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Updated: Oct 19, 2022
Do paper is one of the famous traditional Vietnamese handmade papers, with history of more than 800 years old, alongside many unique advantages and applications.
1. WHAT IS DO PAPER?
Do paper is a type of paper made from the bark of the Do tree. To make a piece of paper, the maker must go through many completely manual processes that require patience. This is also a type of handmade paper with a long history, a traditional craft of some regions in Northern Vietnam.
“Mịt mù khói tỏa ngàn sương
Nhịp chày Yên Thái, mặt gương Tây Hồ"
The old folk poem describes the morning scene around Tay Ho, Hanoi with the sound of the pestles of Yen Thai villagers, creating Do paper. Starting a new day, when the surface of West Lake was still covered in mist, the people of Yen Thai were bustling with the steady rhythms of pestles, representing a life of hard work. Thus, according to some documents, the profession of making Do paper has been famous in some areas such as Yen Thai, Nghia Do (Hanoi), Duong O (Bac Ninh) since around the 13th century.
However, by the beginning of the 20th century, most of the craft villages in Hanoi had disappeared and currently there are only two places in the country that maintain the Do paper craft: Duong O (Bac Ninh) and Luong Son (Hoa Binh).
In addition to Do paper, Duong paper (made from the bark of the Duong tree) is also a traditional type of paper with almost similar properties to Do paper (stronger and more durable than Do paper).
2. CHARACTERISTICS OF DO PAPER
Do paper is porous, light, and durable. Due to the characteristics of handmade paper with the meticulous process of pounding the Do bark manually, the Do paper is structured by tens of thousands of tiny Do fibers, woven together multi-dimensionally like a spider web. Those tiny paper fibers have a particularly good moisture absorbent effect, helping Do paper have a long durability of up to several hundred years.
The proof of the durability of Do paper lies in the genealogy sheets written on decree Do paper (a type of paper that in the past was only used for kings to issue decrees), which today are still preserved in good condition by many families or historical sites. For example, at the National Archives Center, among paper documents, Do paper documents have the longest lifespan. Do paper documents are the types of documents that have been around for the longest time, since preservation means were not yet developed.
Thickness of Do paper: Do paper has a variety of thicknesses, paper makers refer to those varieties with names, from paper peel 1 to paper peel 10, corresponding to increasing thickness. So to make thicker paper, the artisan will add more layers of paper during the folding process.
3. DO PAPER MAKING STEPS
Step 1: Making full use of raw materials
To have the raw materials in order to create Do paper, artisans will need to procure or purchase the bark of the Do tree. This plant grows abundantly in the northern mountainous areas. In Luong Son, Hoa Binh, artisans will personally pick up these raw materials in the forest about 20km away. This is quite an arduous step because not only do they have to travel far, but it also takes a lot of time because after cutting down the tree, you have to use your hands to hit the stone slab against the bark for it to peel off, and then peel the bark off the tree trunk with their hands. The tree trunks are left in the forest and the bark is tied into bundles to make Do paper.
Step 2: Peel
After being harvested from the forest, the bark is soaked in clean water to remove all the sap. Then the paper makers started peeling them. This step requires dexterity and good knife technique. Use a small knife and your fingertips to hold the bark firmly to remove the darkest outer bark, only taking the whitest part of the bark. However, the leftover bark is also used by people to make other types of paper.
Step 3: Soak and boil ingredients
After peeling the tree bark, it will be washed to remove all the sap, then soaked in lime water for one day and one night, at a ratio of about 10%. After soaking, the bark is to be boiled for another day and one night. To check whether the shell is boiled enough or not, the person tested this by using their hand to pull the shell, and if it breaks, the step is done.
Step 4: Wash and rub off the bark
After boiling, the shell must be washed thoroughly to completely remove the lime water. After washing, the artisans will use their feet to rub the bark until it is soft before pounding it.
Step 5: Pound the bark
The bark becomes soft after being rubbed, so it is easier to pound into fibers. The bark is pounded into thousands of tiny fibers, but still retains the length and toughness of the original fibers. This is also one of the big differences between handmade paper and industrial paper.
These fibers create sheets of paper with high durability and a beautiful, natural texture that industrial paper can never achieve, because the raw materials have been ground by machine into fine powder, no longer having the properties of real fibers.
Step 6: Spin the yarn and soak it in water
After pounding the bark by hand, which requires a lot of effort, the shell will be put into a tank/container for spinning. Currently, artisan households in Bac Ninh and Hoa Binh are using Japanese and Dutch yarn spinning machines to help make the cotton and yarn more even, without losing the fiber's properties.
Step 7: Forming the paper
This is the final step that greatly affects the finished Do paper, so not everyone can do it and the artisans who are responsible for forming the paper often have many years of experience. It seems simple because it only requires operations like dipping the frame into the tank, shaking it a bit and lifting it up to create a piece of paper. However, to be able to roll a thin sheet of paper onto the frame, with the pulp spread evenly and smoothly takes several years of practice, and it is not until your hands are very strong that you are assigned this "great and noble" task.
Step 8: Pressing, drying, peeling and receiving finished Do paper products
When the paper is finished, the artisans will put it down and lift the mold, so the still wet sheets of paper are stacked on top of each other. The next step is to use heavy objects such as wood or stone to press the water out and take the paper to dry in natural sunlight until it is completely dry and then peel off each sheet one by one.
See the complete steps of making Do paper:
So we have completed Do papers after many meticulous steps and requiring a lot of effort from the maker.
4. APPLICATIONS OF DO PAPER
Many people still know Do paper best through Dong Ho folk paintings on Diep paper (which is Do paper is coated with a layer of Diep powder). However, Do paper has many more creative and practical applications in both art and life.
With painting, more and more artists are looking for Do paper to try and "play" with this paper, using mediums such as watercolor drawing, ink painting... With its quick absorbent properties due to many tiny paper fibers, the paper requires the artist to have a smart way of handling things because once they put the brush down, it cannot be fixed. Therefore, artists who are successful with Do paper must diligently learn, immerse themselves in and love this paper so that it can express their true intentions and show their own creative ways.
Besides, with the art of calligraphy, Do paper is also a great friend.
Currently, the good news is that more and more artists in different fields of art has come to understand and love Do paper, proving the "attractiveness" of this paper, and is also a positive sign that Do paper will continue to persevere and expand development even more. Not only folk paintings, watercolors, and calligraphy; Subjects such as Origami, printmaking... all have very interesting and unique ways of expressing themselves on this traditional piece of paper.
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