After Oberlin, I had about two weeks before I had to leave for the UAE. Almost as soon as I returned, I went to the studio daily to start creating that habit and to finally deal with the many stages of laying down epoxy on my beater, which didn't really need it in the way that I did it, and was foiled by a final wash that caused water to enter the epoxy mix while wet to haze. Many lessons learned. But I managed to get Emily to visit and she gave me the final push I needed to finally set up my hanji vat! I didn't have time to use it before leaving but it's ready for when I return.
When I was in Korea last year, I got a bunch of S-hooks and now have a use for them. Or at least a temporary use! Everything can change but I won't know what works until I start using the space, instead of puttering around. I still need to get lots of new tools to help me install things but I'm feeling closer to this being possible rather than on the other end of the scale of impossibility.
Friday was my day of reckoning: running the beater just over two years after it arrived! I wouldn't have been able to do it until last summer anyhow but this deadline helped push me over the hump. It's amazing that I could have done it for months but was so consumed by teaching that I didn't. Which is why I have cut way back on some of my teaching commitments. The beater seemed to function and I pulped old printmaking paper scraps to pull the same day, using my new Tim Moore mould. I felt something I haven't since I first started making paper, this freedom to just work, be bad at a thing, while using a Valley beater and one of Tim's moulds. I super cheated with my chemicals (dry retention aid crystals right into the vat as I hadn't mixed any up with water prior!) to get some colors other than the paper's original grey. It's a very uneven and imperfect batch but I did it.
Because the ceilings are so high, maybe I'll consider creating a clothesline system like at Kalamazoo, where I have it hanging overhead, and then use pulleys to bring it down when I need it. For now, the line went up and down in a day. And after the most harried and scattered prep for an overseas trip thus far, I am in Boston waiting for my next flight to Dubai. Covid regulations caused a ton of stress prior, plus two tests and all kinds of online accounts to sign up and apps to download. In the end, I didn't need any of the tests but that is the curse of being conscientious and paranoid. In about an hour, I leave for another two weeks of adventure. Then two weeks back home. Then two weeks in San Francisco. See you in the next time zone!
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