Meet the Maker
I started making paper in 2008 between semesters in college. Like many, my first sheets were made with household paper waste a blender—junk mail, cardboard tubes, and newspaper. I so enjoyed the process of making sheets—changing the recipe and seeing how that changed the end result—that I kept at it, with no plan to use the paper. Shortly after, I heard about an up-and-coming maker marketplace called Etsy, and posted a few sheets for sale.
Making paper takes much more time and it requires more equipment than just opening a package of commercial papers. You can even buy commercial recycled papers now if you're worried about the environment. But what you can't get from all those brightly colored, smooth, textured, thin, thick, and even eco-friendly papers is the human element.
I know that I am connected to a wide web of strangers and friends through my paper. Often when I am pulling sheets of paper, I will wonder how many people touched it in its previous life as a job application or a page in an instructional booklet, and how many more people will touch it after I break it down to its basest form, remake it and send it off as a new, blank sheet, or as a page in a handmade journal.
Making paper is a time-consuming, repetitive, very relaxing process. I love doing it because I can take unwanted office paper, school notes, and household waste papers that have served their purpose and are at the end of their life, and save them from the trash. I feel as though I am giving those papers a rebirth, bringing them back at the start of a new journey. They still contain the knowledge from their past life as a grocery list or term paper, but it's all chopped up and no longer readable. Now they are given a second life as a new sheet of paper for someone to write a love note on, to write the next great novel on, to send a heartfelt card or draw a stunning picture on. The possibilities truly are endless.
I enjoy experimenting with different fibers, and finding new sources of offcuts and waste from other local businesses to make new batches of paper with.
While there are many hand paper-makers around the world, White Dragon Paper is unique in its goal of providing high quality handmade papers made in the Northwoods of Wisconsin from 100% recycled materials in both individual and wholesale volumes.
When I am not in my basement studio, I’m enjoying the garden in my home, where I grow many plants for papermaking fibers or petals, or for my own kitchen pantry. I’m currently working on increasing the number of perennial edible plants in my garden. I have very small hazelnut bushes started, and some rhubarb from the University of Wisconsin’s Grow Free initiative.
Animals are a big part of my life as well. Over the years I have many species of animals (hamsters, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, dogs) as pets in my life. Currently I have three cats that you’ll see occasionally on my Instagram. Una (the long-haired tuxedo) took over the role of studio manager after the previous manager (my dog) Tucker passed away in 2023. She hangs out with me while I’m making paper and makes sure they all pass quality control.
I began White Dragon Paper in Ohio, but since moving to Ashland, Wisconsin in 2021, I have really enjoyed the wildlife I can watch around town and in my yard. I regularly have does drop their fawns off in my garden for babysitting during the day, have all kinds of birds at the feeders, and bugs bumbling through the flowers.
Another important part of my identity is that of a transmasculine nonbinary person. The queer community lost an entire generation during the AIDS crisis, and in that loss, the new generations (like myself) didn’t have many elders to look up to. This was before social media was a thing, so the only way I met a queer elder was personal introductions. I was well into my teens before I met an out and visible trans person. It is important to me to be visible and open for the upcoming generations.
So that’s me in a nutshell. Papermaker, animal-lover, gardener, nonbinary trans person, and overall garden gnome.
