This year's gifts

A basket is a reminder

 either way

 Luminous and simple

 This is the start

We used to go to water

A challenging year, which yielded gorgeous fruit. The fortnight home in NY has whizzed by, along with a shoot by the ever reliable and wonderful Stefan (an open secret!). I'll post all of the books above soon on my site but for now, finishing up the final dinner of 2017 and praying that next year brings similarly fabulous gifts, with slightly less agony. Cheers!

And there it went

Of course my fantasy of making all kinds of new work in the last two weeks I had to do so this year (before I fly off to see family and friends) shattered when I spent 10x as much time making new duck stands. Big takeaways:

1. If you do the work yourself, you'll remember how to do it better than if a man swoops in and insists that he does it instead
2. If you don't remember how you did it but know what you're doing right now is NOT that, take a little more time to jog your memory before using the blowtorch
3. It's great to work in a shop where people are nice and helpful
4. Endless sanding and filing are not always the answer
5. Thank Prometheus for fire!!

This is the first book I bound in Albion, and though I got the first page started there, I never finished it. Until now!

When you are pressed for time, you make lots of different decisions.

This was the second book, where I made different decisions. Both of these books were a couple years in the making. Paper has to sit and age for a while before it can talk to you about what it would like to become.

This is the third of the book batch, but it was conceived differently, so it was able to talk to me very quickly. I made all of this paper in Albion and had it ready to bind but didn't have time to do the final sewing until I got home, before I headed to Kalamazoo.

I am indebted to Velma for writing a perfect poem about her cold right about when I was re-reading a David Whyte book about work that contains lots of wisdom from lots of different people (like Rilke, Joseph Campbell, and Iris Murdoch). Those two inspirations propelled me back into a less precious place and a way to simplify. Now I have more work done, with more ahead in the less than two days that remain before flying.

This year's last show, teaching, and driving

My Kalamazoo show and opening went well, though I was of course so tired from all the prep that I found every chance I could to lean on tables instead of standing on the floor. It's the best not having to hang and take down shows. This one is up through the first week of January.

The workshops were also great, and wonderfully low-key. It's such a luxury to have good, calm, happy students. Shawn made the trip again all the way from Chicago to take my hanji making class! Friends are so nice and generous. 

On the way home, I spent one last night in Concord. I photographed more of Tim's tools. He had offered earlier to slide the insulated wood closed over the windows for better shots, but I love the view of the trees too much to do that. Though I was impressed by those extra 'doors' that slide right over the windows to keep out cold at night and in the winter. Everything is elegant and simple and made well here. An excellent goal for all of us!

Back pats

I haven't figured out how to organize yet in a way that I can travel with these (it requires a labeling system and a binding system. Both need to not disturb the papers too much but also has to keep them from flying around) but it was deeply satisfying to see the array of hanji that I made this fall in Albion. It's not every batch, but a lot of them. Reminds me that I was always happy with natural colors—the range available without dye is fantastic. Mulberry, gampi, abaca, cotton, milkweed, yucca, whee!

See you in Kalamazoo this weekend.

Already time to return west

The holiday was FULL of food and friends and family and fun. I tried to recover by going vegan this morning for breakfast.

Thursday, I drive back to Michigan for my last gigs of the year. Opening a show in Kalamazoo and teaching two workshops. Here is a tiny dress that will come with me to NYC for photography.

This one, too. Made a fistful of cords today while avoiding a giant task list. It's always necessary to have that kind of break. But at night the workload looks even more daunting. Though the trip involves lots of work, it will be good to drive again—this time with a repaired car (feels like new!)—and relax into the open road.

Changes again

I've lost track of time completely! My residency is over, though I have one more Michigan trip next week before the year ends. Which must be why I still feel like I'm in between places. My last batch of hanji used Japanese gampi that required A LOT of cleaning.

Three days of cleaning! Which made me so impatient that I didn't beat for long enough, and underestimated the stubbornness of the tough strands. That last batch of paper contained a huge learning curve and tons of surprises and I am grateful for all of it.

I also had a last minute Dye Something Messy Already moment, which led to last minute orders of tannin and mordant, for more brazilwood fun.

I came home with wonderful gifts of prints. This is from Batoul, a hardworking and inspired student. She's learning all kinds of wonderful techniques in her printmaking class with Anne.

And a treasure from Pati! Milkweed print on milkweed hanji. I have another version on uncleaned milkweed hanji. Getting packed and back home with many other stops in the Ann Arbor vicinity and then unpacked was all quite energy consuming but the big items are now finally out of my car and my home doesn't look so much like a disaster zone. Just in time to pack again for next week's Kalamazoo gigs!

Reluctant countdown

I distracted myself from some work by deciding I had to try backstrap weaving, thanks to Sarah (and finding her thanks to Velma). I didn't have the right clamps but realized that my hanji vat side braces are just over the length necessary for winding my warp. I had made a long length of hanji twine (2-ply) in Belfast 7 years ago while unable to do very good art, sitting at home a little scared with the window shades drawn so that I wouldn't be hassled. I never had a good use for it and decided, now or never!

It's really rough and the warp got confused back there because of various stages of mistakes (I wanted to use a rigid heddle but after I cut the warp I realized it was too thick to fit, so I had to re-tie it and rearrange). I didn't have any great options for the weft in terms of my own paper thread, so I went into an old stash of indigo-dyed Habu paper linen yarn, doubled over because it's much weaker than the warp.

Trim or a belt for a new dress? I don't know. Maybe I'll take it all apart someday. Who knows. It's hard to make the continuous hanji twine, so I get very skittish about using it because no use is "good enough." I'd like to think I can work this into a new garment, though.

In the midst of this was a beautiful vat full of fiber that I had cut, steamed, stripped, scraped, cooked, picked, and hand beaten. Those things happened over a long time but I did the last four steps here, from my first week to just last week, finishing by making about 15 very lightweight sheets of lovely paper mulberry. Obviously it's more work doing it like that but then you control the end product and get something you never could if you skipped steps or let someone else do them.

Last Friday I drove west to get groceries and gas. On the way home I was so startled by the giant orange Hunter's Moon and marveled the entire time. Sadly, this is a terrible picture but it was already setting so I could only barely catch it across the street from the studio.

The following day was a long-awaited and delayed visit to Ken's place right in Albion. An expert in wood fired pottery, he built a huge anagama kiln and subsequently a smaller one, as well as the GORGEOUS studio building adjacent. It's all so beautiful. A real live case of living the dream and making your life. His new intern had arrived with his partner and brought their very own tiny house, cat, and dog! There we are walking through the mud to peek inside.

The smaller kiln, which Ken took apart so that he could rebuild, which is this fall/winter's goal.

The outside of part of the anagama, with ceramic pieces as permanent art.

The anagama!

Even watching the video doesn't properly give you a sense of what it's like inside. I love seeing all of this in this stage of my life. The big kiln makes me think of the big hanji studio I made, and the small kiln like what I'm about to build with my smaller vat. I don't have the perfect beautiful studio and loft space for visitors like Ken does right now, but it's so close to the kind of thing I am working towards. So seeing one person's reality after so much hard work and great relationships with other people in the area and other potters is inspiring because you realize what is actually possible.

My growing stash of varied hanji. My batches are small, maybe 20 sheets at a time, but it all adds up. I have been learning so much now that I have this quiet time and I get to do every step. Of course it's nice to be able to have someone else do the steps that seem the most tedious, but this way, I know everything I've done and in the end I can see why the paper works or doesn't. The magic has lasted to the very last batch that I peeled away from boards yesterday: I had a bad attitude about it from the start of formation, but then thought I could get away with it. It was a mix of mostly abaca, hardly beaten in a Hollander, plus Hollander beaten bleached Chinese paper mulberry. I knew it was a risk because hardly beaten abaca is not that nice and still lumpy and knotty. But the full day of formation went well, and then I loaded it into my press. I took pressure down like I always do but heard a strange squishy noise.

Sure enough, the entire post had blown out and the sides had come out of the edges of the press boards. RUINED! But I thought, instead of releasing pressure and starting over, what if I came down gradually and tried to part anyhow. And just like my first batch that I dropped on the floor, the sheets still parted. Granted, they look terrible, but the sheet formation gives each sheet so much individual integrity that it can survive many assaults.

I started and finished this one before my lecture Tuesday night. I had a fantastic time with a wonderfully engaged group of people who were local and also those who had traveled from afar. Special thanks to the Schleg family for making this program possible each year, in support of the late Marilyn Crandell Schleg. I installed a mini exhibit that day for this audience and finally got around to taking it down today to prepare for my next show in Kalamazoo.

Meanwhile, we are getting into the real cold with real frost. I came out yesterday and saw this everywhere.

Across the street, I saw the ginkgo tree rapidly shedding its leaves. It was like gingko leaf snow, coming down fast. This morning, the entire tree was bare and the leaves in a big circle, like with adjacent trees. I have ONE last big project I am determined to finish here but won't mention it yet because I don't want to set up failure. Time to get back to it now!

Last haul

Mid-week, I thought I'd harvest milkweed on Thursday. But the evening before, I happened to check the weather report, which called for rain. I rushed home to make a quick dinner, checked time for sunset, and drove to David's and Allie's beautiful field to harvest before I lost light and got drenched. For the first time, I thought of Robin Wall Kimmerer's words about not taking the first plant, and not taking all. That meant I got to wander more of the land, and have a different relationship to these plants. I was amazed that some were still greenish and a few pods hadn't even burst. Those that had had a lot of seeds that hadn't gotten far, so I tried to help them along.

It has been really hard this season to forgo seed silks (only because of time restraints), but what bounty I've gotten has been so welcome.

This is just a few pieces of Thai kozo mixed with bleached kozo. It's marbleized fiber! It may be heinous, but beating the tough white stuff actually brings the Thai down faster. Also, the fiber that was cooked and bleached must have been either poorly cooked, or really tought (likely the latter), because it barely comes down with hand beating.

After finding out that I got into the Smithsonian Craft Show for April, I went into a panic and cut down at least 20 big sheets of hanji to start more cords. I know this will NOT get done before I leave, but I have to stay on track for this. I'm going to have to more than double my inventory because of a concurrent large show.

Last night, I realized I had been off since getting back, and that is because I haven't been making paper. I knew my last tiny batch of milkweed would not even charge the hanji vat, so I did smaller sheets on my sugeta. Smart, since I only got about 17 sheets (most of them laminated to embed pieces like what's above). Composing books at the vat has become really pleasurable, and amazingly all of the sheets stuck to the boards so that when I came in this morning, I had 100% flat and beautiful sheets.

I finished the labels for this book, that has been sitting, essentially done, for at least a month. I have two other books that are half finished. I would LOVE to get all the books done before I go. The rest of this weekend will be hanji filled, as long as I can keep up with hand beating!

Bright and sunny Tacoma

 Welcome to Tacoma!

My hotel room had a great view of all kinds of fun stuff, mostly Mt. Rainier.

I flew on Thursday and the flight was delayed by an hour but otherwise everything went smoothly in terms of getting there.

The whole hotel's theme is glass and it's so well done. I loved every last detail and was a huge fan of the glass lamp that had a setting where only the base is on for a low purple light.

I didn't sleep well the first night (as usual) but had to present for the first three hours of Friday morning. I left my computer at home (amazing how much weight that removes, as well as erasing the stress of working remotely all the time) so my typefaces didn't transfer over to this computer, but hopefully no one cared that everything was in Helvetica. GREAT group, super engaged, what a rare treat. Thank you thank you thank you to the Guild of Book Workers.

[Chihuly glass bridge] I was so happy to see SO many friends and colleagues and make new ones. I don't know why I forgot that going to a meeting of book folks meant that I'd get to see so many familiar faces. Going first is the best because then I was able to relax. I loved Suzanne Moore's presentation and afterwards was elated when Jessica invited me to a Korean spa to relax that evening.

I slept SO WELL the second night! Soaking and sweating with other fantastic ladies was the highlight of my trip. I treated myself to museum visits (like the glass museum here) and shopping and lots of delicious food so I could take in the glorious weather. Totally clear skies! Blinding sun!

Finnish glass sculpture of birds! Yes, there were ducks, but it's hard to shoot everything in glass cases.

At the Michael Taylor show, I liked the wood maquettes best.

More artifacts from his show. It was fun to see the hot shop as well.

If I hadn't been so tired from being in boots (and if I had more room to fit another pair of shoes! I was intent on fitting as many ducks and hanji pieces into my carry on that I could barely fit my clothes), I would have walked more. I did final shopping with Chandler and Jessica and got their beautiful new-ish book, Dead Feminists.

This hunk of meat was all gone by the end of the banquet on the final night. I got a Melody bag at the auction!

A printer, binder, and papermaker. We met in Chicago (well, I met Jessica in Tacoma, but we share an alma mater) and are still busy doing what we were doing there. I'm back in Michigan, where I was informed by my housemate that there are snow flurries. Reality returns as fall points decidedly to cold and dark. Two weeks left of precious studio time!