Thursday, December 17, 2009

apologies



i looked for shifu books, and i only found a couple very yellow, poor quality pics. i'll try to get some more soon. i lost a bunch of photos when my old computer, a hand-me-down, decided to die. i'm gradually finding out how much was lost. this one is traditional limp vellum or stationers binding, sewn on tapes and laced into the cover. the poem is handwritten on vellum "tipped" in with endpages that are dyed with hollyhock. silk stitching, vellum button. one dyed silk page, too. the natural vellum color is seen in the tapes.




magic lilies appear in my spring garden with lavish leaves that flourish, then disappear. in august, several pale mauve flowers appear on long stalks. my old riding (hacking, bridget!) friend darr told me about them, and warned me they would be coming, and he was right. last summer, i celebrated their dance by the stone wall, thinking of darr, the days (and days) we rode our mares together, the changes he always pointed out in my garden. this vellum book is number three of a small series i made last year. one lives at st. lawrence university special collections, the other two will, i hope, be exhibited this coming year. if i'm lucky.


9 comments:

  1. oh, delightful. the smallness really enhances the delicate squares. an encouragement to get up close and personal....

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  2. i just found your blog.. and i'm glad i did! love the idea of these little paper weavings. very versatile medium, paper is. i'll be back.

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  3. Oh my gosh but I want to see the rest of this little marvel and read the story about the Magic Lilies.

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  4. How precious! it looks gorgeous!

    Thanks for translating equestrian terms for me!!

    In Australia they call 'cycling' 'riding'. whenever someone cycled to my house and i asked how they got there and they say 'oh I rode' i always want to look outside to see where their horse is! but there is just a bicycle :(

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  5. how disappointing! imagine a horse tethered outside! i loved hacking, even in the snow, but below 20 degrees F it got very challenging. frozen toes.

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  6. Fascinating! I tried searching on "shifu" but got results that didn't seem to apply to what you are doing. Can you give us some background on what this craft is about? Thanks in advance.

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  7. Ohhhh, hellllo - love your blog, it's very inspiring and happy : ) I am with Ramona, prior comment, looked up the word "shifu" and it is not in the english dictionary, goooogled and the word comes up from a KungFu movie ???? can you let us/me know what "shifu" is and/or means ??
    Blessings, Sandra in AZ

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  8. I love this booklet, it just a small bundel of love.

    Sandra (the Netherlands)

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