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journal |
April 2005 |
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[I desperately need to reorganize this site. It's getting more than a little cumbersome, but I don't know exactly how I want to go about it yet. In the past, my life has been neatly arranged into segments by what I was working with -.paper in the summer, bookbinding and occasional basketry in the winter - but it's no longer that way. Fields are merging and lines are no longer so distinct. Basketry is is working its way into both paper and bookbinding, and none of the fields are confined by season. At some point I'll figure out how to merge the whole thing into a single journal, but for now, it continues basically in this format. Just be forewarned...this isn't entirely about paper now.] 4-05-05 In September of 2003, I gathered rose mallow (Althaea officinalis) beside the railroad tracks south of town. The plant is related to kenaf and cotton and the bast is neat stuff, makes wonderful paper. Unfortunately, the bast won't strip easily from green stalks and has to be steamed to make it release. I was thinking about that last January when I was taking a winter walk below Old Town. I ran across a single rose mallow plant growing in a drain, bare, gray stalks sticking skyward. On a lark, I gathered the field retted stalks, but it was too cold to do anything with them. I hauled them out today, and found that the bast strips easily. Wonderful. Bending the stalks slightly, not enough to break them, popped the bast loose in the middle and all I had to do was insert a finger under it and the bast stripped cleanly from end to end. The stalks from the one rose mallow plant yielded about 10 ounces of bast. One thing I did notice was that there seemed to be two distinct sets of stalks, something I didn't notice while gathering. There was a dramatic difference in the bast. The bast from one bunch was strong and stripped easily. The bast from the other bunch had deteriorated until it really was useless, and I had to discard those stalks. I have a feeling that the deteriorated stalks actually grew in 2003 and were still standing. The others were last years stalks. I cut the bast up into 1" lengths, and bagged for later use. There was just about 10 ounces, so I may look for more retted stalks to go with it. I'm curious about both color and quality of the paper that the retted bast will make. 4-8-05 Yesterday I drove down to the Joe L. Evans Appalachian Center for Crafts in Smithville, TN, to see Tallu Schuyler's Bachelor of Fine Arts - Fiber exhibit and attend the reception. It's an absolutely lovely exhibit entitled "Twenty Plants, Twenty Papers." The papers are well made and beautifully displayed...two sheets hanging so both sides are accessible, a printed sheet beside them documenting the work and a glass jar containing the raw plant material. Beautiful job! Unfortunately, about halfway down to Tennessee it dawned on me that I'd forgotten my camera. Bad Gin! Fortunately, Tallu has bound 31 copies of a book documenting her work. I purchased one and will be able to share her work using pictures from that. Unfortunately, the books had to stay with the exhibit until it closes. Fortunately, the exhibit closes on the 10th, so the wait won't be long. The drive down to Smithville was about 3.5 hours, and I didn't want to tackle coming home after the exhibit, so I stayed over with Claudia Lee. She has a beautiful off-the-beaten-path studio where she teaches various fiber arts, including papermaking. If you're ever down that way, check it out. 4-9-05 I should have posted the link to this page earlier, but I wasn't journaling when I put the page up. This is a paper piece entitled "Where I'm From" that I did for the Arts Council's "From Women's Hands" exhibit that runs from March 3 until April 16. This is a close-up of the top. 4-12-05 Sometimes I start a piece, and even though I'm well pleased with the direction it's going, I'll set it aside for awhile, before picking it up again. Part of this is because I'm more process than product driven, but lately it's more that I enjoy savoring the possibilities for the piece. I hate to commit to one direction until I've mentally explored other paths the piece may take. I've been playing around with this piece, Laleh and Ladan, off and on for over a month. Dimensions are 7" x 3" x 3". So far it hasn't deviated from what I first envisioned. The spokes and lower weavers are Siberian iris. The gray weavers are weathered hosta leaf stems. If the weaving goes the way I'm planning right now, the unwoven section will be done with gray weathered hosta and will slump forward and to the right, beginning about where the weaving is right now, and narrow in the same manner as the other. I have some hosta stems that are sun bleached to white, and those I will use on about the last inch or maybe two of this opening. I have some other stuff coming up, so this will be set aside again. It's not something that is started, never to be finished. I'm just savoring. 4-13-05 Judy Zugish, a friend and basketmaker from Washington State, is coming to teach a couple of classes for the Berea Arts Council over the next three days. She and Beth Hester, from Scottsville, will be staying here. Beth first introduced me to basketry something like 20 years ago and we've been friends ever since. She and Judy have known each other for a long time, too. No telling what this threesome may get into. Thursday and Friday, Judy is teaching a hat made from Western Red Cedar, then Saturday, a woven form from mizuhiki (paper core covered with colorful mylar). I've worked a little with Western Red Cedar and love it. It's quite similar to willow bark in that it feels and works like wet leather. Neat stuff. Just wish it were available for harvest here. 4-15-05 Judy's hat class was for advanced weavers, so everyone pretty much knew what they were doing. Beautiful hats, but it took 16 hours to get to the "beautiful hat" stage. Judy is a delightfully patient and accommodating teacher. Good thing, because some of the participants (who, of course, will remain unnamed [unless you happen to know Charlie]) got a little out of hand. Jennifer Heller, one of the students, is an extremely skilled willow weaver. She trimmed down and spit each spoke until they were tiny. There was some flexibility in design, allowing for the use of color, either from the natural variations of the cedar or by using dyed weavers. We managed to catch a group picture toward the end of the second day. 4-16-05 To be honest, I didn't think I would care for working with the mizuhiki. With the exception of one or two pieces, my work is done entirely with natural materials that I have harvested locally. And, too, I am not a color person. Still, this was an opportunity to fool around with a new material in the company of fun people. As it turned out, I thoroughly enjoyed both the material and working with the colors! Weird, but wonderful stuff and fun to work with! I'm afraid I wasn't as diligent about taking pictures of this class, but I did get one shot of Judy and a couple of the students. This is the piece I started. Like the Laleh and Ladan piece from the 12th, it's unfinished right now, sitting on the desk in savoring stage, mainly because I haven't decided where it's going from here. There are several options to finish the top, and I want to find the one that will best allow the continued flow of color around and through the top. 4-18-05 Charlie brought me a five gallon bucket of donkey dung today. Yes, I know. I swore off doing this sort of thing the last time I made horse dung paper, but the memory has faded enough to allow me to consider doing a comparison of horse and donkey paper...at some point. (I'm not there quite yet.) While she was here, we checked out the Japanese knotweed down by Silver Creek. At the end of March, it had just been peeping through the ground. Now some of it is over five feet tall. Amazing how quickly that stuff grows! Just about week away from harvesting for paper, and I will do that, but my reason for going down today and taking Charlie is that I see a potential for basketmaking material in the bast. It strips so easily, end-to-end, and it's tough. We cut and striped just enough to bring home and dry. That should allow us to see whether it will work or not for baskets. It's going to mean learning a new material, but if it will weave without breaking, it will work in some manner, either flat or twisted. We'll see. Charlie wants to move away from reed entirely, and this may give her another option. 4-19-05 I know it's difficult to teach old dogs new tricks. Apparently it's also difficult for them to remember the tricks they did learn. Today I'm beating the first load of cotton rag this spring. It's intended for a demo next Friday at the Kentucky Artisan Center's Earth Day program. I had some really old white cotton placemats, just perfect for what I need. Did I remember to rinse the placemats before cutting and beating? Of course not. The cotton beat up beautifully in a little less than two hours. I suspect that if I had ground down the blades like I intended to do before I started working this year, it would have taken less time, but I still haven't found a source for the grit . 4-20-05 The alternator on my van went out on the 18th and I haven't made arrangements to get it fixed yet. Even though I only have 20,000 miles on it, the van is 4 years old, so isn't under warranty, and I'm not restricted to a Dodge dealership. I'd rather find a reputable place in town, which I'll do when I can find time. JimT is in New Jersey, and being totally without wheels is...interesting. Today, I walked 25 minutes to go exercise for 30 minutes, then turned around and walked 25 minutes back home. This evening, I walked 35 minutes to the People's Bank craftsperson appreciation dinner and walked back home. (I think I qualified and then some for the government's new exercise guidelines.) Some good came from it, other than the exercise. On the way back home, I harvested a small bag of wild garlic to cook and use as the inclusion in the cotton rag pulp for Friday's Earth Day demo. 4-22-05 JimT came back last night, so he provided my transportation to the Artisan Center this morning. Gwen Heffner, potter and Information Specialist for the Artisan Center shot photos of the demo for me. It was an interesting day. In addition to the normal flow of visitors, there were five bus loads of tourists, so crowds came in waves. I always try to encourage hands-on with the paper pulling. Some people would rather just watch, some almost beg to get their hands in the vat. (The eager ones start rolling their sleeves up before I even offer.) I have an iron and ironing board set up, so those who pull a sheet can actually iron it dry to take home. Because this is cotton rag pulp, the ironing works well and it only takes a few minutes. It's fun letting them do a start to finish, and they seem to appreciate the process more. Along the way, I explain that this isn't exactly the way I do it at home, but it works for demos.
4-23-05 Scratch the idea of using knotweed bast for weaving baskets. It strips easily, it works well when damp, it's lovely but....it's extremely fragile when dry, cracking and crumbling in your hand. Definitely not good basketmaking material. I still intend to harvest some for paper first time I get a chance. 4-24-05 This is spring??? 4-25-05 While I was at the Appreciation Dinner a few days ago, I ran into the City Manager and asked for permission to drive back a private city service road that runs along Brushy Fork Creek. He looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "Why? You want something from back there?" "Um, yes, the Japanese knotweed." "Go for it. Park off in the grass, and if anyone questions you, just tell them you talked to me." It's good to have friends in high places. Yesterday we had snow, but today was lovely, so I "went for it." The knotweed couldn't be handier, just beside the road with a nice, clean strip mowed in front of it. The plants toward the front were short and too tender to harvest yet, but back into the patch just a little, they're a good two feet taller, perfect for harvesting. The stalks were about inch and a quarter around at the base, yet tender enough to be cut easily with a knife. It didn't take any time to harvest this pile. (Caesar was enticed into the picture for size reference.) 4-27-05 Today was fun/not fun. The forecasters promised sun and mid 60's. If I were a kind and gentle person, I'd say they were mistaken. I am not kind. They lied. The temperature never got out of the 50's and we had a few sprinkles. But when I made plans for the day, I had faith. I cut up the Japanese knotweed stalks this morning. This is one of the few plants that is actually fun to prepare for cooking. It's like slicing celery. Stick a stalk under an arm and whittle away, slicing diagonal pieces off and letting them fly off onto a sheet. I could have done the stalks in the chipper/shredder, but freshly cut knotweed has an extremely high water content. Sometimes that causes shredded plant material to pack in the chipper's outlet. Besides, as I said, cutting it up was fun and just took a few minutes. After it was cut up, I walked on it to crush the rounds so more would fit into the pot (again, like crushing celery). Turned out I had about twice as much as I needed. (Did I mention that the plant is fun to gather, too? It's easy to get carried away.) I filled the pot with the crushed chunks and spread the rest out on the sheet to dry. Cooked the knotweed for three hours in soda ash. Two hours probably would have been enough, but I kept waiting for the weather to warm up as promised. I finally gave up and rinsed the plant material in a paint strainer bag. I'd forgotten about how much gunk (non-fibrous material) was in knotweed. It's easy to see packed between the pieces. This is not good stuff, not anything I want in paper, but strainer bags are so tightly woven, they won't allow gunk to escape. The only way to get rid of it is to put the knotweed by heaping double handfuls into a wire strainer and hit it hard with a sprayer. This washes the gunk out and leaves the nice, clean fibers in the strainer. At this point, my day of working outside ended. Between the cold air temperature and the cold water, my hands were frozen. 4-28-05 I finally got time to finish the piece that I started on the 16th. All those slick, shimmering ends had to be tucked in and done so gracefully. Ha! Let me tell you right now, this was no easy task. Clue..."slick" and "shimmering" both created problems for me. The slick is self-explanatory. As for the shimmering, the more light I use to work by, the worse the shine, the worse the problem. I couldn't visually separate one strand from another, nor could I locate the proper stitch where it needed to be inserted. I finally resolved that by waiting for a cloudy day and working on the back porch. Another hint...if you ever do anything like this, make sure in the beginning that you lay it off so all ends are close to the same length. Doing that gives you more options at the end of the basket. I had one set of six weavers that was shorter than the rest, and there was little I could do with them except insert them in the top row and pull them back through to lock. With the longer sets, I tried to pull the brightest ones in sweeping flows down the outside of the piece before weaving them back through. Here is another shot showing a little of the inside bottom. (This is the first time I've ever taken digital pictures of anything shiny. Light causes problems with that, too, and I had to go back outside to take the shots.) This was an interesting basket because after the beginning, the direction it takes is totally up to the weaver. The basket itself makes suggestions, which you can either accept or reject. It's all a matter of control. I got enough material from Judy Zugish to do another one and will at some point. This stuff is a total departure from my natural materials, as is the type of weaving, but it's interesting, and I'd like to explore it further knowing better now how to control the shape. 4-30-05 Apparently, I'm into finishing unfinished stuff. Like almost everyone, I have any number of unfinished pieces. They really should be more a project for the slow days of winter, but today was stormy, and there was little else creative that I could do. I worked this afternoon on completing the piece I pictured on the 14th of this month. It's finished other than burning the "hairs" off and doing a little reshaping. I'm well pleased with the weaving, but as I said, not quite so pleased with the shape. The second "neck" extends too far outward to suit me. The entire second neck/rim needs to be shifted back inward, flatten and "drooped" more. This is a shot from the back. The piece isn't really that far away of the form that I intended, and altering the present shape should be straightforward. The staves (spokes or ribs, depending on what you chose to call them) are Siberian iris leaves. They take moisture and mellow quickly, then dry stiff. I'll dampen the piece enough to soften them, then remold and confine the piece until the materials are dry and hold their shape. The white hosta leaf stems turned out to be quite striking. I had been afraid they would visually melt into the gray hosta stems and appear to be the same, but they're quite distinct on the second rim. The white ones were quite short compared to the hosta stems I grow here, and much, much wider and flatter. Because of their width, I split most of them, making two weavers from one. Texturally, they were quite different, too, taking moisture and mellowing into a velvety softness. Nice stuff! Just wish they were longer and I had more of them. They would make an interesting small basket all on their own. |
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