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Special note:
Last month my host's mainframe went down, and with it went my website and
email. Most emails sent to me during that time bounced back to senders
with the notice that there was no such domain. Unfortunately, it
appears some emails simply vanished into cyberspace without any notification
to the sender. If you emailed me during that period and didn't receive
an answer, you can assume I never received it.
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9-1-07 This summer has been long, hot,
dry and busy. I took a vacation from journaling, in part,
because because I had little time to share stuff. Too, I needed time
to myself. All artists need retreat time, and I'm no different.
I'll try, over time, to play catch-up and post a few things that happened,
but not right now. **Today was totally hickory...beating some that had
been cooked previously, cooking
some that had soaked overnight
and cutting up yet more.
I set aside these chair bottoms to
do at a later date. They've been finished with varnish(?), but that
won't interfere with using them for paper. The lye during cooking will
take care of that with no problem. (Notice the hickory strip with
printing in that picture? Don't tell me chair caners don't have a
sense of humor. It says, "It was for my work on this chair seat bottom
at which time I was sent away to a small convent outside Bologna.")
That I love hickory for making paper is no secret. It's such a
lovely and versatile fiber. Unbleached, hickory gives the paper's surface
a warmth and depth I can't find in other fibers. And while that depth is
lost in bleaching, the paper still has a rich and comforting warmth.
Lately I've been playing with vessels using the hickory. Some
incorporate weaving while
others use
textured hickory for a decorative
factor. I'm especially pleased with that last piece. There is an
unbelievable richness to it and it craves touching.
9-2-07 Today is
International Rock Flipping Day. And being the good
game-for-anything person, I went out and flipped rocks. Have I
mentioned that it has been hot and dry here lately? All
I found were cracks in the earth...deep and wide. Other rock flippers
were more fortunate(?), some even found
snakes.
If you're interested in what others discovered under the rocks, follow the
first link and check out the Flickr site for pictures from around the
country.
9-3-07 I am not a happy camper. This
was a day of several unfortunate occurrences. Several days ago I came
up with a really neat idea that would use indigo dyed cotton and paper on a
form. The base paper for the form needed to be white cotton rag, and fortunately
(don't let that word mislead you), I had some already pulled.
Unfortunately, as I found out while working with it, the paper was too
thick. It created unacceptable ridges on the form. I really
wanted to get on with this piece while the idea was fresh and inspiring.
Instead, I was forced to stop, pull new sheets of think white cotton rag to
kill the ridges. Fortunately (again, don't let that mislead you), I
had some cotton pulp in the refrigerator. Unfortunately (here we go
again), I hadn't used this pulp and wasn't aware of it's qualities.
So, I blithely set about pulling many, thin sheets.
many, thin sheets. While I'm
not a big fan of glass dried paper, it does work well for very thin sheets
and makes quick work of the usually labor to time intensive drying. My
first indication of problems came when I was pulling the sheets. It
contained tiny knots, something I've never run across in cotton rag. I
knew the cause. I had over beaten the rag and not run the roller high
for the last ten minutes, but then...I had never had this problem with
cotton rag before so I didn't think there was any need to raise the roller.
The knots meant more work running handfuls of the pulp through the blender
before adding them to the vat. Pulling was easy enough, but when I
removed the sheets from the felts, they seemed so...fragile. What the
heck? Cotton rag makes good, solid, tough sheets. The only thing
I could figure was that the cotton t-shirts were really rotten and I
shouldn't have over beaten the pulp. Attaching the dried sheets to the
form was a pill. The second they were wet with the methylcellulose,
they disintegrated. Bah! I feel like I've wasted a day.
9-4-07 I despise tossing something simply
because it won't work the way I intended, so I went back at it again today.
The solution ended up being so simple. All I had to do was to apply
dry sheets to the wet forms. Duh. Well, it wasn't quite that simple
because the sheets had to go on e-x-a-c-t-l-y. Otherwise, trying to
shift them once applied made mountains and valleys, but if I was careful, it
worked perfectly. The upper half
of this globe has been recovered, and you can see the difference between
it and the ridged bottom half. And out of this dry application idea
came the realization that I can use super thin wisps of paper in the same
manner to create designs. Now I'm excited. I can see wisps of
hickory or any number of other darker fibers floating on a white cotton rag
background or vice versa. Can't wait to play with that idea.
9-5-07 I'm involved in a book swap with a
due date of October 31, but until now, I've done nothing about it. I have
five vessels in some stage of completion drying right now, and it seems a
good time to stop with those projects and attack the swap books.
Normally, I do things like this as soon as I agree to the swap and these
would have been done long ago, but I've had a really hard time coming up
with an idea for the form they'd take. It was beginning to look like
I'd have to do a dull and boring book that was really well bound, and
if it had come right down to the wire time wise, I would have, but I finally
came up with a form that pleases me. Because some of the people
involved in this swap read this journal, I won't be writing about this
project until the swap is finished. Then I'll post pictures and an
explanation of the process.
Back to the top
9-11-07 Computers...you either love them
or hate them. And for the last six years, I've loved this one.
It's been kept updated and clean and I've had relatively few problems along
the way. And those problems that did occur were nothing I couldn't
figure out and work through. (Did you know on some computers Windows
"Help and Support" [oxymoron] will self activate for no apparent reason and
consume 100% of the CPU unless you either call Microsoft for a special patch
or go into Services Local and set the startup type to manual?) But
face it, six years-old is geriatric for a computer. Lately I've been
getting unusual error messages and programs have been developing corrupt
files. This is not good. Today I broke down and ordered a new
computer, something I really needed to do while this one was still up and
running. It's so much easier to configure a new system if you can have
the two side-by-side. However, I've done something I may regret later.
I've ordered a laptop as a replacement for the desktop PC. My concern
isn't so much the keyboard, I'm really very adaptable along that line, but
the screen. A good deal of progress has been made with those over the
last few years, and I think it will be okay.
9-14-07 Tomorrow I'll be doing a
miniature
basketry demo at the Artisan Center here in Berea. If you're in
the area, stop by.
9-15-07 Thoroughly enjoyed the demo
yesterday. The Artisan Center is always such a pleasant place anyway,
and getting to talk to the visitors is a plus. There was one older
gentleman who was especially enjoyable. He was initially drawn to the
demo, not by my weaving, but by the table of weaving materials I had
displayed - bulrush, honeysuckle, bittersweet, Indian hemp and the like.
He picked up each in turn and told me what it was. The gentleman was
obviously rural and wanted to talk country stuff, something I can do all day
long and not run out of anything to say. We talked ginseng hunting,
trotlines, grubbing hoes, trapping, tobacco farming and all manner of
country stuff. He'd stop periodically and shake his head as if a
little bemused that he could have a conversation with a woman about
such things. He finally shook his head, grinning at me and said, "You
shoulda been born a boy." Loved it! |
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9-16-07 With the books and the demo out of
the way, I'm back to working with the vessels that have been drying.
Last month I participated in an indigo workshop, and in addition to dyeing
cotton cloth and silk, I dyed some
white commercial paper that was originally made for humidifier
wicks, but came to me as packing material. (I'm a compulsive keeper of
stuff that has "potential" and this packing material definitely did.
Of course, I had no idea what the heck that potential was, but in my mind's
eye, it was there.) Because of it's original intended purpose, it
would definitely hold up to water, and it did beautifully while dyeing.
When I was deciding which vessel to start on this morning, I happened to see
the blue paper and had an "ah, ha!" moment. I'm not sure, even now,
exactly where I'm going with
this vessel, but I do like what I'm seeing so far. I'd like to
incorporate some of the indigo dyed cotton, but I'm not sure exactly how
yet. I'll let this vessel mellow out in my mind before going any
further.
9-17-07 All summer we've been experiencing
a drought here in Berea. That's no surprise. The entire
southeast has at some level or another. We've been under voluntary
water restrictions since some time in June, but last night mandatory water
restrictions were announced. (Oddly enough, it isn't that the city
doesn't have water; it just doesn't have the ability to pump it as
fast as we're using it. This will be remedied by the new pumping
station, which comes online (I think) in 2008.) So what do these water
restrictions mean for me? Guilt trips every time I even think about
cooking and processing fibers. Papermaking is water intensive, no two
ways 'round it. One one level, I can justify it. Right now I'm
trying to establish a unified body of work in the field of paper, and doing
so requires that I have paper to work with. Also, I am considered part
of the "tourist draw" for Berea. But on another level, justification
is hard. Papermaking is basically a hobby for me. I don't depend
on it for my income. I do guilt trips well, so as I said, I'm torn.
9-20-07 I think I know where I'm going
with this vessel now.
I put another strip of the
dyed indigo paper on it day before yesterday. There's another
strip drying, ready to go on tomorrow. It seems to be better to
dampen the strips and shape them
more or less like they will be on the vessel before applying them.
Then adjusting isn't so traumatic to the paper...or to me. Once I have
all the paper on and dry, I'll attach a strip of indigo dyed cotton cloth
around the rim. I'm hoping I can stretch the cloth enough to keep if
from bunching up on the curve. It won't be wide, so it should be
possible. **Back last month I did
a textured hickory globe, and ever
since then, it's been calling for a companion piece. I wanted to make
a smaller version with a slightly different pattern. It surprised me,
that even though this one is smaller,
it took almost the same amount of time to create. Here is a shot of
the two together that offers a
better idea of the size relationship. I am well pleased with the
weight of these pieces. That's the problem with paper, it comes across
as being so...nothing...simply because of the lack of weight.
These two pieces are very substantial, together weighing in a more than 3/4
of a pound. Well pleased.
9-21-07 Spent much of the day at the vat.
I don't have a "wet room." My pulling area is on the back deck.
Cool weather will be here one of these days, and if I want paper to work
with this winter, now is the time to do something about it. I still
had a large plastic coffee can full of the "rotten cotton" pulp that made
such poor paper. It really is lousy, so I mixed some of it half and
half with abaca and pulled about a dozen sheets. Those I stuck to the
sliding glass doors. If the paper is acceptable when it's dry, I'll
pull more tomorrow. But the fun stuff I played with today was some
drastically underbeaten hickory. This is some I had pulled out of the
beater to use as an inclusion in other, lighter pulps. Mix
underbeaten hickory with abaca
and you get a lovely sheet. But that wasn't what I pulled today.
I was looking for something to use as a decorative effect on the outside of
vessels. Instead of pulling sheets,
I pulled this. Then
I stripped out sections
and dried these on glass.
I was prepared to peel them off the glass with a razor blade when they were
dry, but surprisingly, given that there's so little fiber there, that wasn't
necessary. After starting the strips,
they pulled off cleanly.
I think they'd look neat flowing up the side of a form of some type, and I'd
really like to try applying these to something to make sure the idea will
work before I pull more, but I don't have anything ready. I'll either
go ahead and pull the rest of the underbeaten stuff up or freeze it.
These strips are actually something I could pull in the winter in the
kitchen if necessary.
9-22-07 Today was a hoot! I spent
the morning alternately pulling cotton/abaca sheets (yes, the abaca did
improve the quality of the cotton pulp) and fighting honeybees. With
the drought, there's little freestanding water available for them, and they
seem to be drawn to my wet feet and the mould/deckle. Every time I put
the mould down, here would come a bee or two.
I had to look twice before I made any move today, whether with my hands or
my feet. As a child, I ran barefoot all the time, and I remember far
too well what it felt like being stung. (As an aside, when that
happened, my mother always made me soak my foot in kerosene, and it really
does work to kill the pain and itching if it's done immediately.
Doesn't do much for the swelling, but hey, I could put up with that as long
as it didn't hurt.) Late this afternoon the bees more or less
disappeared, and I pulled hickory is peace.
9-23-07 This afternoon was devoted to
watching the Chicago Cubs (GO CUBBIES!!), but I did pull a few sheets of
interesting(?) paper this morning. There was leftover pulp in two vats
- hickory in one and the rotten cotton rag in the other. Just for the
heck of it, I pulled a solid hickory sheet, then over pulled a thin layer of
white cotton. It made a really pretty sheet, sort of clouds floating
across a soft, brown background. I wish I had left them alone at that
point, but no, I had to play by
dripping water from a turkey baster making papermaker's tears over the sheet.
I was ever so careful to space the the drops out, but darn, if they hadn't
been so uniformly spread, it would have looked better. Then I used the
baster filled with water and
swooshed it across the paper, and I like that better. Still the
plain double-pulled sheets were prettier than either of these. Bah!
And to make matters worse, when I dried these on glass (cotton side to the
glass), they popped. The cotton couldn't hold up to the shrinkage of
the hickory. They've been damped and are in the press now.
9-24-07 Discovered today that I've
developed some really bad pulling habits. Over the last week or so,
I've been pulling nothing but thin sheets that have no purpose as a entire
sheet. They'll be torn up and used in that manner. As a result,
I've not taken care to pull a good, even sheet. Just whatever came out
of the vat was fine, and that worked for what I was doing then. This
morning I got a rude awakening when I pulled the first few sheets of
a paper that is intended for the
printer. They had one thick edge, one thin one, the fibers weren't
distributed evenly and there were ridges from having been sloppily couched.
The first poor sheet I blew off as just being the first sheet on the
couching station, which almost never is perfect no matter how carefully
done. No sweat. But when I couched the second and third, I knew
it was me, not the couching and not the pulp. Thought about it a
minute and pretty much figured out what had happened. So those sheets
went back into the vat, and I took more care pulling and couching.
Still, it was hard to retrain my hands. Several times I would look at
a sheet on the mould and realize my mind had been elsewhere and my hands had
crept back into bad habits. I'll likely fight this again next time
because I only pulled part of the morning. It got way too hot outside
way too fast. There were things that could be done inside where it was
air conditioned. (Yeah, I'm a wimp.)
9-25-07 Today I got back to the
half-beaten hickory strips
I pulled last Friday and tried them on a
white cotton rag globe. I
painted a section of the globe with methylcellulose, then a dried hickory
piece on that and smoothed it down with the brush, working my way around the
globe. When that was dry, it was turned upside down and the base was
covered with hickory paper. I'm delighted with how easily the
half-beaten hickory strips went on and especially
how well the piece looks! You
can see a little of the the base in
this shot. Once it was completely dry, I touched up a few spots with
fine sandpaper, then sprayed a matte finish over the surface. |
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