Relationships to time

Now I know which boards work better (the wood ones) and that I shouldn't press this hard (all gauges are so different!). I haven't made paper since the weekend because I'm hoarding the pulp for when I eventually get tables to set up the vat.

My first bit of milkweed from an unsanctioned harvest. Scraped the outer bits for the first time as an experiment as well as a lesson in process and patience.

I made tiny weavings while thinking that maybe all I'll do here is work on small ideas. Who really knows in the end, but I liked the idea of not putting insane pressure on myself to produce an enormous amount of finished large work.

Downtown gets creepy at night but is close to the river.

Part of the reason is the massive construction on the main drag, where they pulled up the brick-paved road and are doing all of the concrete over (and apparently were delayed by hitting water mains at least five times in the process because the maps were not accurate...or maybe people can't read maps anymore) before re-bricking.

Cooked this batch of scrap paper that I've collected for a couple of years. It's amazing how even after hours of boiling in soda ash, the paper is still pretty much intact (this is the soaking picture, before cooking). Will be interesting to see if it comes down any once I beat, but I can tell already that the bits twisted into cord are NOT coming undone.

I went in the wrong direction on the river walk trail thing; it was desolate and creepy with so many stray or locked up dogs howling at each other (I couldn't see them, only heard them). Big buildings like this in the middle of empty land right near the railroad tracks. The trains are certainly not as frequent as when the town was bustling with industry and people but it's still pretty frequent as someone who hears it go by the house every day and night.

Left: milkweed. Right: paper mulberry. Still not on a regular schedule at all but doing my best not to get crazy about what I do and don't get done daily. Listened to a deceased poet on a podcast say that stress comes from a perverted relationship to time. This makes so much sense!