Various kinds of denial

Last hanji class of the year from last weekend: small vat for webal in the back corner, big vat in front. I managed to use the pulp from the previous class with just a little bit of new stuff used as beating practice. Don't ask about how bad an idea it was to leave things in the vat for two weeks in this weather.

The picture is blurry because I was trying to shake off a mosquito that was excited about early morning meat (me). Someday, we'll get this stainless surface set up as a heat dryer. For now, it's great for overnight drying. Colors courtesy of leftover dyes from Melissa's class, and fibers include gampi and kozo.

All five students are in the photo, though Raven's head is just behind Linda's. At one point, she joined the two at the big vat and we had three pulling from it! Fun. I liked this smaller size class, SO much more manageable when it came to large hanji making. I could barely walk by the end of the weekend because the floors are a nightmare on my body, and wondered what crazy person (me) would teach this class in two days PLUS all the bark and paper manipulation stuff.

This is not in focus, either, but only because I shot at night. I'm slow on this duck, and not sure it will be done before Korea but I sure hope so.

I realized halfway down the neck that the head was shaping in the wrong way again, so I attempted to make a curve in the back of the head. There are so many pitfalls ahead of me, but at least I tried a new shape. Next to the duck is Therese's lovely sampler for the Morgan of EPS papers.

After laboring over the weekend, I got a day off and admired the landscaping with my person at the outdoor mall we frequent. We made a quick trip out to farmland and I sat in the car with a magazine because I didn't have the right clothes to hack back overgrown foliage.

Today I made my first trip ever to the natural history museum in town! Sad to say, I have NEVER been to this pocket of Wade Oval, as it is lovely.

Carl Linneaus in front of the banner of the show I was going to see with a colleague. I wish there had been more real artifacts rather than replicas and facsimiles, but I learned a LOT.

The paper section was not perfect (like having a piece of papyrus labeled as mulberry paper), but hey, there WAS a paper section!

And I liked this bit about soda ash, in the glass section. I'm daunted by how much prep lays ahead for my trip to Korea (like...buying the flight there...!!!), and I know it comes from me dreading the hard bits (which are about 75% of the trip), but am doing my best to keep my head above water as my less than a month left ticks away.