On February 19, there was a buzz of excitement in the OT Activity Centre at Ron Smith Care Centre, as 20 care centre staff donned their aprons and prepared to learn the art of making paper from scratch.
Ms Sylvia Birkhead, senior occupational therapist at the centre, presented this workshop to care workers, housekeeping, nursing, OT and management staff as an Eden Alternative team-building activity.
This was designed to link certain Eden principles with the actual art of paper-making.
Many people might not know that one of the ingredients for making paper is elephant dung.
The Eden Alternative is a fast-growing philosophy that seeks to change the culture of today’s old age homes and care facilities to embrace more personalised care.
Ms Birkhead said the idea was to use the Eden concepts and images of nature, trees, gardens and the planting of seeds for growth to introduce this activity, which involves the use of natural materials to create a product totally made from nature.
She made a small card from home-made paper into which the seed of a tree was embedded for each participant to plant in soil to remind them of the origins of paper.
The paper-making process began by creating a pulp mixture from recycled or shredded paper, plant fibres such as mealie skins, bulrushes, dandelions, elephant dung and water. Batches of variously coloured paper were made by adding onion skins, tea leaves, dyes or coloured serviettes to the pulp mixture.
The pulp was then added to large tubs of water, into which additional material, plant and other fibres were added. After that process, the paper-making frames were dipped in and pulled up.
The water then drained off to leave a layer of pulp on the frames. It is this pulp which eventually transformed into a sheet of paper. The layer of pulp was inverted onto a sheet of Vilene fabric and the frame was lifted to reveal a sheet of paper which was then ironed dry and flat.
“What a magical moment it was for each staff member, when a piece of handmade paper was revealed from the messy mixture of pulp. The natural transformation process from something that is seemingly unattractive and useless into something beautiful and useful is quite amazing. The staff were very proud of the fact that they achieved this with their own hands,” said Ms Birkhead.
Besides learning a new skill, the staff enjoyed the spontaneous nature of the activity. Ms Birkhead said the objective of the workshop was to move the staff one step further along on their Eden journey. This was achieved by reinforcing the Eden concepts of nature, nurturing and working together on a fun activity that has no limits and which brings people back to nature.
