Research-basedbeginnerDrying

Why Do the Edges of My Handmade Paper Curl?

Quick answer

Edges dry first and shrink first, so hold them down from the start. If you dry on a board, press the edges firmly with a brush or brayer before you walk away. If you dry on a rack, turn the sheet over when it is about half dry. Then press the dry sheets flat.

Is this your problem?

Symptom: Edges curl after the sheet dries

The sheet is mostly flat, but its rim is lifting or rolling. On a board, the edges have popped away. On a rack, the whole sheet may have drawn up into a shallow dish.

Put the sheet on a table. If the rim rises and the middle lies down, this is edge curl. If the surface rolls in waves across the middle, you are looking at cockling, and that guide will fit better.

Curl comes from the way a sheet loses water. Hiebert notes that the edges dry fastest, and Snider notes that fibres shrink as they dry. A rim that is not held down will lift.

Similar symptoms

Why Is My Handmade Paper Wavy or Cockled After Drying?

Ranked causes

Causes in order of likelihood, ranked from the published guidance listed under Sources.
Cause	Tell-tale sign	Quick check	Fix
Edges were not held down while drying	Board-dried sheets have edges that popped free, and they curl along the rim	Press the edges down firmly on the next sheet and compare	Brush or brayer the sheet from the center out and seal down the edges
One face drying faster than the other	The sheet curls up on a rack, with the upper face inward	Turn one sheet over at about half dry and leave another alone	Turn sheets halfway through, or dry them under weight
Drying too fast at the rim	Board-dried sheets in strong sun or a direct draft lift at the edges first	Move a sheet to shade, or redirect the airflow	Start sheets in shade and blow air across the faces of the sheet, not the edges
High-shrinkage pulp	Abaca, flax, or long-beaten pulp pulls off the board before it is dry	Compare with a less heavily beaten pulp, dried the same way	Run a thin line of methyl cellulose under the edges, or dry under restraint

Diagnose in order

Change one thing per sheet. Dry sheets from the same post side by side.

Note how the sheet dried. Board, rack, line, cloth, or stack.
If on a board, inspect the edges. Are they firmly stuck down the whole way around? Press them down on the next sheet and compare.
If on a rack, turn one sheet. Flip it when it is about half dry and leave the other as is.
Change the air. Move a sheet out of direct fan or sun, or point the fan across the face of the sheet.
Dry one under weight. Stack it between blotters with a board on top.
Change the fibre last. Compare a shorter beat or a less shrinky pulp under the same conditions.

Fixes, step by step

Seal the edges on a board

Brush the sheet onto a smooth surface with a wide brush or brayer. Work from the center out. Then go around the rim once more and press it down well.

Press the sheet only partly before you board-dry it. Helen Hiebert notes that fully pressed sheets do not adhere well. Leave the board untreated, since paper tends to stick to boards coated with polyurethane.

Use methyl cellulose for shrinky sheets

Some fibres shrink so much they pop off the board before they are dry. Hiebert suggests applying methyl cellulose to the edges of the sheets as you apply them to the board, to help them stay attached until dry.

Turn sheets on the rack

Ted Snider's loft drying method turns each sheet over when it is about half dry, because the top surface dries faster and pulls upward. After drying, stack the sheets and dry press them overnight to flatten them.

Slow the rim down

Point the fan across the broad faces of the sheets, not at the edges. In strong sun or dry air, start the sheet in the shade and move it to the sun when it is partly dry.

Use restraint

Exchange drying puts a board and weight on a stack of sheets interleaved with absorbent material, to restrain the paper as it dries. Snider's forced air stack, with blotters and corrugated board under a weight, restrains the paper from shrinking during drying.

Prevent it next batch

Press the edges down every time you board-dry.
Note which side of a rack gets the most air.
Set up restraint in advance for sheets that must be flat.
Beat high-shrinkage pulps less if the sheet has to lie flat. Beating time is one of the controls on shrinkage, as Timothy Barrett notes.
Log the drying method and the turning time so you can repeat what worked.

Record the next batch in the printable batch log.

When it's not fixable

Curled edges are hard to flatten, as Hiebert notes, but misting and pressing often helps. Mist lightly, press between blotters under a board and weight until dry, and expect some of the shrinkage to remain. Barrett's description of post-drying flattening is the same: careful misting and stacking.

Size will not help: Barrett notes that after sizing, a sheet is likely to be wavy or curled and needs flattening. If the edges stay curled, trim them if the sheet size allows, or re-pulp the sheet.

FAQ

Why do the edges curl when the middle stays flat?

Helen Hiebert notes that the edges dry fastest and can pop off the drying surface, and that once edges curl before the sheet is dry, they shrink more than the rest of the sheet and are hard to flatten. That is why she insists the edges be well adhered.

Is edge curl the same problem as cockling?

No. Edge curl is confined to the rim or lifts the sheet into a shallow dish. Cockling is waves across the face of the sheet. They often share a cause in uneven drying, and restraint helps both, but the first check differs. Look at the edges for curl and at the whole surface for cockling.

Does it matter which face is up while the sheet dries?

It can. Ted Snider explains that on a loft rack the top side dries faster than the side lying on the screen, and since fibres shrink as they dry, the sheet curls upward. His advice is to turn the sheets over when they are about half dry.

Will restraint drying stop curled edges?

Restraint is the purpose of those methods. In Snider's forced air restraint drying, a weight on top and the friction of the blotters restrain the paper from shrinking as it dries. Hiebert's exchange drying puts a board and weight on the stack for the same reason. On a board, the edges still have to be well adhered, so check them first.

Next stage: Why Is My Handmade Paper Too Rough or Fuzzy to Write On?

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Sources and further reading

By Editorial Desk. Last updated November 10, 2026.How we research.