rocks and age

today i'm thinking about the hands that make 

and how the land

accompanies

making

if we let it.

~~~

i have had an amazing 2 weeks

more on that later

~~~

today is my birthday.

i am a crone now at 61,

an elder

~~~

not as old by a long shot as these rocks.

~~~

rocks naturally split

found on daily walks

became books

the rock book below is the largest split rock on the left

with its pages

handmade papers shaped to fit

between the two covers

of rock.

the largest of all, 

number 1, not shown here,

 is more than twice as big as this one.

 the second gray rock covers are book number 5, (maybe)

sold while visiting Toronto.

this makes me very happy.

november for certain

there's no reason this job isn't done

completely stripped and seed fiber separated.

(that milkweed again)

 the whole pile should be this

 but i have been otherwise occupied.

i've bruised my forearms on the beater at zone 4

after a long disentangling with pliers and my aforementioned arms

and fingers that escaped in rather good shape.

hemp sliver

beautiful stuff, it was hard to cut,

so i cut it into too long bits

and they ground around beautifully until

they

didn't anymore.

it may have taken me an hour to unscrew the keeper plates,

pull out a ton of hemp

haul out more,

and using pliers, haul out the rest

bruising up those forearms meanwhile.

 solace was available

 and some experiments are happening at home with the woven books

 and a simply lovely large and flat sketchbook

sometimes things go the right way.

students are busy, finishing up three projects.

one of our students is making a felted vovelle for her interpretive book.

she told me she knits (evidence: her scarf), crochets, sews, and felts,

so i suggested she might be interested in fiberarts and she said,

and i love this,

"oh, (pause) i didn't know that was a thing".

our students are loving learning, exploring and strengthening hand skills

as they make beautiful books and enclosures. 

~~~

i'm off to toronto tomorrow morning and back on sunday

(as long as my car issues keep working themselves out)

then it's thanksgiving week.

i won't see the class for almost 2 weeks. one of them said yesterday

this class needs to be another semester long.

so many of them love what we're doing!

paper trials

i love it when art is on the walls

at school.

 my failed batch of 3 linen shirts.

i need to understand indigo better.

i used it from 2 sources, one more successful than the other

but still, 

i have much to learn.

 making sheets with the business card size moulds is a fun tedium

and makes nifty calling cards.

 i used all of my indigo.

every bit 

of blue dust. 

 we took our students to visit the archives and special collections.

they were entranced the entire time.

 melissa schulengurg looking at my book november song

 they particularly loved janus press books

 this morning, 18 degrees and a little crunchy snow

 the roofing waits until next week.

winter comes.

time was, is.

ian posted this old photo today on fb

and it all came back.

farm children

sheep & lambs

my papermill and house.

old manure spreader made into a wagon

and me photographing a living.

this was early spring.

 my living is different now

more quiet

but maybe, just maybe,

less loving frolicking. 

this is late autumn.

 time passes and your heart will break 

and heal

over and over

and you will,

if you're lucky

become real.

it's good work.

digging deeper

who can say why certain things...

shapes, colors, textures, 

animals, even,

who can say why they speak to you, 

to one, in a certain specific, peculiar way.

perhaps they appear in dreams or day dreams, 

maybe hormone driven, 

maybe longing

maybe something altogether 

unknown or unknowable

but for whatever reason this shield i found on facebook

a first nations thing

pleases me.

 i was looking for tiny beads to use with the loom books

(i accumulated an embarrassment of old beads)

i was looking for the greasy yellow ones.

 some live in type trays

which is ridiculous in too many ways.

 2

these two strand sets are small and beautiful

and i see now 

that they are colors i used a long time ago in a tapestry.

 i lifted them out of the little wooden rectangle

that had become a cache.

field mice leave little stashes in my world,

and often i don't know the seeds. 

but here is, 

amongst others, 

milkweed.

 cottontail is large now

and doesn't show itself often.

 elsewhere in my back yard

november arrives

indoors 

there is a wonderful type event happening when the morning sun 

bathes the studio table in light.

two loom books completed, one with drawing,

and soon a larger one.

today i'm pulping 3 linen shirts.

an edition is planned!