Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)It looked simple enough. Tear up bitty pieces of old newsprint, let em soak in water for a few hours, then put into a hand-dandy mixer (with plastic "blades"), pulverize, pour onto mesh filter, remove, dry...voila! Paper! Not quite.
Tearing the paper was taking forever so I finally took the scissors to the newsprint. Now that I think about it, there's LOADS of shredded paper in mom's shredder that I could have used (next time). Instructions did not say how MUCH paper to shred to use for one go-round, so I shredded enough to cover the bottom of the tray they gave you. Added warm water as instructed and soaked it for nearly four hours (twice the amount they recommend, although they do say that the longer the better).
After assembling the contraption that was to pulverize the paper into a soupy pulp, I followed the directions and filled it up with half water and a handful of soaked paper. It was TORTURE getting the thing to lock correctly, and then when I did, cranking it for about 10 minutes didn't do a whole lot to get the paper to a shredded pulp consistency (they recommend a "few" minutes). No paper was going to get made at that rate. With the blunt serrated "blades" inside the mixer and hand crank, it reminded me of a prehistoric blender. BLENDER!! To the kitchen I go! I poured all the soaked newspaper plus water into the blender, and turned the sucker on. In no time I had the consistency that I needed to make paper. I poured it all back into the tray, washed out the blender and continued on with my project. I think if I do this again, the blender is the only way to go...forget the mixer thing. It's a piece of rubbish and does not do the job.
The rest of the instructions were easy enough, except for the fact that if followed to the letter, you can only make 1 piece of 5x7 paper every 24 hours (because you need the cleaning cloths to stay in place on your newly made paper whilst it dries). I figured now was the time to break the rules because I had LOADS of pulp to make TONS of teeny sheets of paper. I figured I'd pump out at least four. This can be accomplished by carefully peeling the soggy compressed paper off of the mesh, then separate it from the cleaning cloths they give you, and then place flat on some paper towels out of the way to dry for 24 hours. If i had more drying space I could probably go all night making paper until I ran out of pulp. If I had to guess, I have enough pulp to make about 20 pieces of 5x7 paper. I'll make more tomorrow until I use it up.
The pulp of course took on the inks from the newsprint and turned into a dark gray color. Due to the dark color, what I will use this paper for, I have no earthly idea. With the dark speckles of color throughout the paper, I would be hard-pressed to figure out a way to write on it. Perhaps a matte for another card placed on top of it for a note card or Christmas card? Who knows.
Making your own paper is a noble activity to be sure. I think I need to get my hands on a larger piece of mesh and do this in larger quantities for it to be something that I would actually use. Right now as far as I'm concerned, these four little pieces of paper are GOLD as they took me a while to make (though I'm faster at doing it now). My review of the Paper Recycling Factory? It's a good idea and instructions are clear, but the product is not worth the $17+ you pay for it. Still, it's a good rainy-day activity for the kids, keeps them busy, and makes them aware of the need for recycling. Live and learn.
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Mix it, pour it, press it! Bill Nye - the Science Guy - teaches kids all about the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. This creative kit comes with everything needed for kids to make their own recycled paper, along with greeting cards, notepads and so much more from waste paper. Making crafts has never been so fun and educational!
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