Monday, January 5, 2015

cellulose fiber

i once kept a flock of sheep.
raisin was my first ewe, named for her thompson seedless raisin brown.
then i found a few more including truffle and lily who came from trudy van stralen 
rambam(!) no comment on his name; 
then a goat called trouble, 
who birthed adonis
the most beautiful mohair kid in the world.
 at that time
i was making paper from local fibers.
dyeing with fungi and lichens,
weaving tapestries, 
and raising a few angora bunnies.
my spinning included silk,
wild silk (spider and moth)
and crept over into the realm of cellulose.
 i couldn't imagine why spin cellulose? 
and now i say look at this, natural pale green cotton sliver
from kristin
which deepens with a cook to the color 
in the little skein.
a lovely cotton.
(very hard to capture the color in the photo, even with adjustment)
 and here is hemp, 
all the way from japan,
and the clever fingers of chica notch.
 she included a lovely wrapping cord of two ply hemp, 
i suppose.
more rustic and quite lovely, too.
 my 2-ply twined dogbane or indian hemp
is from the bast of the dried, field retted stems.
the coil grows slowly.
i have made paper from this fiber,
wonderful paper, actually,
 that included the wild and slender seed pods,
packed with seeds on fibers smaller than milkweed 
and ready to airlift the seeds to eager soil.
i am here, 
at the new year, 
looking both ways,
forward and back and
considering.

10 comments:

  1. Hi V - great action for the new year - love the series of the sheep etc especially the names. Go well. B

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  2. Looking both ways here, too... hope the little interlude of rest has helped fortify you for the remainder of the year.

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  3. Would love to touch those beautiful plant fibers. Great photos. Good names. It's all good.

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  4. barry, yes, those sheep...my kids still say they grew up on a sheep farm!
    valerie, me, too, and you, too.
    alice, they are really beautiful...thanks

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  5. my god that hemp!!
    you really have a way with names.

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  6. happy new year lovely northern friend...

    may it be kind to you and allow much time for creative pursuits and all good things!
    x

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  7. lovely fibre, great names. the hemp from Japan looks amazing.

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  8. neki, yes, and, well, what can i say?!
    sophie,
    such a lovely wish, i will hold it close!
    jean, yep, all of it!

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  9. Hoping the return to school has been a gentle start to the year, and that the spinning has helped keep you steady - it appears so meditative and metronomic from here...

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  10. fiona, yes, i think spinning is meditative. i've loved the hours i've spent at the wheel.

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