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Show 3 This laced grass sercen is intended to retain only the macerated fibres, suffering the surplus water to drain through the openings between the lai grasses. There are many misnomers and contradictions in India and T wil not attempt to explain why the appellation for a mould-cover was adopte from the term denoting a roof. The grass used in the weaving of India ‘mould-covers is extremely fine, measuring from less than one-thirty-secon to almost one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter; only the parts between th nodes and nearest the blossoms can be used, the remaining part of the stoc being too thick for the purpose. The weaving of mould-covers requires considerable skill and dexterity, far more than forming sheets of paper upo them. A Kashmir mould-cover to be used on a thirty-six by thirty-two inc ‘mould-frame would need to measure about thirty-three by twenty-nine an one-half inches. After the deckle edges had been cut away the paper forme on such a mould would measure about thirty by twenty-six inches. Ther are no uniform or standard sizes for Kashmir paper, but the sheets are usually almost square and of comparatively large dimension Owing to the distressed state of the handmade: papermduslryu nKashmi during my visit the artisans were working with moulds that had seen muc service and I was informed that no moulds were being fabricated at the time The actual weaving of the grass mould -covers will therefore be dealt wit later, as T did not see this work until my arrival in the United Provinces In the Kashmir moulds in my v:oll::cuon there is a variation in the number of culms, or grasses, but they average from seventeen to twenty-onc t the inch; the horsehale sitches.(chaindincs) vary from sevenvcighth t one and one-eighth inches apart. From these measurements it will be see that there are no definite rules regarding the spacing of laid- or chain-lines As previously stated, there are two separate and individual deckle stick with each mould. These two loose sticks and the two fixed sticks that ar laced to the edges of the grass cover form a four-sided fence, or boundary around the mould, preventing the fibrous pulp from escaping. The we ‘Digital image© 2005 Mar iot Library Un |