Almost as soon as vacation ended I had to prep for a hastily arranged fall hanji retreat for a student who prefers to be anonymous but came across an ocean to study with me. She happened to be staying at an Airbnb where I noticed milkweed on the tree lawn ready for yard waste pickup. I knew the owner so I asked if I could have it and lo! We had some raw material to begin with immediately.
I won't bore you with ALL of the steps but thank goodness I had Justine drive out from Providence to assist for the nearly two weeks, because she is a photographer so she documented in a way I could/would never. I don't have the eye/skills/patience and also I'm not good at shooting while working.
So much went down during the retreat in terms of studio and personal discovery and so on but here is the milkweed that Justine beat, and then I was reminded of how much fresh stuff gets everywhere. The flesh of this plant spatters FAR, and I didn't have a shower curtain set up the way a murderer would to stop blood spatter. They were very good at cleaning off the walls but it truly went everywhere.
Testing fibers after hand beating for a while.
I originally drilled holes in this for a watering can but drilled too many holes so it became useless as a watering can, but lined with a paint strainer it became perfect to strain out lumps in formation aid.
The first day of hanji making was on the third day of class.
Justine got a donation of dried burdock burrs from her local herb sanctuary and so we were able to use them to clean the
bal, hooray!
Finding the top thread to begin parting sheets.
I had Justine work on making more big table bark lace, which has to be done in one sitting.
Just like her last visit, Justine's mom prepared SO MUCH FOOD, mostly Korean, and so we were well fed each dinner. I made the gyeranjjim, the eggs, on the stovetop for the first time. Then afterwards we got advice from our respective moms about how to do it better.
I was running on very, very little sleep the entire time but somehow managed to get out on Friday night to have dinner with Pam, Paula, and Yuko to celebrate Yuko's and my birthdays that fall in the autumn. It was so nice to have this outing to break up the work.
Saturday I had offered a free tour where we visited the art museum (here I was showing how I love the way contemporary art is mixed into the Asian art galleries. This is one of my favorites, by Sopheap Pich).
After a Korean lunch in Asiatown, I showed them around the Morgan and they got to see the naginata in person. Then I dragged them all the way to the east side to a second Korean grocery to get tea. The outing lasted much longer than I expected and there were some other not fun issues that I was unaware of until later but we survived. Overall, the weather was remarkably wonderful for the entire time; it would threaten to be grey and then the sun would appear, and we got some warm days as well.
For the second half of class, Julia flew in from L.A. to join us do "dry" techniques.
It was perfect timing to go out to my neglected studio garden and harvest the coreopsis to make dye.
It was unspectacular but excellent as a teaching aid and helped them dye cords to have a different color that they made themselves. The next day I brought in onion skins, which is how the strips in the back are dyed.
Justine and Julia admire Julia's very ambitious jiseung project. I was amazed by how she kept going and going and going, and that she finished it at home!
We did other things like paper thread and joomchi but this is my favorite teaching demo sample since maybe 2013?
Julia was really happy that I chose Zhug as our final dinner even though we waited over an hour to be seated. I originally intended to take them to the museum for the late night but decided it would be better to do it on their way to the airport.
The Cleveland Print Fair was on that weekend so the atrium was full of art, including of my friends, and it was so great that my students could meet both Paula and Yuko and see their fabulous new work.
Yuko generously shared with my students how she made some of the work that was out on display. After that, the two students shared a car to the airport and I went home to do more loads of laundry than I could count and housecleaning. The next day I had the perfect series of gifts, lunch, cupcakes, autumn walk, tea, and leftovers from Justine's mom to celebrate my birthday. I was very grateful to all of my in person loved ones and those from afar sending greetings. Then I thought I'd be able to wrap up and get ready for my milkweed residency that begins Friday but instead my furnace decided to poop out on me (on the same day that I had to get a new crown from the dentist) and I've been displaced from home so I can sleep in a warm place and learn too quickly about furnaces. It's a good thing I agreed to teach last minute, so that I can now buy a new furnace!
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