Kalpana Paper Factory -- A Feast for the Eyes

We visited the Kalpana Handmade Paper Factory in Sanganer, a village just outside Jaipur. Cotton remnants from textile producers are sorted and sifted  by hand.

The remnants are shreddded in this machine and then churned in water to make paper pulp to which dye is added.

Two men handle each screen, scooping up the heavy pulp from deep vats and depositing the sheets in a pile in a backbreaking rhythm. It is a wet and grueling job, freezing in the cooler weather. 

This machine’s roller flattens out the dried paper. One of the owners of this three-generation family-run factory, lost his forearm in this machine when he was younger.

This seed-flecked paper will be made into birthday cards that can be planted in the  garden.

Less-than-perfect papers are discounted or recycled back to pulp. From the room of imperfect papers I buy cilantro paper.

Papers are outsourced to a silk-screening business in the village to be printed. Silk-screened envelopes are ready for folding.

Mr. Saini with some of the patterned, screen-printed papers.