Traditional hand moulds are used to form the sheets, dating in some cases from the 1880's. Most, however, have been made from mahogany hard woods and bronze wire more recently by Amies and Son of Maidstone, England.

The mill is able to produce sheets in a range of dimensions up to 840mm x 615mm in laid and wove styles.

For each sheet the skill of the papermaker is required to cover the mould with furnish and with the papermaker's 'shake' distribute it evenly across the surface whilst the water drains through the mould wire. This skilful operation ensures a randomness of grain direction and contributes importantly to the paper's stability. Each sheet is then 'couched' - transferred - on to a special woollen, woven felt and is the initial source of the surface character. Depending on the nature of the surface required, papers can be further pack pressed in both their wet and dry states.

Two methods of drying are used. Loft drying where the paper is allowed to dry unrestrained and at variable rates depending on the climatic conditions. This is mostly used for papers subsequently to be gelatine sized. Otherwise sheets are restraint dried to maintain the flatness and regularity that is most often required particularly in typography and printing processes. Each sheet is finally inspected for conformity to our quality standards.

The key quality factors on which we concentrate are these:

• Only the highest grade virgin cellulose fibres are used, namely cotton, flax pulp, raw flax, refined and raw hemp. We can ensure therefore that no optical brightening agents are present.
• Our water is drawn from an underground pure source and is pH neutral at about 7.2. Tests have confirmed residual dissolved copper content at about 6.2ppm and iron at 14.5ppm.
• Pre-dyed fibres and natural earth pigments are light fast to at least level 5 on the wool scale.
• All papers are protected from pollution and acidic degradation by buffering with precipitated calcium carbonate and the papers are internally, neutral sized with Aquapel.
• We use pH corrected gelatine and neutral hardener for those water colour papers which are surface gelatine sized.
• Our Quality Control processes include a number of standard laboratory tests to verify the strength and permeability.
• Comprehensive ageing tests have been carried out both by the University of Manchester's Institute of Science and Technology and the French National Library. The results have been extremely satisfactory in each case and details can be supplied on request.