Bolting early

[Cooked dogbane seeds/silks before beating.] Since last week, I keep having mornings where I wake up much earlier than I need to and then realize anxiety has bolted me awake to work. This morning I was up at dark so that I could zip over to the studio and put the dogbane seeds/silks on the stove to cook while I beat and pulled milkweed seeds/silks, dogbane bast, and milkweed bast. I had two accidents where the beater plug just opened up while my back was turned. Thank goodness there was a bin under the plug so that I didn't lose the fiber, but it's no good to run an empty beater with a lowered roll. But it was good to be working alone, early, and quickly enough so that I didn't notice how cold it was (besides, the nice thing about running a beater is that it warms the slurry).

What I learned: seeds are easy to rinse away and I would have rinsed away more if I had more time.
Seed silk fiber is beautiful and silky and strong and makes more handsome paper than bast.
Dogbane and I do not get along but the color that runs out of the water is so beautiful.
Going to an hour-long meeting at the local CDC is an hour too long for blotting pressed papers.

After my meeting, I loaded the stack dryer along with some papers from yesterday's field trip from the local art school, and then gathered my things to head over to Notre Dame, where I will teach a printmaking class next semester, to meet Jan at her photo exhibit opening and presentation. There, I found out about an amazing urban farm on previously blighted land. Then I was able to relax at a super fun dinner with Mimi and Jimmy over decadently greasy food. I can't wait to see the paper tomorrow before I head to Oberlin for a meeting, and hope it's not too hard to rise in the newly-cold weather.