to make paper at home: Take a little bit of an old news paper or white printing paper and tear it to small pieces in a beaker with a lot of water with a kitchen mixer. You can colour the pulp if you like. Distribute the wet thick pulp to a thin layer on top of a smooth plastic, metal or ceramics. Press it slightly to remove water. Let it dry or blow-dry it. Now you have made your own paper!
(Picture by Joakim Järnström, Åbo Akademi)
December 2010: Candles
- Details
- Created on Tuesday, 14 December 2010 13:48
- Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 November 2011 12:10
Winter is a time of candles
Candles can be made from stearine, paraffin or beeswax. The word ’stear’ is Greek and means tallow. Stearine can be obtained from grease, palm oil or fish oil.
Plates of beeswax are generally available, it is easy to roll candles of different shapes from it. The wax plates must be stored in the dark, wrapped in paper and at room temperature.
Paraffin wax is left-overs from the distillation process of crude oil. It is a waxy, transparent, odorless, tasteless, white matter.
Candles can also be made from soy wax, which is made from soy beans. These candles are biodegradable and can be composted.
Always burn candles on a non-flammable surface, and please remember that candles can fall over. Do NOT leave candles unattended or within reach of children.
December 2010: Candles
- Details
- Created on Tuesday, 14 December 2010 13:48
- Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 January 2014 09:33
Winter is a time of candles
Candles can be made from stearine, paraffin or beeswax. The word ’stear’ is Greek and means tallow. Stearine can be obtained from grease, palm oil or fish oil.
Plates of beeswax are generally available, it is easy to roll candles of different shapes from it. The wax plates must be stored in the dark, wrapped in paper and at room temperature.
Paraffin wax is left-overs from the distillation process of crude oil. It is a waxy, transparent, odorless, tasteless, white matter.
Candles can also be made from soy wax, which is made from soy beans. These candles are biodegradable and can be composted.
Always burn candles on a non-flammable surface, and please remember that candles can fall over. Do NOT leave candles unattended or within reach of children.
Special Introduction of the Month
- Details
- Created on Tuesday, 14 December 2010 13:45
- Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 January 2014 09:33
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