before Codex, briefly

the weather
 is all the news here, 
constant temp swings (60 degrees in a little over 24 hours!)
and today warning like crazy...
it's winter.
i   hope i can get to syracuse to catch the plane to get to san francisco for Codex
with no snow to deal with along rt. 81, the snow belt. 
maybe i should make a magic gut parka 
(and below wonderful needles 
pre-historic and beautiful.
from all over the world
we were stitching.)
shift back to now-- 
here's the stump loom with one of my own deer bone folders
doing double duty as shed stick.
this is the stump loom i wove the pages on.
for this book 
here is the interior of a one of my new shifu books.
 made from old kozo ledger pages from japan.
 this was a precious gift
and the final book, 
3 x 6 x 1/2 in
i'm in a rush, 
and hoping that if you're coming to Codex, 
you'll stop and visit me at table #190.Cod

inventory

it's time for the reckoning, or in modern americanese: inventory.
i've taken a totally arbitrary approach here, 
picking photos from my desktop:

1. copper pipe marked by goldenrod leaves from a workshop years ago 
with india flint at long ridge farm.
it's resting on one of the stump looms.
the right kind of alchemy.
 2. linda marshall of washi arts is an amazing advocate for japanese paper
a fine friend 
and host who took care of me in vancouver last fall. 
she's a terrific guide for me, 
and provides all kinds of 
help for artists wanting to use 
really good papers.
 3. this book, 
Indigo Patterns 
was purchased this year by Owen D Young Library at St Lawrence University. 
it's a book i loved making, 
the cover is "shifu" with dyed pattern paper, 
linen paper, 
and slippery elm bark weft, linen paper warp. 
pages are indigo dyed pattern papers,
tacketed binding.
 4. my little Flax Notion edition sold out!
i loved making this one.
all flax.
 5. fern dust: 
i'm in a conversation with mari newell who also works with it.
and yes, it IS a thing.
 6. rocks. 
i love rocks, 
these are from jasper beach
and i love how shanna wraps lake michigan rocks. 
 7. milkweed. 
as ever my favorite ever paper that i've made, 
my fist edition done so long ago that my children 
(now 33 and 36) were in grade school while i made it. 
it's a generous and strong plant.
 8. we lost gwen this year, 
shown here in the foreground.
 unusually behind her pack 
 9. raw flax paper. 
absolutely nothing like it.
 10. i think this book, 
12 Moons, 
sold this year to Baylor University by Alicia Bailey 
(but maybe it was last year, sigh) 
shifu cover, silk endpapers, pages all botanical contact printed.
double pamphlet stitch binding.
 11. still contact printing mostly on paper, 
occasionally on shifu 
(which IS paper). 
mostly.
 12. my papermaking class. 
only one student in the bunch was an art major. 
the four adult students and i meet every so often to talk 
and make books. 
it's nifty. 
this group was such a blessing to me, 
keeping me thinking about papermaking. 
all autumn.
i started a post today and meant to go way elsewhere, 
but here we are instead. 
you all who read are blessings, too.
thank you, you are a joy.
please feel free to contact me through the website, 
blogger seems to be ignoring me here and out on others' sites, too.
as for from now until february 2 when hannah and i get on planes for california, 
i will be working on 
inventory
for CODEX .