Since I had never made paper on my own, this was a truly experimental process. As I followed the instructions on how to make my own paper from a pulp I had blended from old paper scraps, I was able to notice the relaxing qualities I was experiencing throughout each step but was quickly drawn to how certain sensory qualities of the process might be uncomfortable for others. The process surprised me; I was expecting the process to be fairly unpleasant, but the texture of the slurry actually reminded me of clay and slip, a medium I was used to working with.
While making paper with any population, I think it’s very important to consider how regressive the paper slurry might be. The loose, wet, and squishy texture of the slurry could prohibit the creative process with some individuals if the process is not trauma-informed and thoroughly thought out. I’ve learned that this process can be fairly simple, however, I am not a person that finds discomfort in the potentially regressive-type qualities that something like paper slurry has. In some situations, regression might be beneficial with proper boundaries set in place, but using this in a group would be harder to manage, as each individual might respond differently to the sensory components, and tracking emotional and physical responses would impact the group processes.
I decided to theorize how this process would work with adults with Depressive Disorders. I chose this certain population in hopes that the process offers a sense of containment and grounding, some things that might be an area of difficulty for those with Depressive Disorders. The process of papermaking contains many benefits, including building resilience, empowerment, and mind-body connection (Matott & Miller, 2020). Much of our discussion in class regarding papermaking revolved around the idea of meaning-making. I shared with some classmates that this process when using a mold to shape the paper, is quite literally, a reframing process. Seeing individual pieces of paper fibers come together could serve as a symbolic visualization of grounding as a result of reframing one’s perspective while the sensory components of the process encourage self-awareness. Seeing that papermaking could be offered as a task that has a high success rate, I think the process also offers a sense of accomplishment for those who might not feel that they have a high ego-strength.
While using the symbolic nature and potentially using the sensory qualities of papermaking, I think that this process of transforming scrap paper into a new, handmade paper product has a good amount of potential for adults with Depressive Disorders in assisting them in reframing their outlook on occurrences within their control and finding means of coping through structured artistic means.
References:
Matott, D. & Miller, G. (2020) Papermaking. In Crawford, P., Brown, B., & Charise, A. Editor
(Eds.), The Routledge Companion to the Health Humanities (pp. 311-315). Routledge
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