I continue to search for ways to recycle materials, both practically and artistically. And so it was that I stood there in my kitchen the other day, the sun yet again streaming in the window, its head cocked to one side, thinking perhaps I was making pudding once more but surprised to find me ripping pieces of newspaper, leftover tissue paper and junk mail into a blender filled with water. I stepped outside and cut a fistful of rosemary and added that to the mixture, too.
And here you can see the pulp this combination made, captured on a screen and about to be blotted and ironed and left to dry overnight under a heavy book (the beautiful Fields of Plenty by Michael Ableman). These simple steps somehow miraculously resulted in a piece of fragrant, vibrant handmade paper.
And so, I find my mind running through fields of plenty as well as I have been turning my home into a health care facility in preparation for my mother's arrival from the hospital today.
"If I add seeds to the pulp, and then cut hearts out of the paper, and make Valentines Day cards, and mail them to friends far away, they can plant them in their gardens," I find my mind saying.
"I wonder how thick the paper can be that I put in the pulp," I find myself pondering as I get yet another postcard or catalog in the mail.
"Hmmmm, do you think fresh herbs will rot in the paper?" I wonder aloud, remembering that year I stuck fresh herbs in bottles of oil as holiday gifts and they all grew enormous amounts of mold.
"What if I make a piece of paper a week, with that week's junk mail and some samples of what's growing in the garden, and then at the end of the year, I make a gardening scrapbook with photos from throughout the year as well?" I finally land on, thinking about the pictures I already have, of the children at Open Garden holding those worms, of David with the pitchfork, of my mom at Team Chicken.
Michael Ableman's book may be "a farmer's journey in search of real food and the people who grow it," but my book may be simply a gardener recycling a series of moments. On paper.
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7 comments:
Hi Pattie -
That's so much fun! I've made paper before (when I was a teacher the class would save scraps and we'd make paper from time to time). We put different things in it like glitter, sand, grass clippings. Flowers look pretty too and as long as the paper dries out really well and relatively quickly there is no mold. Some of the organic things did lose their color and turn brown upon drying though. A neat twist on food coloring would be different vegetable pulps, like beat juice! Thanks once again for inspiring me!
Liz: Great suggestions! Thanks. My younger daughter was just wondering if we could dye wheat strawe pink and organe with beet juice and carrot juice. I think she thinks this would make the garden prettier :) Now, I can direct these efforts towards the paper!
Wow--I have to start checking my spelling. Sorry about all the words I mangled in that comment!
What a great idea! I will definately steal this idea!
I used to make ornaments for the Botanic Gardens shop using flowers and leaves from my garden that I dried,pressed and then put between 2 pieces of circular glass, all sealed around the circumference with copper tape which people actually bought(!) to hang in their houses. Most of these flowers and leaves kept their colour beautifully and would look lovely in hand made paper. I think I will have a go too. Thanks Pattie.
I did that herbs in oil thing one year too. It seemed like such a good idea until the herbs molded. Sigh, a good lesson learned there.
My 8-year-old daughter makes quite a bit of hand-made paper at school. Cool stuff
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