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| The power of the deckle |
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THE ORIGINAL BANANA NUT
It is impossible to be serious about handmade paper and not remember Lil Mena. Though Lil sold her paper operation in Costa Rica, she has been busy indeed sharing her expertise in turning potential waste and pollutant fibers into gorgeous papers with Nicaragua. She lives in Costa Rica for half the year, and the other half is spent at her workshop in Nicaragua where she produces at least 8 new papers which we have already sold her in the United States.
If you look to the left, you will undoubtedly foam at the mouth at the beauty of her deckles. The process is still quite painstaking, as it is all done by hand, with none of the shortcuts which have been adopted by many other papermakers with beating and cutting the fibers, which are so incredibly tough and strong.
With the exception of the Guaymi banana bark, all the papers are brand new. Have a look at them below. The Bambu is a dead ringer for the former "Banano" paper, remember that beauty? Los Angeles is a reminder of the "Recyclado", but no purple dots this time, and I don't see any corn husks either. It's also a lot more fibrous than the older version. Paz, on the other hand, feels and looks to me as if it can be laser printed. It has a super calendered surface, at least on one side. Well, I don't want to give it all away.
You may recall the Victoria Paper introduced Lil to the art world at the 1993 NAMTA Convention in Miami with several other papermakers with whom we were involved at the time: Pascuale de Ponte from Mexico, Nirma Zarate (we lost her to cancer a couple of years ago) from Bogota, and from Venezuela, Zulay Herrera. What a fabulous bunch of artists/papermakers!! The de Ponte papers are still being sold in the U.S. through other channels, while Nirma's workshop is still producing the exceptional papers she developed. As of this writing, we are still trying to locate Zulay Herrera.
It is likely that Lil will continue doing this marvelous work; she also, and originally, a textile artist, and in our new ventures across the world, textile is of great interest to some of our customers. I remember when we visited her in San Jose, we stayed at her house/workshop, and got to meet all of the people who enjoyed working with her. She used to love to paint fat ladies on everything, using only the very best acrylics. I had the most amazing vase from Lil, that was covered in Matambu paper (the light colored bark) which she proceeded to finish with a stunning tropical flora impression.
Today in my office, I still have Lil's parrot watch me work every day. He's been with me for over 12 years!!
All shipments, as the norm, will be sent directly from Nicaragua to your destination. Our minimum order is $500.00, no exceptions please. Sizes and suggested retails are listed below. We are all very excited to be working with Lil once again.
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