gratitude and paper

thank you all for your kind wishes for hannah and tyler.
they are feeling a bit better, a bit less shell shocked.
which makes my heart beat more easily.
after the first evening walk in ages
 i gathered up some black eyed susan petals,
from my backporchpatch
 and set them to soak
(maybe for ink)
 in paper doings 
my student todd brought me this lovely gampi/cattail paper
(an apple for the teacher, he smiled)
it's delicious, 
much more subtle than the photo shows.
 todd's gampi supports two little flax with lokta stitch sheets i took along to maiwa
 here they are with some indigo dyed hand spun hemp 
 and then some walnut dunked earth pigmented sheets
on a walnut/flax/stitched sheet
there seems to be no end to the possibilities
of which i've just scratched the surface.
 and then this came
oh, my.
if you've ever thought of making your own ink
you should check out this book
 a touch of color on the corners entices you to open
 an illustration from the book: 
buckthorn ink
a green earth pigment dunked in black walnut
 and then an ochre, likewise dunked
 and the backside of this indigo dunked flax and lokta
 a wee bit of hemp basket in making
 one of my flax samplers 
(there are a few of these...
 nice back, don't you think?
contact printed acrhes text wove.
 my class worked with drew matott and johnny lafalse
while i was at maiwa
drew overexposed
 my students learning and pulp painting
 how to form a sheet, 
back left is johnny
 each bucket a different pulp, 
mostly from knitted cotton shirts
 and almost black and blue pulps, 
and a brand new sheet.
i came back and we all have to slow down now
and make really good sheets 
after repulping half of their first abaca sheets
they are really, really attentive.

second day

we repeated day one, in more depth.
papermaking with flax and abaca
ecoprinting from ohio
with a little help from northern new york
large pots allow for better results on large paper
many delicate greens
indigo experiment to see if there would be
any transfer
there were no prints, nor overdyeing
the morgan alleyway is a good worksite
rinse buckets full of magical rainwater.
~~~
on to a two day shifu class
and then home.
there's a clunk in my right front tire that i need to have looked at.
sigh.
almost new car. new tires, low mileage. sigh.
but we had 14 engaged students who, i think,
learned heaps.
several came from far away, michigan, pennsylvania, ohio and MAINE!
aimee beats me, though, she had a student from
eastern europe. 
~~~
i have been staying in
a magic box of wonders.
tom, i found the frog.
it's now in the dining room
hanging out on a lady.