The week begins again

My water bottle of sorts is finally growing. I almost finished it last night but realized I should hold off because I am teaching soon and need to have a weaving sample; this will work just fine. As long as I get it done for a show in town by April, I'm golden. This happened yesterday, when I forced myself to take a real day off (and really, it felt like I was sitting on myself at times to keep myself from working, which included touching email). It was AMAZING. I took four naps. Four! I really really really needed them all.

Valentine's Day was the best ever, EVER! My sweetheart had already mailed a card to the Morgan the previous day, and then I got this amazing package on the actual day, from lovely Therese. She sends the most remarkable gifts...this is hanji she made in my Morgan class last summer, spun into thread, and crocheted into a tiny hat and scarf to keep me warm! I put it into my purse and showed everyone I saw that evening. Art openings, shopping, popping into a bar for war vets, and a little winter olympics during dinner.

The following day, I dragged myself to work to train both my apprentices, make some milkweed paper, and do a long photo shoot with Ricky for an article that I have to write very soon. He is fantastic to work with, and I hope to try him out for some artwork documentation. Then I helped cook dinner for seven to celebrate Adam Larsson's visit to Cleveland, and ate so much that it is a miracle I managed to drive home without lapsing into a days-long food coma.

Today, I wanted to make sure I got to the Morgan in time to do some quiet papermaking. Mason set Adam up with some western sheet formation while I worked outside on two kinds of eastern. This was using up old Morgan green/black bark from my Oberlin class.

 

The gampi (beaten in the Howard Clark beater) couched and parted beautifully, though it's still a little too delicate and sensitive in its wet strength for my preference.

Late afternoon, I finally set Adam up at the new Japanese vat donated by Tim Barrett, and he loved it. He made a ton of sheets, and then I ruined the whole post by allowing him to press too hard too fast. I thought that PSI on the gauge was safe, because Ivey had been successful with that pressure last week, but his post was bigger and she pressed more slowly. There are reasons to follow the rules! At the same time, this is exactly why I wanted to be in residence here, over time, so that we can work out ALL of the kinks.

I've been carrying boards to dry near the one set of heaters that stay on a warmer setting for Tom's plants. I tried to make up for losing Adam's sheets first by telling him that you are always supposed to throw your entire first batch back into the vat/beater, and then giving him various papers (milkweed, gampi, Thai kozo, Morgan kozo) and corded hanji. I hope he forgives me. At least I hope he enjoys my book as he travels to Chicago and D.C. before heading back to Sweden.