In my last post I talked about how wintertime pulls me outside for a bit, and then pushes me back inside once I’ve had enough.  While a nice cup of tea is always something I look forward to after a day spent outside, it’s not all.  For me, being outdoors helps to clarify my ideas, of which I have too many.  Sometimes I cannot focus on one long enough to achieve it before being overrun with the next idea or three.  So when it’s time to go back in, I look forward to writing down my more-polished ideas, (I say more-polished because, of course, they will change several times more).

And then the real fun begins: pulling out the possible materials and seeing what fits the bill, what is the right colour, texture, pattern and thickness for my ideas.  Of course, I’m talking about paper!  So, please, bear with me while I share some of my favourite photos of my stacks of handmade paper.  

This is a mix of the lot; mumble-jumble, mish-mash, all mixed up.  While I don’t make paper too much anymore, I always used to use pigments rather than dyes, for more vibrant colours.

These papers were an experiment: hosta paper (yes, I hacked off and chopped up my parent’s hosta garden to make them into paper.  Thanks Mom and Dad!)  There’s some pine needle paper and then on top my lovely cotton & abaca black-blue super sparkle paper.  I’m almost out of all three, so I choose my projects carefully these days.

I have many now because I’m in full production mode as I’m participating in the One of a Kind Spring Show & Sale in March of this year.  This is my first year for this show and I’m pretty excited to be in the Etsy Section!  I’ll be posting more on this adventure leading up to it, I’m sure there’ll be a few interesting things to talk about!    

For now, I’ll leave you with this one last paper photo.  Enjoy the deckle edges and fibers!