••• :cherry_blossom: Making Recycled Flower Paper || Masterpost || :cherry_blossom: ••• #Flowerfondness #OWC #PWSpotlight

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Making Recycled Flower Paper

•••Masterpost•••

#PWSpotlight

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All images have been sourced from Pinterest

For this week's challenge I thought I'd make a post about making and using recycled paper in your craft and magick, and how to incorporate flowers and plants into this practice.

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I personally have not yet created my own recycled paper, but I long to do so in the near future. It's not only one of the most eco friendly things we can do with leftover newspapers, scrap paper, leaflets, junk mail, ripped envelopes and more, it's also a huge chance to create something floral, magickal and unique to use for your practices.

I've watched many videos of how to make recycled paper, and the process is tedious for each page. This makes it the perfect meditative practice for a witch who wants to create some intentional magick paper, and using specific floral correspondences to help aid in the magickal workings of your spell. You can also use acrylic or watercolour paint in the water you use to tint the paper to whichever colour you associate with whatever intent you wish to create. There's so many creative aspects to this craft that you can do so many individual and unique things whilst making paper!

The basics of making paper are quite simple. You will need:

• Water

• Paper scraps

• Some fibrous plants / stems if you wish

• Blender

• Tray

• Mould and deckle (two frames which hold a mesh    sheet between them) - I will also show you how to make paper without one if needed.

• Pressed flowers / plants

• Water absorbent towels/fabric

• Rolling pin

• Sponge

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Step #1

Firstly, you want to get all your paper scraps and rip them up into small pieces, and soak them in water in a 1:1 ratio for about an hour, or overnight if you have time. This will ensure that the paper is more broken down and easy to blend into a smoother consistency later on.

Step #2

Fill up your tray with water about ½ way (if you're using a mould). If not, leave it empty for now. The tray should be large enough to handle your mould and deckle so make sure to consider this when choosing your sizes.

If you don't have a mould and deckle, you can make one in the meantime if you have the resources. If not, you will just use the tray and some towels and fabrics for the next parts.

Step #3

Once your paper is soaked, you can warm it up in a saucepan to break it down and bring out the fiberousness of the material if you don't have a blender. Here you can add your stems and fibrous plants too. You can do this step anyway to help the paper bond better, but you will have to let it cool after which will take more time. If you choose to warm it, you can keep doing so until it becomes mushy, and you can use a fork to help separate the pieces into a fine texture. Once it's at a consistency you like, let it cool until continuing to the next step. If you're using a blender, blend the paper up with its water until it's pretty smooth.

Step #4

ONLY DO THIS IF YOU'RE USING A MOULD!

Dump your pulp into the tray of water and mix it well. Here you can add some food colouring or paint to tint the paper, as well as your pressed flowers and plants and anything else you want.

Step #5

If you are using a mould and deckle, now is the time to place it into the water and submerge the mesh with the mixture so that you get an even layer of mulch onto your mould. Whilst it's still fairly inside the water, arrange the flowers and plants however you want, and then lift the mould gently out of the tray and onto a towel.

Step #5.2

If you're NOT using a mould, you should now have a pot of cooled paper mulch waiting to be used. It should be of quite a thick consistency. Put a sheet of your absorbant fabric onto your tray and dump all the mulch onto it. Pick it up and squeeze the mulch inside to rid of excess water. Then, put it aside and leave the excess water inside your tray. Get your tray and put another one of your absorbant fabrics at the bottom.

Step #6

Now, add some of your mulch into the tray and begin spreading it out into a square shape, using the water to help guide it better. Add more water or mulch depending on the thickness and size of the paper you want to make.

Step #7

Once you have created a fairly flat, square shape, take the fabric out of the water and place it onto a towel. Put the second sheet of fabric on top of the mulch and begin to absorb and press onto the fabric with your sponge, extracting as much water as possible from the paper. Once you don't seem to be getting much water anymore, again move the fabric, with the second one on top too, onto a flat surface / countertop.

Step #8

If you used a mould, it's now placed on a towel still intact. Open up the mould and flip it onto your absorbant fabric faced down, so the paper is now faced down to the fabric. On the back of the mould, blow across it to release the paper from its grip, and use the sponge to guide it if necessary. Once it falls completely onto the fabric, cover the top side with another sheet of absorbant fabric as well. Repeat the water extraction technique with the sponge, squeezing the water back into the tray as you go along.

Step #9

Regardless if you used a mould or not, now your paper should be placed between two sheets of absorbant fabric on a flat surface. You're now going to gently use the rolling pin, still on top of the fabric, to roll and flatten the paper even more to make sure that it's as even as possible. This is an important step in insuring that the paper is as consistent and flat as possible without any creases or unevenness.

Step #10

Once you've rolled your paper and it seems even enough, remove the top sheet of fabric and flip the paper gently onto a towel or cling film covered flat surface to air dry. You can peel off the fabric which was at the bottom and use them for your next sheet of paper. To dry the paper you could also use an iron on top of the fabric or blow dryer to speed up the process. Be careful with the iron and constantly check the paper to prevent burn marks.

Step #11

Repeat!

Once your papers are all dry you can press them between or under heavy piles of books to ensure their flatness and shape, and voila! You have your very own handmade paper!

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Now I will talk about some tips and tricks for making recycled paper and what you can use it for, including some of my own original ideas which I would love to try someday.

:heart: An amazing thing that you can add into your paper mulch is seeds!!! I absolutely adore this idea because I've seen many people make plantable paper, but it also fits in so well with witchcraft and intentions. You can add the seeds of the flowers and plants which best suit your intention, and then you can plant the paper with your intention written on it and grow it as your intention grows within you. It's one of the most genius things you can do with this because you will be watching and caring for your flowers and plants whilst you can physically nurture yourself and what you want to gain from it at the same time.

:cherry_blossom: To even spice things up, you can use moon or solar water to boost your spell, and even reuse the flowers to make more paper once they've grown, or dry them and use them in further spellwork to reach your desires. If your flowers are edible, incorporate them into kitchen and tea magick as well! Then you are literally consuming and inhabiting your intentions, and no doubt you will achieve them with that amount of energy and care going into it.

:yellow_heart: You can use these papers to bind your own intention book, book of Shadows, book of mirrors, your own tarot deck/ oracle deck, affirmation cards, gifts/ cards to family and friends and even a book with pages corresponding to each sabbat so you can plant your flowers when the time is near and not have to worry about finding all sorts of crops and seeds when the time comes!

:green_heart: You can create pages with different colour and flower correspondences according to the moon phases and annual moons. On each one you can write your intentions on it and either make ones with seeds you would like to grow and attract, and ones without can be degradable into the soil and used for banishment and protection into the foundations of your home.

🧡One of my favourite ideas is incooperating magickal herbs and spices into the paper too! Such as coffee grounds, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin spice (bc who doesn't love some pumpkin spice Samhain magickal paper amiright), and basically all herbs and spices that are flat or ground! This not only gives your paper a lovely texture but also a wonderful aroma. Play around with some essential oils as well! I would recommend adding drops of this once the mulch is already on the cloth though, not whilst it's in the tray with the water. The oils might loosen the mould and deckle and ruin your crafts so just be careful but it's an opportunity for good scent magick too!

:blue_heart: I also came up with a nice extra idea for all you mega crafty witches out there - make your paper with seeds, and then once it's dry draw and cut out the outline of the very flower/plant that it's going to grow into and write your intention on the back and plant it! You can even blend some bay leaves (or other plants) into your paper mulch and dye it green, so you can make some longlasting bay leaf paper to burn for wish spells without having to use an entire bay leaf for only one wish. This way you can write all your intentions on it in large, and use it a little at a time to burn over a long period of time if you're doing a bonfire.

:herb: Another great thing about this is that you can use this bayleaf method instead of having to buy edible ink pens when trying to imbed bayleaf magick into your kitchen spells, and instead you can just leave the bayleaf in your food and connect it through the plant itself to your magick paper so that whatever you write on it automatically transfers into the clean bayleaf that's in your concoction 🥰

:purple_heart: You can also use these papers to see how your friends are doing. If you tell them each to write their name on it or an intention such as " through this seed you shall see/ my wellbeing and mind and health, this is the key/ so mote it be." And then when you grow this flower/ plant (keep it the same one for everyone so it's clearer over time) it will show you the state of your friends' wellbeing and if they are doing well.

:cherry_blossom: For this you have to ask their permission, and their own handwriting will connect the paper / seeds to them even if they are far away. Especially at a time where we are all disconnected from physical , I think this is such a nice spell to do to connect you to your friends in a more meaningful way. If you have to write their name or intent yourself, it will still work, but make sure to have their consent first :relieved:

🤍 For all you witches who struggle with studying and/or want to do something to help you focus better, something you can do is use these papers to write some of your study notes on, (and obviously copy them elsewhere too), and then plant them inside/ outside to help increase your focus and stamina for academic studies. You could even use old school notebooks if you've kept them to revive the inner ionate child that you might have been when you were younger, and use those notes from your early years to get back to what you love most.

:sparkling_heart: In addition, for the witchy writers, you could use some pages from old fictional books that you don't read anymore but enjoyed reading to make your paper, and then use them for spellwork to bring you more creativity and inspiration for your writings and creativity :sparkles:

:blue_heart: You could use rain/moon/sun/storm/local/ celestial water to make your paper for extra boosts in weather spellwork, and let your papers dry outside (securely) in the wind to boost connection to the wind and methods such as anemoscopy when you can use the paper to ask your questions.

:green_heart: The last thing I came up with was using these papers to plant positive intentions for the environment and local green areas by planting these papers in local parks and gardens (if allowed) to help spread intention to heal our world and prevent climate change. You could also plant trees around the area and in your gardens to help bare more fruit with your intentions and love.

There are SO many more possibilities in how you can utilise these homemade papers and I am sure that all of you will find many many more incredible ways to use this in your craft. I will now leave a correspondence list of trees, flowers and plants you can use to make your own paper from this website here: https://www.moonchild-spiritual-emporium.co.uk/blogs/news/tree-herb-flower-correspondences

Just so that you have basically everything you need here in this post to reference to :sparkles: :hibiscus:

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TREES:

ACACIA ~ Clairvoyance, Divination, Visions, Wealth, Protection, Blessings

ALDER ~ Banishing, Transformation, Truth, Power of Water, Intuition

APPLE ~ Dream Work, Enchantment, Fertility, Love, Luck, Harmony

BIRCH ~ Reduces anxiety, Defensive Magick, Increases concentration, Creativity

CEDAR ~ Afterlife, Clairvoyance, Breaks Hexes, Psychic Ability

CYPRESS ~ Binding, Defensive Magick, Comfort, Mental Power, Wisdom

ELDER~ Grounding, Healing, Love, Magickal Power, Success

ELM ~ Intuition, Love, Pregnancy/Childbirth, Stability

JUNIPER ~ Fertility, Happiness, Protection, Optimism, Spirits, Strength

OAK ~ Confidence, Justice, Luck, Money, Success, Independance, Wealth

PINE ~ Beginnings, Blessings, Hope, Prosperity, Self-Work, Releasing

ROWAN ~ Astral Realm, Devotion, Guidance, Psychic Ability, Visions, Spirits

WILLOW ~ Moon Magick, Moon Power, Protection, Knowlegde, Fertility

WITCH HAZEL ~ Healing, Inspiriation, Willpower, Fidelity, Wisdom

HERBS & FLOWERS:

AGRIMONY ~ Harmony, Healing, Breaking Hexes, Dream Work, Protection

ALLSPICE~ Business, Luck, Success, Kindness, Money

ANGELICA ~ Repels Negativity, Divination, Purification, Success,

ANISE ~ Balance, Energy, Harmony, Purification, Well-Being

BASIL ~ Psychic Ability, Love (Reconciliation), Money, Messages/Omens

BELLADONNA ~ Imagination, Night Magick, Visions, Astral Realm

BETONY ~ Solving Problems, Security, Decreases Anxiety, Protection

BORAGE ~ Beginnings, Business success, Skills, Courage, Awareness

BLUEBELL ~ Kindness, Luck, Love, Manifestation, Overcoming Obstacles

CARNATION ~ Deep Love, Beauty, Communication, Fertility, Harmony, Emotions

CATNIP ~ Love, Luck, Psychic Ability, Spirits, Prevents Nightmares

CHAMOMILE ~ Blessings, Calming, Reduces Anger & Anxiety, Money, Luck

CINNAMON ~ Wealth, Money, Security, Luck, Desire, Attraction, Peace

CLOVE ~ Divination, Prosperity, Psychic Ability, Success, Truth, Visions

CLOVER ~ Grounding, Luck, Marriage, Prosperity, Success, Spiritual Balance

CUMIN ~ Fidelity, Harmony, The Home, Longevity, Love, Repels Negativity

DAFFODIL ~ Afterlife, Fairies, Love (Unrequited), Security, Spirits, Calming

DANDELION ~ Clairvoyance, Clarity, Divination, Communication, Spirits

DILL ~ Defensive Magick, Breaking Hexes, Love, Lust, Sex Magick, Money

FENNEL ~ Blessings, Repels Evil & Negative Energy (from entering the home)

FEVERFEW ~ Healing, Heartbreak, Love, Protection, Strength, Purification

GARLIC ~Banishing, Justice, Protection, Breaking Hexes, Release, Security

GINGER ~ Money, Pregnancy/ChildBirth, Moon Magick, Unity, Success

HENBANE (highly poisonous) ~ Astral Realm, Divination, Love (Attract)

HONEYSUCKLE ~ Affection, Destiny, Happiness, Love, Peace, Well-Being

IVY ~ Attraction, Marriage, Love, Stability, Transformation, Fidelity, Omens

LAVENDER ~ Reduces Anger and Anxiety, Love, Manifestation, Luck, Rebirth

LEMON BALM ~ Business Success, Calming, Clarity, Fertility, Relationships

MANDRAKE (Poisonous) ~ Desire, Courage, spirits, Wealth, Omens, Bind

MISTLETOE (Poisonous) ~ Beginnings, Blessings, Business, Luck

MOONWORT ~ Clairvoyance, Divination, Love, Moon Magick, Money

MUGWORT ~ Spirits, Psychic Ability, Astral Realm, Awareness, Psychic Energy

NETTLE ~ Healing, Justice, Luck, Protection, Courage, Confidence

NUTMEG ~ Life, Luck, Love, Money, Power, Attract, Psychic Ability, Divination

ORRIS ROOT~ Astral, Protection, Relationships, Love, Sexual Attraction

PATCHOULI ~ Manifestation, Peace, Luck, Love (Attract), Money, Business

PEPPER ~ Motivation, Lust, Justice, Bind, Security, Strength

PEPPERMINT ~ Dream Work, Divination, Luck, Money, Visions, Healing

ROSE ~ Fertility, Family, Blessings, Love, Luck, Happiness, Beginnings

ROSEMARY ~ Psychic Ability, Psychic Protection, Inner Power, Luck, Afterlife

SAGE ~ Clairvoyance, Cleansing, Visions, Clears Negativity, Business

SANDALWOOD ~ Focus, Concentration, Success, Luck, Moon Magick, Blessings

ST. JOHN'S WORT ~ Strength, Power, Money, Consecrate/Bless, Prosperity

SNAPDRAGON ~ Clairaudience, Emotions, Money, Protection, Assertiveness

STAR ANISE ~ Divination, Psychic Ability, Purification, Consecrate/ Bless

STRAWBERRY ~ Beauty, Desire, Luck, Love, Relationships, Divination

SUNFLOWER ~ Clarity, Dream Work, Solar Energy, Light, Peace, Money, Luck

THYME ~ Healing, Happiness, Increasing, Rebirth, Protection, Calming

WORMWOOD ~ Clairvoyance, Dream Work, Guidance, Psychic Ability, Spirits

YARROW ~ Defense, Banishing, Heartbreak, Marriage, Healing, Release, Strength

And that's all Folks! I hope you have enjoyed this post and that you can further and deepen your craft using flowers, plants, seeds, and reused paper you have in your homes 🥰 Have a magickal day and see you in my next post! #PWSpotlight :hibiscus: :cherry_blossom: :sparkles: :herb: