Morgan LaBarbera Reflection

Normally when someone is instructed to “destroy” something the first things that come to mind is usually actions like breaking, burning, stomping, ripping, and maybe melting. So when I was instructed to alter or “destroy” my book I didn’t hold back.

What I learned from this process of altering my book is that you can take any type of already published work and recreate it into something of your own by changing its meaning and creating something completely new. I was able to look at my book as a new canvas and alter its pages and the words on the pages to have new meanings. I learned that this process can be a lot of fun too. This process really allowed me to use my imagination and to be creative. I also learned going back and reading some of the random pages within the book that I forgot some of the meanings the book once had to me. I was able to highlight some of these meanings while altering certain pages.

What I learned in the readings about the process in creating paper is that not much is wasted in the actual process. So when relating this to the alteration of my book I’d like to think that my book is not being wasted either because I am “destroying” it but yet I am using all of its elements in my alteration process to create something new. I chose my book because it had a positive influence on me. But after destroying it I felt a bit guilty for some of the things I did to it. One reason being simply because someone I respect told me to read it. And secondly, after reading about the history of paper itself and how far it’s evolved till today, I never realized the true values that paper once had. After reading I took into consideration how far the development of paper itself has come and how once it was very much scarce and valued. Back in the paper mill day’s old the creation process for paper was very intense. One process took old rags that were collected to be beaten with mallets to start the paper making process. Those rags then went through a steeping process which divided them into sections to then be left in places like cellars to ferment. From there those poor rags were stripped of their fatty substances and the remaining raw material was brought to the mill where it was beaten again by small wooden mallets which were usually fitted with tiny knives and nails. This process goes on for a while where the rags are reduced in water and such before the ever became close to being paper. The main point of this long process though is that at one point in time paper making was a complex and thorough process. It didn’t take the short amount of time it takes factories now a day to create it and shockingly that process is only one of the many different types of processes that was used to form paper. For example some paper was created from clean white tree bark in Japan. Paper in general took a lot of time and effort to create, while it was also very high in demand. Overall I feel guilty knowing about the history of paper and how it once took so long to create and was so valued because it now seems to be just an easily disposable textile that we take for advantage. For example it took me less than a minute to light my book on fire and destroy the pages of paper, and that was easy for me because paper to me is disposable and not so much valued like it used to be. Once upon a time there were droughts of raw materials when people weren’t able to create paper. Now we have so much of it we need to recycle it to help not to pollute our planet.

The paper mill industry itself grew fast in some areas of the world and it also became somewhat competitive. More countries were creating more paper mills to produce larger numbers of products. This change happened with getting rid of the old hand presses and the adoption of modern machinery.

Modern Machinery also helped with the creation of the book. Once paper itself had spread mainly throughout Europe it became a common commodity. Once paper became more popular it price began to drop because more factories were opening and creating it. This allowed more people the access to paper and eventually allowed the creation of books to begin. During the 15th and 16th centuries is when techniques were gradually perfected to produce books more rapidly. A big reason for the push in faster and greater production was in the increasing numbers of demand for printed books, articles in magazines. Technological advances were necessary to help this industry keep pace with the amount of demand.