Make a Loaf of Recycled Note-Bread (Zero Carbs!)

In my spare time, I love to give discarded things new life, and I routinely make my own paper out of everything from old blue jeans and past-its-prime celery to foraged fungi. Of course, sometimes my paper making experiments turn out badly—like the time I tried to make a nice, brown writing paper from nothing but pulped toilet paper tubes.

I ended up with what looked a lot like toilet paper tubes in a flatter, thinner form. But something else struck me about them, too. They reminded me just a little of whole wheat bread.

I decided to tweak a couple of things about the process. I changed the makeup of the paper pulp. I employed a mold. And I added some specific finishing techniques. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had invented note-bread! Want to make some for yourself? Sure you do!

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies.

You will need:

RAW MATERIALS

• some toilet paper tubes (with any remaining bits of toilet paper removed)
• shredded, used office paper
• corn starch
• water

MISC. TOOLS

• half gallon, plastic jug (from milk, orange juice, or that kind of thing)
• scissors (for cutting toilet paper tubes and plastic milk jug)
• teaspoon
• measuring cup
• old (but working) blender
• paper making mould (screen) and deckle (frame) or section of window screen in a frame
• container large enough to accommodate mould and deckle
• loose sheet of screen mesh
• soft, cotton rags (old T-shirt material works well!)
• C-clamps or heavy weight(s)
• two boards (for drying wet sheets of paper in between)

Step 2: Make Your Bread Mold.

A half gallon, plastic jug—the kind that milk or orange juice are sometimes packaged in—is nearly perfect for making diminutive slices of note-bread. With just a couple of cuts here and there and some bending and general coaxing, you'll have a lovely little mold in no time.

MAKING YOUR BREAD MOLD

1. Cut half gallon jug in half—roughly just below the bottom of its handle. Set top part of jug aside. (You are going to use the bottom section of the jug.)
2. Cut the base of the jug off of the bottom section. You should be left with a plastic "tube" that's at least a few inches tall.
3. Pinch the bottom right and left corners between your thumbs and index fingers.
4. Now turn those pinches into hard creases on along the bottom right and left edges of the mold. (This forms the base of your bread slice.)
5. Use your fingers to push in the center top of mold. The goal with this step is to shape the mold so that it looks slightly indented like the top of a bread slice.
6. Admire your resulting bread shape. (Keep messing with it until it really feels bread-like to you.)

Step 3: Precut Your Toilet Paper Tubes. Shred Office Paper.

I have a junky-but-reliable old blender that I use just for pulping weird stuff. (I have a different blender for processing actual food.) Because I ask a lot from my weird-stuff blender—and because most blenders weren't made for this kind of abuse—I always snip heavy material like cardboard into small pieces before trying to blend them. And so should you.

So, cut your toilet paper tubes open, flatten them, and then cut them into very small pieces before adding them to your blender. (Also, plan to add just half a toilet paper tube's worth of cardboard to be blended at one time.)

Same goes for your office paper. If you have a paper shredder, great! Otherwise, commence snipping. (Incidentally, if you want to add junk mail envelopes to your pulp, be sure to remove any plastic "windows" first. I also advise removing any parts—like the envelope flap—that might contain sticky glue residue as this can affect your final product.)

By adding some used office paper to the toilet paper tube pulp, you'll have an easier time forming strong, usable paper sheets. This is because most toilet paper tubes are already heavily recycled and contain little-to-no virgin paper fiber. In addition to the texture of your finished note-bread, adding the office paper also will influence the color of your slices.

If possible, choose white paper that doesn't already have a lot of ink on it. (Don't worry if yours is super-inky. The next step will help to mitigate that.)

Finally, if you have colored office paper—especially yellow or pale orange—a little of this can be nice to include, too. It can give your finished sheets a warmer, just-baked hue. Experiment and see for yourself!

Step 4: Wash and Rinse Shredded Office Paper.

To reduce the amount of ink on your shredded office paper, I recommend washing it with warm, soapy water. A surprising amount of ink will come off of it during this process, and that will help your note-bread look not-so-dingy. (You might want to wear latex/non-latex gloves for this part, but I didn't, since I am an animal.)

WASHING USED OFFICE PAPER

1. Soak shredded office paper in warm water. I like to completely submerge it in a mixing bowl.
2. Wash/scrub the shredded office paper with plain old soap. I used all-natural, unscented bar soap, because that's usually what I have on hand.
3. Use a strainer to rinse the soap completely. And take care not to let paper pulp go down the drain!

Step 5: Make the Pulp.

PULPING THE TOILET PAPER TUBES

1. Add no more than half a toilet paper tube's worth of cardboard to be blended at one time along with five cups of water.
2. Blend until the mixture is thick and pulpy. (It will look like a thick, tan cloud.)
3. Pour this liquid into your large container.
4. Add four or five cups of plain water to your container.

PULPING USED OFFICE PAPER

1. Place one-quarter cup of the washed-and-rinsed, shredded office paper into your blender along with one teaspoon of corn starch and four to five cups of water. (The corn starch will help to make ink flow more smoothly onto your finished paper.)
2. Blend until the mixture is thick and pulpy. (It will look milky and cloudy.)
3. Pour this liquid into your large container along with the toilet paper pulp.
4. Assess the color of your pulp. (The note-bread you make will look slightly lighter in color after it is dry.) If the pulp looks too dark, you can add more office paper as needed. If it looks too light, try adding more of the toilet paper tube pulp.

Repeat the steps for pulping toilet paper tubes and office paper as needed, depending on the total amount of pulp you want to make. The pulp level in your container should be deep enough that you can dip out a cup or two of the liquid at a time.

Step 6: Form Your Bread Slices.

The image above shows the process I'm going to describe here. (Go from left to right and start along the top row.)

NOTE: If you missed this earlier, here is an Instructable for making your own mould and deckle. Because this project uses a mold, you can easily get away with just using a bit of window screening in a wooden frame or a sheet of very fine wire mesh.

1. Place your bread mold on top of paper making screen. Use measuring cup (or your hand) to agitate the pulp bath. This more evenly distributes its contents which is a very important part of the process.
2. With one hand, hold the bread mold in place. With the other, dip out a cup or two of pulp and pour it into the mold. Repeat as needed until the paper is as thick as you want it. (Note: once your paper is dry, it will be much thinner than it looks right now.)
3. Allow excess water to drain through the bread mold. If you like, you can gently push the top of the mold down to make sure your finished bread slice looks indented along the top.
4. Carefully remove the bread mold. Be careful not to drip onto your wet sheet of note-bread, as this will cause weak spots and visible defects. NOTE: If you do mess up, it's no big deal. You can just invert the sheet back onto the surface of the pulp bath—the pulp will slide off into the liquid, and you can try again.
5. Place a loose sheet of screen mesh over the wet sheet of paper. Use a soft cloth or rag to blot excess water. Carefully remove the loose sheet of screen.
6. Optional: using your finger, lightly press in on the sides of your note-bread. (I like to do this all the way around its perimeter to form an interesting crust-like texture.)
7. Lay one of your boards out on a flat surface. Cover with an absorbent cloth or several layers of rags and then invert the screen with the wet sheet of note-bread face down.
8. Use another rag to blot the back of the screen. This will help loosen the sheet of note-bread enough that you should be able to transfer it from the screen onto the dry surface. (To help my paper dislodge from the screen and adhere to this new surface, I lightly strike the back of the screen with a flicking motion.)
9. Slowly separate the screen from the note-bread. Optional: use your finger to lightly press in on the sides of your note-bread like you did in step 6. (I do this, so that both the front and back of the bread slice will have that interesting crust-like texture.) Time to dry. . .

Step 7: Allow to Dry. Embellish Your Bread Slices As You Wish!

As long as your note-bread is wet, it will be fairly fragile, but, once it's dry, it will be quite sturdy—especially if you used mostly toilet paper tubes and/or made your sheets extra thick. Now, there are many ways to dry handmade paper. The one I use is simple and very low-tech.

DRYING YOUR NOTE-BREAD SLICES

Make sure your wet note-bread is lying flat against the drying surface. (Remember, that's one of your boards and an absorbent cloth or several layers of rags.)

Now, place another cloth over the top of the paper, smoothing it carefully with your hands. Continue to layer clean, dry cloths with all of the new, wet paper sheets you form.

When you've finished, top with one more absorbent cloth or several more layers of rags. Then place your other board on top. Use C-clamps to squeeze the boards tightly together. Alternatively, place a heavy weight on top of the boards.

In a couple of days, you can peek at your note-bread. At this point, I usually replace some of the wet rags with dry ones and re-clamp everything. Once it's dry, you can use it as-is or embellish it.

EMBELLISHING YOUR NOTE-BREAD SLICES

You can watch the the time-lapse video in this step to see how I embellished my note-bread slices. (Of course, there are many ways you could decorate yours!) In my case, I used:

• a small, pointy screwdriver
• a few colored pencils (dark brown, rusty brown, and white)
• Modge Podge, a paintbrush, and some very old mustard and lettuce seeds

First, I used the pointy screwdriver to score some designs/indentations around the note-bread crust. Next, I lightly colored over these indentations with the colored pencils. And, finally, I glued a few of the old seeds here and there for a little extra accent.

OTHER FINISHING TOUCHES

You can make several slices of note-bread and package them up in a small, plastic bag. Add a twist-tie from a real bag of bread for a dash of realism. Delicious!

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This Instructable is my entry into the PAPER CONTEST. If you liked it, I hope you will HEART it, VOTE for it, and/or SHARE it with a friend. (Thank you!)

Also, if you make your own note-bread, show us, so we can all see how yours turns out!!!

:-)