in the ecotone

in the ecotone 

 before class i took a walk around beautiful silks

this grid construction

struck me as woven

some insects for the melbourne winter

 signage to keep us found

~~~

 the spinners, 

making inroads with spindles, lokta, the bobbin winder

 a long skinny table

spinning in the dye kitchen

 the name tags are for me

 naomi, from the shop,

spins away

 lokta

this is one focused 

and hard working group.

origami books and spinning

day one

~~~

delving deeper

wendy came right over and put her head on jean's bojagi

and did not want to leave

i had to twist around to show you this a bit better. 

when it arrived in my mailbox,

it was quite hot

and it smelled like the dyes, 

the essence of jean's weaving, 

thoughts,

 hands.

i buried my face in it before the heat faded.

this is the second stump loom

cut from recycled barn wood from 

his old dairy barn

that was recycled first 

as a porch.

sustainability in action.

i have been exploring alisa golden's nifty structure:

created by her husband

who is not a book artist

(wonderful, that)

and have a new idea
we'll see if it can work into something 
or 
where it goes
when a new way of doing a beloved task emerges, 
so much potential
my head is zinging 
new 
New 
NEW
~~~~~
there are still some lokta squares available
should you care to have your own
(see the prior post)

task

last night's task was this:

chase a young porcupine out of the yard.

it seems easy, right? well.

these creatures know they are armored

and have, apparently only fishers as enemies.
(and traffic)

anyway, with wendy living here,

and three other dogs as regular visitors

i can't welcome porkys.

i had to be mean, 

yell and nudge it with a basswood branch.

i hate this.

 the magic lilies are up

grey dogwood is producing food for grouse, 

among other birds.

 i worked all day on lokta, five sheets prepped, two spun

trying to map out a couple of books. 

i leave sunday for a workshop 

at long ridge farm, with india

heavy rain

it seems like my cold toes and the constant deluge outside indicate i should start a fire. but i am stubborn (and lazy) and will wait until tomorrow after school.

cold toes protected by hannah's wool socks. this is "japanese style" lokta, cut and prepped for spinning. i purchase it from a local merchant.

 one sheet of the lokta, spun. 

 six sheets of lokta, spun. the warm white is natural lokta, the three dyed skeins are from pbi.

and milkweed, my lovely fiber/paper. i will finish this green harvest, and then do a gray harvest later on (though i spotted a patch of already field retted gray milkweed. i may cheat and pick that. i remember going out on my skis in march one year, two feet of frozen snow on the pasture, and harvesting milkweed, placing it in my packbasket. sking home, and prepping on the kitchen floor. my hands were cold, but the paper was lovely.

guess what this is?

 and this?

and this?

and this?

this is wonderful. i like it now as much as when i first saw it.

the here news

an email came: one of the hooligans got her GED. i get tell the world. way to go, case! am i EVER proud of you!

ah, the weirdness of mirrors. this photo was taken by me, mirrored. the word "clothbound" which i love is therefore backwards. sigh. indicative. anyway, i found this shirt via elissa and just had to have one. it's perfect for a cheesy sort and someone who is a textile and book artist. so, here i am. clothbound.

having emailed several post-pbiers we are all in withdrawal to some degree or other. melissa got right on with traveling and teaching, so did emily and tatiana. don't know how they do it!

isn't she just lovely? carol sent me a little piece she wrote about printing. how those letterpress people love white space on pages, something most of us don't think about unless the type design is ugly. anyway, i love this duck mermaid quite foolishly. (for mermaid love is doomed, i know)

these three skeins of lokta were dyed with indigo and kihada (a bark). many of the traditional japanese paper dyeing methods that i learned in tatiana's class are applicable to my dye work, and will help me to begin more paper dyeing with local dyestuffs. i am now trying to sort through my notes, samples, finished pieces...all to better understand the learning from pbi. i am also now able to get my paper mill working, my plumbing woes are over! my friend took it upon himself to save me from the vagaries of scott the plumber. so i have running water and hot water once again in my mill. time to clean!

first ski

i started a blog entry this morning but decided to wait until later today. it was snowing. alot. and i had hopes of skiing. so did wendy, aka "snowbeard". border collie+snow=delight. i skied on my old scaly, rock skis, the one that have no camber and are slow, but the snow was shallow and the trail torn up. the meadow at my place is too overgrown to ski on yet.

so we skied. no hobbits or hobos around. this little shed has big roof holes now. 

i love skiing on easy trails early in the season. this one is close to home, fairly flat, with lovely trees. the trail is used by students and community people. and it is dearly loved.

wendy stays away from open water.

and widowmakers. after an hour, one fall, several rests (i am out of shape), we went into town for a little shopping and then home. a short ski, maybe two miles. but i am flying. this is what i do to keep away the darkness. outdoors.

this is what i do to keep away the darkness. indoors. spun (twisted) lokta.


peace on earth. goodwill. i really don't think we humans mean it. but i wish you peace, your family, too. i know that it's a transitory thing. but it is something to practice. christmas, our north country holiday, is for me these days surpassed by solstice. but i'll take it. and will ask for more snow. for happiness, for fun, for fertilizer (poor man's fertilizer), and to help quieten things some. and to remind the kids to play.

stump loom

this is my stump loom. quite sophisticated! the wood is leftover pressure treated 4 x 4 that spent many years as a paper mill tool, which i repurposed into a loom. the brads are hammered in... i have long been interested in the peruvian four or more selvedge weavings that are woven as small units and then sewn together, so that's this idea's origin. it has been perfect for the rather thickly spun lokta paper i started messing around with. why lokta? after taking tom leach's class at p.b.i. years ago, i've loved lokta, the long fiber strength and wonderful hand of the paper is perfect to work with. it soaks up pigmant, and i've printed, dyed, drawn, sewn, painted on the stuff. these little weavings are the pages in some of my books, the three limp vellum bindings have them.

we have had some snow today, the first one that's had school delays and closings. this is the state of the wet, three inches at 4 p.m. not nearly enough for skiing, but my skis aren't waxed yet. early days for skiing. about 20 years ago every day in december stayed below 10 degrees. i skied then to fend off the cold. and despair. it was a lesson in north country living.