Following the Paper Trail

A gals best friend in the paper studio is her water proof boots. You can get so many fun patterns & colors these days. Above are mine. Below a fellow class member's. I really like hers! 

But I'm getting off track here. 

My final 4 days of class at PBI was all about Asian paper. I had never pulled sheets in the Asian style before and it took a little getting  used to. There was a rhythm to how the mold is dipped and the fiber sloshed back and forth to create the lovely thin sheets. I gave you a preview of the paper making 2 posts ago. We beat the pulp we used to make Hanji, made lace bark, and our group was totally smitten with spinning paper thread &  making cord.

Aimee Lee was our wonderful instructor. Ever since I saw one of her sweet ducks online I've been a fan. When I saw she would be teaching at PBI I was thrilled. 

This is the little bobbin winder we used to spin the thread. I can see one of these off ebay in my future.

The thread can be used to knot & crochet as well as becoming part of woven pieces. 

Cutting the single sheet to begin creating the thread.

Aimee showing us how to rip the edges of our single sheet to separate the slices in order to get one long strand to spin.

Some of the piles of thread & weaving & knitting we created. 

 Below was my stash for the show & tell. The grey knitted piece was dyed with sumi ink, the rose colored woven piece was colored with fermented persimmon dye.

 

 Next post I will talk about the process to make the 300 + sheets of Hanji paper we "pulled" and dried. But to end today I'll introduce you to my new friend. When I saw Aimee was putting one of her ducks in the auction held at the end of PBI I decided he had to be mine.

 Aimee has a great Flickr page with loads of her ducks having adventures. So I had to take pictures of mine to share with her to show one of her creations was continuing the trend at my home & work. I think he's settling in quite well and making new friends.