Wonder of Science: making kudzu paper

Our tri-state homeschool group is doing a yearlong Wonder of Science program. For "extra credit," we can do projects to further our learning about whatever happens to be the topic of the month. One idea is making parchment and since Hayes will tell you that she will be going to Hogwarts when she turns 11 since she has done the Hogwarts Summer Correspondence Course two summers now, we thought making paper was an exciting idea.
And then I thought about my friend Nancy Basket in South Carolina who is widely known for her kudzu paper artwork.

After a couple of trips to South Carolina in which I completely forgot to get some kudzu, I finally jumped out of my friend Leisa's car while in the upstate and grabbed a bagful of the weed for our project. Hardly anyone outside of the South knows about kudzu but it has overtaken the warm humid states and actually grows up to a foot a day. Nancy not only makes paper but also weaves the vines into baskets and I took her lead one year and made kudzu jelly. Knowing how prolific a weed it is, I was a little afraid to put the leftover bits in the compost once this project was done.

Nancy's daughter, Joleen, helped with the kudzu paper making process via Facebook. First, cooking the leaves a few hours until they "smell ripe." Ours cooked four hours and the only noticeable smell was that like spinach.

Then the cutting of the leaves. Joleen said to do it after cooking and add in recycled paper. (The beauty of homeschooling is you can do your work in your jammies whenever you feel like it.)

Next was making the whole thing into pulp. Really, really difficult. I think I may have ruined my blender at this stage.

Joleen said it was supposed to look like "green grits" after the blending process. Again, only a Southerner will know what this is supposed to look like and this is definately not grits-like consistency. Now I was worried we'd done something wrong.

Hayes pressed the pulp onto paper towels and we let it dry in the sun for four days.

Here's how it turned out.

Cindy, our homeschool group's coordinator, suggested Hayes send her a letter on the paper. Certainly Leisa, since she had to put up with my yelling,"Hold on! Let me get some kudzu!," asked for and will get a letter from Hayes as well.