Saturday, January 16, 2016

Closing up shop for now

Another year, another final papermaking day! I had forgotten about my stray pigments and remembered as my students pulled their faces at the prospect of more white cotton. I don't like this green out of the bottle but they were delighted.
Third and last day of marbling, so much more than the other years!
And as a final hurrah, I had the cattail seed heads that accidentally got cooked with the leaves taken apart by two intrepid students. The paper was a bit chunky and I mixed kozo into it, but you still got a nice sense of the tiny seeds with their hairs intact.
Finally messy activity for the wet studio: waxing.
Naomi had given me the last of her soy wax at Haystack last year, and I decided to try it in a makeshift double boiler. Some students were very taken. Others did one and were done. After they left, I set up for one last demo for a group of the latest Shansi Fellows, exceptional Oberlin students who will teach English in various parts of Asia after they graduate. Next week, we'll pack the studio into the van and start making books!
In the meantime, a tiny green duck was born two nights ago as my "break" after the big one. And my TV segment is now online! It's the first story after the intro, and I'm grateful to Dennis Knowles, who produced it so well. He and two cameramen took the time to come multiple times to visit me and get the whole story behind the hanji ducks. It's always a joy and privilege to work with excellent professionals. Enjoy!

2 comments:

Velma Bolyard said...

oh, aimee, they did a fine job! and so did you. i love the ducks relating to one another, and that little brown tweedy one is maybe my favorite!

aimee said...

thank you!! i wish you could hang out with the ducks.