Tuesday, July 6, 2010

paper thoughts

field retted milkweed
making paper is elemental for me. i love exploring new fibers, and using new moulds. in my mill i often learn a new pulp, trying to figure out the characteristics and peculiarities of each. one thing that has always happened, at the end of several days or weeks i have lots of bits of different pulps which i then combine and make my version of badger paper. this paper is always wonderful.
 a stack of my papers
when i visited the japanese paper place last week i was struck by several things, the commitment to a culture's product that was large enough to develop a business, and an exquisite collection of art made from japanese paper. i looked and touched items of great beauty, and exquisite aesthetic. 
these are skeins of hiroko karuna's spun kozo, naturally dyed by her. the japanese paper place has a collection of her skeins cut as thin as 1 millimeter before spinning.
each one of these skeins, if i remember correctly, is one sheet of kozo. you will notice that she has refined her spinning and now excludes the characteristic slubs found in most handspun paper. once woven, these fine yarns make exquisite cloths, art works on their own. 
these are two 4 selvedge squares that i have ecodyed, borrowing india flint's process. you can see the slubs in them, and the paper was cut into about 3/16" strips before spinning, huge in comparison. 
spun lokta
different aesthetics. related thinking. love of fiber, evident, i hope, in both.

11 comments:

  1. These photos make my fingertips itch to touch.

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  2. the selvage squares are gorgeous in texture with a fabulous color complexity.
    your fiber photos are to dye for :)

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  3. Oh those skeins of spun & dyed kozo...the colors are so lovely!

    And your stack of papers are great. So when are you going to start selling them?

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  4. Just posted a comment. Though I received the message that it was posted, I do not see it.

    Maybe there still are problems???

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  5. The colors of the spun & dyed kozo are so soothing.

    And your stack of papers are lovely too. When are we going to be able to purchase some?

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  6. Are you making milkweed papers? That would be fantastic.
    I love the slubby spun lokta paper yarn

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  7. hey, it's working. thank you little interpixies.

    yes, susan, i do make milkweed paper. it's always been one of my favorites.

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  8. between us we seem to have created little circles of movement all over Toronto
    happily
    they coincided
    for a time...

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  9. who woulda thought--the traveler(s) from the red country and the north country forager!

    thank you for the concept of interpixies. does that mean there are interdemons, too?

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  10. Hello, I googled for "hiroko karuno" but can't seem to find anyplace where I can buy her yarn. Do you know of such a place?

    Your blog is most interesting: fiber, fabric, paper, texture, color. YUM! :)

    BTW - I have a pair of shorts like yours. I have not been able to bring myself to give them up - not yet.

    Lindy in the Sonoran Desert. We are not much hotter here than the rest of the country and a whole lot drier.

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  11. lindy, i'm certain that ms. kanura doesn't sell her yarn. she uses it in her woven kimono lengths, which are actually not made into kimono, the roll of shifu is an artform in itself. if you wish to purchase paper yarn i have a couple of sources, but i think few people would sell their handspun paper yarns.

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