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I've been thinking about how time consuming it can be to make pulp, with the tearing, soaking, boiling and/or mashing, *before* even getting to the draining and gluing stage. Has anyone tried making the batch of pulp then storing it, with the water, in a container such as a mason jar, for later use? Then, if you need something for a project, all you have to do is pick a jar, drain, mix glue, and done! (Not much point in storing it pre-drained since you'd need to re-add the water to use it anyway)
If you used pre-coloured paper (such as construction) or something you die yourself instead of painting afterwards, you could set up an entire spectrum of coloured jars ready to go. All the time to make these would be done upfront, even all at the same time if you have enough soaking containers, instead of on an as-need basis, making the project itself go faster, no? Thoughts?
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"Has anyone tried making the batch of pulp then storing it, with the water, in a container such as a mason jar, for later use?"
Yes. Once. MOLD!
If I were to do it again, I would dump the contents into a strainer (a piece of plastic window screening formed into a cone comes to mind), let it drain overnight, then separate it into useful-sized lumps and freeze it, instead. Thaw what you think you need and continue.
The only thing that was worse was making a fairly large batch of flour-based adhesive, putting it in the refrigerator, and forgetting about it. It must have been several weeks later when I opened it to see what was in the container... It had 'evolved' into something with gray/blue 'fur' and stunk to high heaven.
Sue
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I mix mineral pigments into my pulp, allowing for colours to emerge as the material is worked (sanded, filed, torn, etc); this allows for a great variety of tone and texture, as the same pulp appears quite different when rough or polished.
I mix a series of pulp base colours, then intermix portions of those to refine the hue, occasionally adding more pigment directly, as needed. Some pigments change radically in appearance when diluted with pulp, while others retain their distinctive character even when only traces are present.
Unless working with only a very limited pallet, the number of coloured pulp batches would be unwieldy to manage if I mixed and preserved each. Typically, I might have 6-8 base batches of pulp, any number of batches of refined hues, and a large batch of unpigmented pulp on hand (with all binders/additives already mixed into the pulp).
Pulp painters often do what you suggest, preparing a very large number of tinted aqueous pulp batches as a pallet.
A note of caution: many pigments are toxic- as is the dust or liquid produced from dry or wet pulp containing pigment. This is the downside of colouring your pulp - wearing dust masks, gloves, and keeping your environment free from contaminants. Q: How much copper arsenate or cobalt dust do you wana ingest? A: none.
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I was indeed planning to do some pulp "painting" and relief 2D sculpting, so am not really that interested in more than your basic colour pallet at this time (so around 10 jars of colours). I have some mica powders on hand to mix in, but don't like the idea of "spirit dyes" and toxic inks at the moment, I'd be using mostly just acrylic paints which claim to be non-toxic. For something I'd be hand-painting, I have a range of acrylic faux metallic paints that also claim to be non-toxic. I've already been accidentally poisoned by spray sealant in the past so I'm careful now 
It seems that with mold, some people have a lot of trouble with it while others have none at all. So...which is most likely for this sort of thing? =/
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Mold really depends upon your temperatures and humidity. If you leave some bread out for a week and mold forms, you need to be careful. Generally, using non molding pastes, making sure your work is thoroughly dry and protected with a water resistant surface, should be successful.
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Yes, organic adhesives are the worst, with the exception of methyl cellulose (MC or CMC) as in cellulose wallpaper paste.
The mold problem I had with PVC was internal, due to lack of drying inside. Other methods are probably more tolerant, but you do have to dry it thoroughly.
Sue
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p.s.
The advantage of freezing smaller batches of pulp with no adhesive or color allows you to change your mind, esp about the color. I don't know about you, but frequently an idea ferments and changes in my head as I work on it, and I am totally capable of deciding to change the color. But if it's pre-colored, I might have to go through the whole process of making more pulp just to dye it another color.
Knowing how my brain works (or doesn't), I would probably end up with 2700 small batches of pulp in the freezer, in 2700 different colors, and decide they were all wrong.
It just isn't that difficult or time-consuming to thaw the pulp, add the (current) adhesive and color of choice and knead it to the proper color and consistency. It's the making of the basic pulp that takes so long.
Sue
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So, question then. I've made a few colours of construction paper pulp in mason jars, they are processed without fillers and completely submerged in the container. When fully settled, about an inch more of water is above the pulp line. If they are within water, how can mold grow very well? Even if it did, could I not simply mix bleach into the water to kill it? Or even just fill it completely so there is little to no free oxygen in the container?
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