Jonathan

“Julius Atramento, I have thought a bit about what might have been used in the past of my world. I know that cellulose is the material we are after and that cellulose easily forms long fibres. So, do you have any idea where something like that is being used? I think clothing or rope-making might be candidates, but I am not sure.” Said Jonathan after waking up the next morning.

Atramento thought for a moment and answered: “You might be right. I do not know what is used, but I will inquire. I do not think it will take until midday.”

After answering, Julius disappeared from the workshop.

Jonathan then searched for the Smith: “Hello Mr Aurum and Mr Lignum, how does the work on the sieve go?”

Marcus did not deem that question worth an answer. Instead, Timothy Lignum told him: “It goes very well, I think. We are right now creating some small testing pieces, to find out which size of mesh works best. Also, we are using copper for the mesh, because it is relatively cheap and does not rust immediately. Or so I think, the honourable Mr Aurum was not a good conservationist on the matter, or in general.”

Jonathan thought for a moment and answered: “Great idea. About the mesh size, it should be relatively small, maybe even as small as possible without using a sheet of metal. So ditch every size were you can put a corn of rye through. That should work. Also, Mr Lignum, do you have any kind of container? It must be able to hold water and should be large enough for our paper production. In fact, now that I think about it, let’s make that two, and one of them should be able to resist blunt damage fairly well.”

Lignum was silent for a time and answered: “I would be certainly able to organize something like that, but why do we need one of the containers able to withstand impacts?”

“Because we need a very thin paste. And the easiest way to create something like that is hitting the feedstock while it is soaking in water, or any kind of fluid, really. But we need to soak the stuff in water no matter what, so water seems like the best idea, also, it should be really cheap around here, or am I wrong?”

Lignum laughed: “No, you are not mistaken, water is basically unlimited. There are some laws regarding its usage, but most are simply do the stinking stuff on the side of the lord’s castle that is in its wind shadow. I think there is a word for that, but I cannot seem to remember it, regardless of how hard I am trying.”

“I know that feeling. But I understand. The good news is that it should not stink, at least if we are doing everything correctly. Also, do you have any idea where we can get mats that soak up water, something like felt if that exists here.”

Lignum thought for a while and said: “Felt does exist, so getting a mat should not be too difficult. How many felt mats do we need?”

“We need many, many mats. I think at least one more mat than the amount of paper we want to produce in one go. Let’s say eleven and go from there. Also, they should be a fair bit larger than our final paper, and I so want to stay at the same size as that sheet of paper I showed around. But that is for later. If you need to I can give you one sheet of paper as a measurement tool. Make certain that on each side at least half of the shorter side stands over for the size we want of the felt. Did you understand my desperate attempt at communicating that simple information, in a really stupid way?”

Lignum thought for a moment and answered: “I think I got it. You want sheets of felt that are a fair bit larger than the sheets of paper you plan to create right now. But do you not think that this is a bit too large for a book? I have the feeling that this could be difficult to handle, but I am not a reader, in fact, I am unable to read, so what do I know?”

“You are not wrong, at least not totally. But there is a reason why I want to use the same standard as the one developed in my world. For one, it should have been built after many years, and it hopefully was not chosen totally arbitrarily, but it also has a neat system for other sizes built-in. While that sheet of paper is for a significant amount of books to large, especially for the ones you want to carry with you all the time, one that is folded this way,” He took the sheet of paper he had with him when they first met out of his pocket, and first unfolded it and after that folded it horizontally: “Is large enough to put a significant amount of readable letter on it, while being of a size you can transport comfortably. For short texts, just fold it again, but this time vertically. In fact, the original is not the largest size of that standard. It is the fifth iteration to be precise, but that is not important for now. We are not trying our hand at mass production or real production at all, we want a proof of concept.”

After speaking, Jonathan gave his sheet of paper to Timothy, who was on his way directly after that.

Soon enough, Atramento returned from his task and convened with Jonathan to report his findings: “Hemp is used for both cloth-making as well as rope making. Other than that...”

Jonathan stopped him at that point: “Hemp? Hemp might be the way to go. Is there a source of cheap, white hemp cloth? While this is an experiment, we still should keep it cheap.”

“Not necessarily white, but is slight decolourization a problem?”

“No, not really. For high quality, perfectly white paper, they would be a problem, but as long as it is white enough to see black ink on it, it is good enough for now. For special paper, used for status symbols that might be a different matter, but that is something really easy to remedy with just a bit of extra cash, I presume?”

Atramento laughed: “Maybe more than just a bit more, but I understand your point. How much do we need?”

“For now? I honestly have no idea. Enough to make multiple sheets of paper in the size Aurum has chosen for his first run of test sieves? Bring as much as you are able to over the course of three days without raising the prize significantly, I think. Then we will make our first attempt."