New new new

Hello, 2019! As much as I really do not enjoy end-of-year mania around "holidays," I really do enjoy the chance to start over, even if it's just like everything else that is made up. Yesterday, I mailed a lovely selection of books to my dealer. This is one where Velma did almost all of the papermaking. A good resolution should be: giving up control of some things.

This is another that I made at Penland but finished afterwards. I was a little embarrassed that these were the only two books I had for Stefan to shoot last month, but that was the reality of my fall. I forget how teaching can quickly take over my ability to be productive because my attention gets chopped up and I get overwrought about how to present and transfer knowledge.

My last research trip of 2018 was to Boston, where I got to see Lee McDonald in his shop and brand-new home! I have to go back because this visit confirmed the fact that I really cannot continue without a real camera (I reverted to my cell phone camera after my last camera died and was too lazy/poor to get a new one. That was foolish). So many ideas, stories, stuff to sort through, and that would be the bigger reason to return for a follow-up interview.

My favorite shot was this: Lee told me that with his very first paycheck from being a Twinrocker apprentice, after they got funding to pay the apprentices, he bought a knife and pot, still in use in the kitchen! In the recent move and settling into their new house, Lee and Anne Marie couldn't find the lids of their tupperware (which is really annoying, right?). But when he jumped into the kitchen to show me the knife and wondered where the pot was, he rooted around and not only found the pot, but all the lids INSIDE of it. Hooray! I've been a grateful guest at many homes but always worry I am a huge burden, so it felt good to be part of a solution.

I also got a gander at the papermaking studio at Wellesley College, which is shared with a screenprinting shop (it's behind me in the photo, and there's a shower curtain-type system that separates some of the major machinery.

This is their beater closet, with a nice Reina. Their Reina drying system is in a closet down the hall.

When I finally got home on New Year's Eve, I opened a package from the Korean consulate in Chicago to find beautiful generosity. I love the puffed rice ones the most, so this was a great surprise. Yes, I've probably eaten through the one layer already—under this is another set of sweets, all different. I'm still getting settled back at home, so things feel a bit all over the place, but I am optimistic and excited for the year to come.