two books

wake robin

has produced a small edition

(two)

called

NOVEMBER SONG

 carol blinn of warwick press

provided typographic expertise

and, let's be honest,

the encouragement for me to have

mark tomlinson

build two boxes for these books.

 each book now lives

in a lovely soft, barely gold box

with carol's title page and colophon--

 and are now, 

here.

shown.

there are several gatefolds

so the book stands alone

as a map of my ecotone, new york's north country

plants, metals, fungi,

and mineral laden water.

(secrets and truths about here) 

 showing off the structure

and i show off the title on the box spine.

my

NOVEMBER SONG:

cave paper covers, 

presentation box by mark tomlinson,

typographic design by carol j blinn,

and

a plethora of ecoprinted arches velin (text wove) papers

 printed in the cold seasons before, 

bound in autumn of 2013,

and ready in june 2014.

part of the HORTUS SICCUS project

by me, 

velma bolyard.

two books.

thursday things

 boards for my little edition 

cut for me by bob

 my exemplar,

a tiny book, actually

 the laundry actually froze on the line

but i persevered! 

 one of hundreds of papers

 the boards after sanding 

and a little thingie from roz

for the closure

 three from this series

and this little mark 

makes me happy.

repetition

i've learned that to repeat 

a process

 repeat

 more than two or three times

 more even than twenty times

 during many seasons

 maybe even years

 makes it possible

 to begin to understand

the possibilities

there are 60 papers

ecoprinted.

i'm beginning to learn a little

my hands know a little more.

~~~

north country: 

late winter, late afternoon,

a workshop with eight college students

the sustainability semester

at st. lawrence university

learned some dye techniques, too.

no photos; i forgot.

detour

 detour: oswegatchie river

 i've been passing this by

everyday on the detour home

friday the horse team was absent, work done

it was hard to get a good photo

(huge lines were in my way)

 but the changeable weather

made for light shows

 at home

 the leaves opened up

 for the lights

~~~

 i looked at two little abaca sheets

i had placed in a bundle

 and i learned something new

besides the ecoprints,

 the fern inclusions

from long ago

took up the dye color

and become dark presences.

nifty!

autumn shades

i *think* this is my poem

for the bloodroot and violet book

from the natural colours exhibit

i *know* this is a pot

of autumn colors 

cotton, linen, and silk

and paper

 saving can lids for globes

 and rusty bits shed by passing vehicles

probably tractors

 drew asked it this was hebrew, 

you can, perhaps, see why

 more metals on yogurt mordanted cotton twill

 those gramicci climbing pants

 more of claudia's clothing

 twill and rose

and inside one linen bundle, 

a little silk surprised me.