The Critters
The Hollander beater is a machine designed to pulp up cellulose material into pulp for making paper, Ten years ago I needed one of these for travelling and teaching, so decided to design a portable lightweight version to fit into my suitcase, it was a success, weighing in at around 25kg (without the motor, which I fitted into my carry on bag. ) Since then I have handmade over 270 of these machines and they have travelled all around the world. My passion is to equip papermakers with the machines they need, to learn and progress, and we sure have had fun with them!
They got named ‘The Critters’ quite by chance, someone saw them and commented that they would have to ‘Hunt up one of them Critters’ and the name stuck.
The Hollander has a soft PVC tub which folds down for storage, it domes over a aluminum frame. There is a drain which usually goes into the lower side of the tub, that way the machine can sit on any flat table.
The machine is filled with water and then the material to be pulped is thrown in, for cotton rags you have to cut them into one inch pieces more or less and then set the machine going, stirring at first to get the circulation going. There is a bit of thumping and bumping as the rags begin to disintergrate, the noise settles down to a low rumbling sound as the pulp is produced.
The Hollander will handle all the tougher fibers like linen flax, kenaf, hemp and all the botanical pulps, usually these are boiled up first in soda ash or lye, washed and then put into the Critter, they will pulp up happily. The machine can handle the long strings and strips of plant material, the paper you can make in this way are unique and beautiful, even the weeds in your garden can make amazing papers!
All the Critters are handcrafted in my workshop here in Loburn, New Zealand.
UPS have a four day delivery from completion to anywhere in the world, and as the machine is designed to travel in a 25kg Express carton they are very economic to ship.
The Sizes are 3/4llb, 1 1/4lb and 3 1/2lb capacities, these three sizes are the same price ….US$2050.00 plus freight at US$220 to most places in the world.