stars and fiber

this came home with my partner

delicious and beautiful

supper was fresh sweet corn on the cob

amazing bread

and garden salad lettuces

at Zone 4 

the paper mill at SLU

the papermaking continues.

(today i begin teaching papermaking and book arts 

and next week

peace paper comes to visit)

a small test sheet.

linen rag,

a FLAX suit

turned into pulp after three or so hours of beating!

the color is quieter than the original cloth

which was a tan with a pink tone that i found rather off.

here is the sheet with the original cloth

the sickly pink tone is gone now

to this base pulp i added

retention aid and 

caput mortuum (dead head)

earth pigment from Melbourne Printmaking Supply. 

close up 

and full size.

it's a small sheet, still damp here,

 but has possibilities.

since i have 3 buckets of this linen

i'll be coloring some more

for, hopefully, a book.

and finally

barry smith sent me leaves of peace to share

the word

peace star echoes the bread star

bread and peace.

a week of muchness

patterns on the morning table

remind me of where my thoughts

 traveled this summer

summer,

(which is now waning.

morning temperatures in the high 40's.

and heavy dewfall.)

i play patterning paper into spheres.

changing 

 reflections, 

 there has been so much rain

 and the babies are so big now.

 evening

 and below,

some useful and beautiful plants

goldenrod, canada thistle

 and these are the indoor doings:

i had the incredible honor of this gift,

shifu:

 margaret sent me a piece of beautiful shifu

woven by sadako sakurai

a piece that i held in my hands earlier this summer

in seattle.

she also sent some reading, 

articles i'd perhaps once seen, but had forgotten.

an astonishing package, and

so welcome!

 and i found i actually had this catalog

hidden away in my studio shelves! 

YAY!

 see the paper here, 

thread and the small rice seed 

where the sadako spun around the corner (so to speak)

 my 4 selvedge shifu echoes this,

so different, 

like a country bumpkin cousin

  i now have enough pages here

spun from kozo account book paper

for a japanese stab bound book,

and a few wee squares

left over.

 i've been spinning

 AND i discovered this woman's work!

i'd heard this summer that i should see a show of sarah's work.

i wish i had. she's written two zines

full of comics and fiber,

you'll learn a lot and be delighted.

i promise.

more news this week includes me acquiring a parking sticker

at st lawrence university

where i'll be teaching book arts this fall.

and a slew of slu meetings

exhausting

but next week: class begins. 

this is going to be a semester of possibility,

we have sophomores, and adults and a printmaker and me teaching.

i'm expecting to be challenged and have some real fun!
oh,
and i've spruced up my website a little bit:
www.velmabolyard.com
it's still a work in progress, though.
sigh.

weaving and gray

kozo account book moro-jifu,  milkweed and hosta paper

composition games

not smoke and mirrors

just me in the old milk house resevoir

making gray for caliban

out of fresh black walnuts, 

water, 

pickle juice vinegar, 

iron & copper pipes

on paper and three cotton cloth strips

participate

my post from sunday i've decided NOT to post

everyone who stops here knows

understands our crazy country, and knows they must act.

so,

here

here is the project that rowland ricketts asked for community participation from

so here, 

in the north country,

i put this square in my window.

 we will see what the northern sun does to a circle of indigo cotton cloth.

(i have chosen circle over square)

 so there's some ai in the window 

until december.

in town at st lawrence university

 peace paper project is installing a show.

 since i will be co-teaching book arts there this fall.

i am privy to some of the excitement,

and have been hanging around

making paper

and talking to drew matott.

who gifted me this.

 this piece was printed on paper made from the american flag.

flag paper.

hand papermaking.

 this exhibit shows what is going on

in many spots in the world

as handpapermaking 

and making art from that paper

inspires social justice.

 iphoto is the program i have a wee understanding of.

here, 

silly iphoto 

superimposed or whatever you call it

some of today's images.

i wanted to tell you about jim koss's new book of poems

(available from amazon).

i am so happy to have this book to dive into.

the photo is sort of what's happening in my brain right now.

nevertheless i make work.

paper!

 i've been working with hemp

these sheets are hemp top that i processed

in Zone 4's valley beater

 using three pigments procured 

from melbourne etching

caput morte, raw sienna, terre vert.

learning to manage retention aid after too many years.

 and a sweet message arrived from seattle with the 

prospectus for Jim Koss's new book

 and these special needles,

thank you Kate!

 save pulp

 the beater/press room at Zone 4

 hemp sliver half beaten

yesterday's batch was a fine warm white hemp sliver

looking forward to seeing how the pigments work on this stuff.

 this beater and i have some history

 lovely stuff

 just before finishing.

just under 2 hours of beating.

my hannah sent me this lovely bone feather

that i can string and wear.

and so far the weekend is only half over!

worlds turn

this morning i was reminded again

of beauty,

mortality,

and human doings.

it's rained so much here

and where i was out west, not enough.

not enough and forest fires

too.

i am feeling normal and fit now

i can lift pulp-filled buckets again.

 this sign placed by my new amish neighbors has a subscript:

no sunday sales

 the semintals look on

  i love her piebald face hiding behind goldenrod

her tiny whiskers sunlit

 sunshine

 on cattle

 here's their pasture

with all the things:

woodhenge, signage, machinery, 

that woodsy area on the right borders my place

 across the road is their old stripey barn

 robin's eggshell on my drive

 this week i printed

and 

made paper

(paper photos to come)

 these were pretty fine

 and the pot is fine, too

 terra enamel diaper pot.

sort that one out for fun!