Half-day workshops near Samarkand
A morning at the mill
- Duration
- 4 hours
- Starts
- 9:30
- Price
- $45 per person
- Group
- Up to 8 guests
- Open
- Tuesday to Sunday
What you do on the day
Every workshop follows the paper, not the clock, but this is roughly how the morning goes.
Included
- All materials and tools
- Green tea and a courtyard lunch
- The sheets you form, delivered to your Samarkand hotel the next day
- A polished sheet from our drying wall to take home
- Guidance in English or Russian
9:30
Green tea under the mulberries
We meet in the courtyard, pour the first pot of tea and walk along the trees that give us our bark.
10:00
Strip and scrape the bark
You cut a branch, peel it and scrape away the outer skin with a blunt knife, exactly as it was done in the tenth century.
10:45
Inside the mill
Stand next to the water wheel while the hammer beats yesterday’s fibre into pulp, and feel the pulp between your fingers.
11:30
Form your own sheets
At the vat, our papermakers guide your hands as you lift the reed mould. Most guests form three or four good sheets.
12:45
Polish with the agate stone
You burnish a dry sheet from our wall until it shines, then try it with a reed pen and ink.
13:15
Bread, apricots and a last look
A simple lunch in the courtyard before we say goodbye. Your own sheets dry overnight and we deliver them to your hotel.
Book a workshop
Pick a morning, we will put the kettle on.
Groups are kept to 8 so everyone gets time at the vat. Nothing is paid now: we confirm by email within a day, and you settle on the morning itself.
Good to know
How do we get there?
The atelier is about 25 minutes by taxi from the centre of Samarkand. Once your booking is confirmed we send directions you can show any driver, and we can arrange a car for you.
What should we wear?
Clothes you do not mind getting wet at the cuffs, and closed shoes. Forming sheets is a gentle but splashy business. We lend aprons.
Can children join?
Yes, from 8 years old, with an adult. Children usually love the water wheel most of all.
What if we need to cancel?
Write to us up to 48 hours before your workshop and we will move your date or simply cancel. You only pay on the day, in cash or by card.