From bowl soaking overnight, I squeezed out a small bunch cut cotton to pound into slurry. Otherwise, the excess water will splash each time the cotton is pounded with the pestle.
In addition to pounding, I moved/grinded the pestle in a swirling motion inside to mortar.
After pounding the small amount, it is obvious to me that the process will pound the fibers small enough to become slurry when water is added.
Inside the mortar after adding some water, the slurry is seen in the middle. The amount in the mortar is about 1 tablespoon. of rough cotton fiber slurry.
Conclusion for This Process:
The amount of pounding required is too high to make creating cotton fiber slurry this way practical, for me. At the rate of 1 tablespoon per pounding session, about 5 to 10 minutes, the process is better used as a muscle building technique than making paper slurry.
However, I will finish the batch I started. At a consistency that will not drip through a drying screen, I'm guessing there may be enough for one small greeting card.
The Arches watercolor paper that I use is made from 100% cotton, and, is acid free. All the old watercolors I've saved for reference will be reused. I can also buy sheets to make slurry.
For comparison to scale, the tiny white area is the slurry poured back into the soaking bowl (upper right).
