Flax becomes art and paper too

Exhibitors at the Pakohe Quality Papers studio are bound together by their shared work with harakeke, New Zealand flax.
Some weave with the fresh leaves, one weaves with pieces unwanted by other weavers, and the papermakers turn all the waste into paper.
"The fibre that attracts weavers to flax is the fibre that we use for paper. We're both working the pa harakeke in a sustainable fashion," print and papermaker Marty Vreede said.
Weaving teacher Lisa Mareikura said the best harakeke for weaving was from Phormium tenax and Phormium cookianum - but not the coloured or variegated garden forms.
It was harvested from places such as Kowhai Park, using practices that left the plants a clean fan or fountain shape and made the leaves grow faster and softer.
Tania Anderson weaves the best leaves into the shape of roses and sells them in bouquets for weddings. She will be demonstrating the technique and allowing Open Studios visitors to have a go at times during the weekends.
Rere Sutherland will be showing her kaitiaki - guardian creatures inspired by the shapes of the driftwood that makes their bodies. They find their places alongside other art works in homes and "take care of the whare or other taonga".
Lisa Mareikura makes her wall hangings from waste flax rejected by other weavers. She is hoping to have some of her Te Wananga o Aotearoa weaving students there at the weekends, so that visitors can watch, ask questions and buy their work.
It's the waste scraps and dried outer leaves from the weaving that Marilyn and Marty Vreede use to make their paper.
First, it is chopped up with an electrified 1898 chaff cutter.
"It's the only thing we've found that will cut flax," Mr Vreede said.
Then it is boiled in a stainless steel vat, over a gas burner, and washed in a converted Gentle Annie washing machine.
The fibre then goes through a Holland beater, which separates the strands. They float in water and can be scooped up into a thin layer in a frame, then dried into sheets of paper.
The result is attractive, comes in various colours and works in a photocopier or printer.
Mrs Vreede uses it to make a range of boxes and books, and will also have her wooden jigsaws on display.
The paper is also sold raw to artists.
 
What and where
Marilyn and Marty Vreede and members of Manawa Ora artists collective
Pakohe Quality Papers
25 Tongariro St, Castlecliff
Showing: flax paper and books, flax weaving, demonstrations