Making Plantable Paper

This morning, I talked about a cool Christmas card that I recieved from The Bloom Agency in Winston-Salem. The card is made from paper that contains wildflower seeds. You can plant the paper and wildflowers will grow from it.

I thought this was a fantastic idea and did a little googling to find out if there were any instructions online for how to make your own seeded paper. Lo and behold...there are quite a few. Here are the instructions from one such site...these directions seem the least complicated. I've also posted links to a few other sites.

Here are the instructions from http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/707968/4977574

How to Make Seed Paper

Materials List
Sponge
Terry Cloth Towel
strainer
Large Plastic Cup
Blender/Food Processor (For making paper pulp)
White Felt or Flannel Fabric
Selected paper that can be recycled
Selected flower seeds
Approx. Time Involved: 20 min + drying time

1. Select the pieces of paper to be recycled. You can even mix different types to create your own unique paper.

2. Rip the paper into small bits, and place into the blender. (about half full). Fill the blender with warm water. Run the blender slowly at first then increase the speed until the pulp looks smooth and well blended. ( 30 -40 seconds) Check that no flakes of paper remain. If there are, blend longer. To tint pulp: add a 1 inch square of tissue paper to pulp before blending.

3. Add a pinch of flower seeds to pulp and stir. Do not blend seeds!

4. Set strainer on cup. Pour blended pulp with seeds thru strainer. Squeeze the pulp a bit to get out the rest of water.

5. Plop pulp directly onto felt or flannel fabric. Pat pulp into desired shape. It should be not too thick, but can be thicker than regular paper. The thicker it is the longer it will take to dry. Tilt sheet on fabric over cup. Press water out out of wet pulp with fingers.

6. Use sponge to remove more water. Press pulp flat

7. Use a terry cloth towel to remove last amount of water. Press firmly.

8. Ways to dry seed paper: 1) Set paper on pie pan or pizza pan in 250 oven about 10 mins. 2) Gently wave hair dryer over paper until it is is dry enough to peel off and turn over. Repeat blow dry. 3) Set in front of household fan.

Some other websites:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf71713276.tip.html
http://www.acornnaturalists.com/store/SEED-PAPER-KIT-P5737C684.aspx