Haystack Part One

I'm still not completely re-adjusted and would love more sleep, but here we go, back into the life of a human plugged into devices, online. Somehow, Lisa (my hardy TA) and I survived two car accidents in two days on the way to Haystack. I know, crazy, let's not talk about it anymore. This is the tiny bridge that means we're almost there.

My view from my room, the ocean lapping every day, lobster boats going out after dawn. I wish I could have slept more but I was overstimulated.

A neighbor on the deck on Faculty Row.

We stripped old dogbane that I had harvested last fall for bast fiber on the first morning. No papermaking until Day 2.

Some of us separated seeds and fluff from pods (and the central piece in each pod was also removed). The 'waste' from our class went to the non-traditional basketry class, which was happy to receive scraps and such throughout the session.

This was sea algae mailed from coastal Virginia to test. Mostly we used it for inclusions and at the end I did a quick chop in the beater but there's no way it could have held up as a sheet without stronger fibers.

The full moon and adjacent moon nights were spectacular. SO BRIGHT at night.

We began with two days of socialist papermaking (no name tags, the brilliant idea of Frank Brannon). It sets the tone in the best way possible. Mostly we only worked in the morning because the sun and heat got unbearable afterwards. Part Two after some sleep!