David Carruthers on St. Armand Papers

David Carruthers, owner/proprietor of St. Armand Papers in Montreal takes us through the process of how he produces paper that is used in the letterpress printing of books. We talk about pure fibre rags, old jute coffee bags, cover stock, denim and blue paper, beaters, pulp, and vat-like structures for pulp, and machines that take 95% of the moisture out of the pulp and flatten it so that it can be stored in sheets that look and feel like blotting paper and then treated with substances such as potato starch, clay and/or chalk, depending upon the end use of the paper.

We also talk about opacity, smooth laid paper, end leafs, machine grain and bookmarks.