Bookmark Collector

One of the reasons I love collecting bookmarks is that for me, they often come with a story. This is the story of two of my bookmarks.

Last year, Harriet and I traveled to Madagascar. It was a wonderful trip, and the wildlife is quite unique and spectacular.

Paper making is a cottage industry in parts of Madagascar. In one of the towns we visited, we found this little paper making shop. There are several in that area, but we had a great time visiting this one in particular.

The paper is really made by hand. They pound the inner bark of a local bush into a pulpy mass. This guy had been pounding away at the pulp until it was just the right consistency.

That watery pulp then spread out on linen stretchers to make it flat and to start the drying process. While still wet, there are forms used to shape the paper into envelopes, or note paper, or bookmarks.

After the pulp has started to dry, they gather around the stretcher and start placing flowers, leaves, twigs, and anything decorative. It all happens rather quickly, and is really lovely. The larger the piece, the more elaborate the decoration.

You can see them placing the material in this shot. I put a close-up at the beginning of this post so that you can see the work in detail.

Yes, that’s me in the background of this picture with a video camera. The video of them working on this piece is pretty interesting.

After the material is placed, a thin layer of the gluey pulp is poured over the design. Then, the stretcher is removed from the table and placed facing the sun to dry the paper. I understand this takes a couple of days. Finally, the paper is then peeled from the stretcher.

This is a bookmark blog and not my travel blog (you can find that on my personal blog, although not for this trip) so I’m keeping the description pretty sparse. Here are pictures of the two handmade bookmarks I brought back from Madagascar. I bought them at this factory, shortly after we shot these photos. They aren’t the specific items you see being made, but it was the same process.

They’re beautiful, and every time I look at them I’m reminded of our trip.