A little here and there

Repurposing old art to serve my inability to stop making hanji dresses! Endless delight. If my eyes and fingers held up longer, I'd stay up and sew and sew and sew.

Plus newer pieces of suminagashi tests.

This has been in the works for a while but subject to weather, completely. The good news from PT is that I am to take two weeks away to take care of myself on my own! On Wednesday, I gave a lecture to the Rowfant Club, which was received so heartily that I was somewhat surprised (it's not always easy to stay awake on hump day after dinner and drinks). It was a pleasure, though, and I got to see wonderful things on the brief tour of the buildings when I arrived. Even better: Dard Hunter was a member and they own all of his books! So I will get to spend time with at least one particular book to do some nice quiet research with volumes that are usually in special collections that are far away from me.

What else? Hand Papermaking's auction ends tomorrow, and there are still so many chances to get rare books, special papers, artifacts, studio time, subscriptions, and more!

Also, to support the Textile Society of America's scholarships (they have someone willing to match $10K raised in the next month!), click here.

Long-term loose ends

I decided last night that I had to finish this teapot that has been going on for longer than I'd like (due to interruptions).

I tried to repurpose an old piece but still need a lot of practice making things without patterns. I already got a comment about it looking like a straight jacket, so I'll let it sit for a while before I go back in to rework it.

Not perfect (a VERY tight fit inside), but done! I do need to finish it but maybe I'll save that for when I teach so I have a sample to coat.

Since I hate to leave scraps alone, I used the bits leftover from the lid (which had been leftover from the body of the teapot) to make this little one. It was going to be a full bird and then I thought, eh, chess piece is fine.

The Hand Papermaking auction is still going! I'm a little surprised there haven't been any bids yet on this tapa from Tonga, but it's also possible that people are waiting until the last minute (this coming Saturday) to sweep in with bids. Browse often and bid soon!

And another and another

I can't stop! They bring me so much joy. Finally, a use for this dyed hanji that I've had laying around for a few years, and a new pattern (for a 2-year-old).

The light switch is for scale. I still have NOT figured out how this pattern works, after three rounds. But I also love that I got to use this paper (dahlia and persimmon).

Improv based on the other patterns. After pulling out lots of stitches, I figured out how to finish it without a machine. Again, so satisfying to use this paper. I had expected to get other kinds of work done this week, but after a zillion medical visits, I decided at the last minute on Friday to sew. Yay for that decision!

Also, bidding has begun for the Hand Papermaking auction!

One after another

I can't stop making paper dresses, with three more ready to sew and ideas for so very many more. There's been so much activity (and recovery) in the past week that lays the groundwork for future richness. Yesterday, I de-installed a local show and was happy that some of the harder to transport work sold, making hauling a little easier. I am excited to cannibalize the older work to make new dresses.

Almost all of my artwork is home after lots of travel, though things have been damaged, gone missing. I'm amazed by how eventful my last few shows have been in terms of problems on the host end, and realize that a show like the one I took down yesterday is rare: timely and accurate communication, proper contracts, enough people to do the job, no damage because the work is treated respectfully. One site cut up my hanji without notice and threw away the cut-away pieces! It reminds me of how much more work remains, because most people don't understand what goes into that one sheet of paper.

On that note, let's support two great organizations that strive to expand awareness of and possibilities for handmade paper:

1. This Saturday, the annual auction for Hand Papermaking begins! (hanji is included in at least two items!)

2. IAPMA is celebrating it's 30th anniversary with a beautiful bulletin (for which I made hanji) that includes handmade swatches from around the world!

Whoosh go the days

I had the most marvelous weekend of unstructured play and rest and lack of electronic devices (and excess of junk food). It involved sewing at Angela's house and coming up with this new dress.

[Immediately after construction is done, before I found the buttons, at the most comfy and well-loved home I've been in in this town.] The number of things to do each day has picked up a little too much and it makes me weary but I hope it's a good weariness. I had a breakthrough today, where my PT kept repeating: you need to let this sink in. Your big joint problem is resolved. This is huge! And he smiled and gave me two thumbs up, which is so unusual because I often think I am his biggest disappointment and that he can't wait to be done with me. He's the best PT I've had because he doesn't let me take the easy way out.

Spring fever diagnosis

Velma very wisely reminded me that my desire to run outside and be close to water and not do my work was the adult version of spring fever. She is right! These are geese and it was chilly, but I made it to a little bit of water that day, even if it wasn't a balmy beach.

This was the doll's dress I made from a new pattern with scraps from the last dress (which was made from scraps from the first dress).

And of course I can't leave any scrap unturned, so I made a new one (I tried suminagashi on the interfaced hanji but it picks up the dots of the adhesive). I was so tired that I had cut the pattern pieces correctly but didn't think I did, so I ended up mangling an entire half of the bodice and getting pretty far before realizing my errors. At least paper is easy to glue and piece together.

I decided not to put the sash on this one. The pattern is about 30% smaller on the top than the bottom than the first doll's dress.

I did this for scale but then was encouraged to do a whole series of domestic apparatus.

Wohoo! All ready for the weekend.

To not do

I went back to the fabric shop and got a pattern for a doll's dress. Once I finish that tomorrow, I will finally be almost completely free of hanji scraps! I've been very unmotivated to work lately, which is a good indicator that I didn't properly rest after all my intense work last month (or really, all year so far). Today I wanted to get close to water but once I realized it was still cold and windy, opted for lunch with a friend instead.

Pictures of new ducks here (click on the image to see the rest)!

My tiny shoes, too!

This weekend, Korean TV aired a show about my hanji work and NYC exhibit/events. It's mostly in Korean but there are a few bits in English and you can just watch to see the visuals of the actual gallery:

The long slog of catch up

The bigger dress was the one I did last year. The little one I just sewed up this week, a size 5 for a child, to use up the last of the interfaced hanji from the first one. I can't stand having leftovers. Though this one ALSO left scraps, so I guess a set of doll's dresses must be next on the agenda (unless I hide them well enough in my flat files so that I forget about the scraps for a while).

The front is finished with a hand-carved wood button by Jim Croft.

It took forever to find the right buttons for the back, and I was looking at the wrong pattern so first I bought only 4. I walked back to get 2 more, only to find I needed 7 total. Oh, well! It's going to be a button short, which doesn't matter because this is really only for display and not for wearing. Thank goodness for my three friends with sewing machines; it takes a village, always.

Meanwhile, my other piece that has been SLOW going because of all my traveling, is finally moving along. I began the teapot in hopes of bringing it finished to Michigan. That didn't happen.

But the problem with stopping and starting a piece is that things get really wonky. This is a teapot trying to become a pumpkin or something else entirely.

It almost killed me but I finished the spout last night before I went out for dinner.

You'd think I was done, but I still have to make the lid! The agony of these pieces means that the next piece I make must be 100% no expectations and 200% fun. The bad news from my PT is that the weird band in my hand is not a tight muscle but scar tissue. I must have torn something, probably while cording or twining. Next week I'll ask the physical medicine doctor for more insight. I'm not crazy about this season of endless doctor and PT visits, but I feel fortunate to finally have enough coverage that it's even an option to seek help!

F's

I saw this yesterday (too warm! I am so unnerved by this "winter" we just had) and thought, well, nature really fights hard to survive. Life insists on living.

I was corresponding with Alice about a book and then found this wonderful video she made of her trip to Japan last year—indigo dyeing paper at Awagami! It's lovely, with the color and the sounds of water, and delightful Alice herself in the factory. But my favorite part (watch for it) is the frog.

One end and many beginnings

This was the back of the library conservation lab in Michigan when I did hands-on joomchi after some cording with my publisher's colleagues. Conservators are exceedingly well mannered and curious, along with being responsible and on top of things. I always like meeting them.

This is what has begun (or is underway) back home: a new dress pattern to piece, a teapot to finish (I've reached the dreaded spout), a Serizawa calendar on washi that is missing bits, which will become thread or cord, and lots of tools and instructions for home PT exercises. Now that my parts aren't popping out of alignment all the time, I've finally graduated to strengthening! Though it's way more work, I can't wait to get back into shape and be able to support my body and work.

Wrapping up Michigan trip #1

After so many events, we got this down to a system. What to pack, which bins and boxes and bags, and a whole minivan for transport.

I was boiling in this room at the university museum but loved that they had a sink hidden in one of the closets! This was the first event on Saturday, a gallery talk + study room visit to look at Korean art up close + lecture + joomchi + jiseung cording. Local media did a nice story on the event here.

After lunch with the curator of Asian art and her daughter, we walked to the Ann Arbor District Library to their massive secret lab to teach about 100 people basic joomchi. We had a huge range of ages and I was so impressed by what that library offers to its community.

On Sunday, we went to the Detroit Institute of Arts for another hands on joomchi event, all ages.

Another big room and great help from both hosting staffs/volunteers (as in, both the museum and the Nam Center for Korean Studies at the University of Michigan—the latter being my main host).

Detroit artwork.

More!

Monday morning: fibers class = lecture + single-sheet joomchi + fusing joomchi + thread making demo + cording demo.

After lunch on North Campus (a drive away from the main campus/es), it was time to set up for the watercolor class = lecture + inky single-sheet joomchi + fused joomchi. I liked the vibe in this class of non majors.

Even though I don't like teaching messy classes, I like being hosted in them because no one is scared of getting their hands dirty and making a mess. We used both waterproof and non waterproof inks.

They were super quiet and focused.

 Demo sheet

After that, we shuttled back to the School of Social Work building so I could talk to the undergraduate fellows of the Nam Center, a lively and super diverse (the majors were all over the place!) group of students who liked the fused joomchi best. After that, a final dinner with the Nam Center director and administrator.

Today involves massive amounts of loading my car in two different locations, a visit to my publisher and her conservation colleagues, and hopefully a smooth ride home. And that's it until I gear up to teach in Michigan in May for PBI!

One after the next after the next

I knew this Michigan trip would be intense. I knew it would be. I wish I could take my eyeballs out and rest them while inserting new ones to do my catch up work.

Yesterday, I gave a lecture for the Center for Japanese Studies on campus about my research in Japan. It was so fun and gratifying to share these stories this way after getting the report done last year. This is NOT me giving that lecture.

After lunch with a Japanese studies grad student, I was driven (so luxurious!) to Detroit so I could get ready for my next lecture that night. Vagner came out to meet me and we had a few hours to play before I had to get serious. We are looking at the artwork in the men's and women's bathrooms at Wasserman Projects in the Eastern Market.

This is the letterpress shop, Signal-Return, where I had my talk. Beautiful space! Lots of light and square footage and prints and printers.

Even the ink comes in bigger containers!

Fun (inflatable art behind us)...

Serious

Last night was a bit of a long night but I managed to sleep a little more than the previous one, making me less insane for today's adventures. I drove over to see Karen O'Neal and her Out of hand papermaking studio, and Jane Kramer, a photographer who has been getting into invasive plant papermaking and printing images on the papers. What a treat!

Karen has a stamper!

This is a garbage disposal she uses for recycling papers.

Of course, every paper studio's workhorse.

Even though it's not a perfect surface, I love how the platens look.

The original papermakers' paper.

I ADORE this tool, usually used in cooking in Nepal (Karen's daughter has a lot of connections there and has traveled there a ton since she was in college)—simply a plant!

The requisite old fridge. And, a picture of Tim Barrett long ago doing a demo in Michigan.

I still laugh SO MUCH and out loud at this cartoon, next to Karen's guest book.

Bye, says my hand!

After we shared lunch, Jane and Karen walked me south one block to the Residential College for the one papermaking workshop I agreed to do during this residency. It was not easy, given the fact that they didn't have any equipment and I had to bring everything and cook ahead of time, but we managed really well. Quick learning group of students with a fantastic teacher (at far right in black t-shirt), Ana Fernandez.

Students dried their sheets on the glass-topped tables in the printmaking studio.

I was shocked by how well this team of teacher, student assistant, and Nam Center staff and student worker cleaned up the whole setup so that we were out of there 15 minutes after class ended. Usually, cleanup is at least one hour. We were so compact by the end, just what is around me, and then walked it back to the School of Social Work building where the International Institute is.

Thank goodness this was the first big event, because now we have time to dry everything before I leave next week. Also, TGIF because no one needs the conference room over the weekend.

The next four of five events to come. They are so organized! I love it. Tomorrow: public events at the art museum and library. The first is full with a waiting list, so come at 3pm to the Ann Arbor District Library and play joomchi with us! OR, come do the same in Detroit at 2pm at the DIA!