new workshop!!!

linda marshall of washi arts will host me teaching north country shifu, which is my take. on shifu that is mostly intended for the book arts and other non-traditional uses. go on over to www.washiarts.com and check it out!

Washi Workshop / North Country Shifu (Paper Cloth) with Velma Bolyard October 2022

$725.00

North Country Shifu + Washi

This October, join us for a rare workshop with paper artist Velma Bolyard in conjunction with Linda Marshall of Washi Arts. Learn to mark, spin and weave handmade Japanese washi into paper cloth using Velma’s unique techniques.

North Country Shifu will introduce you to a version of shifu making. You will learn how to mark, cut and prep a beautiful piece of handmade Japanese paper for spinning, spin it into thread (kami-ito), fabricate a simple ‘stump’ loom, then using the loom and needle, weave your kami-ito into shifu (paper cloth). This workshop will also include demonstrations of different types of Japanese papers and techniques for treating and decorating them including konnyaku, kakishibu and marking and staining with sumi, indigo and persimmon. There will be many side trials to explore as we deepen our shifu experience which will include all sorts of delicious extras.

Location: Blaine WA

Workshop Date: Friday October 28, Saturday October 29 and Sunday October 30, 2022

Hours: 10:00am — 4:00pm each day

There will be an opportunity at the end of one day to visit the Washi Arts studio to look at Japanse papers, tools and supplies. Lunch will be provided each day. If you have any special dietary requirements please let us know. Typically vegetarian and gluten-free options are provided.

Registration fee includes one piece of each at least six different Japanese papers as well as shared materials such as kakishibu, konnyaku, sumi ink, brushes, pots and spindles. You can bring your own brushes and containers if you wish. Additional paper, materials and supplies will be available for purchase.

General Workshop Description

Additional details will follow upon registration. If you have questions, contact linda@washiarts.com

During these three days your shifu sojourn will include:

Presentations by Velma Bolyard and Linda Marshall about the history and background of Japanese papers and shifu, as well Velma’s own work and ‘spin’ on this traditional craft.

Working with color and mark making and perhaps personal texts on papers that will be spun up into secret-keeping, message bearing textiles.

Using traditional Japanese dye, kakishibu, and konnyaku starch, you'll experiment with ways of strengthening and marking papers to enhance your workshop portfolios. This will include demonstrations as well as hands on work.

You’ll construct a small stump (pin) loom and discuss other styles of simple looms suitable for this work

You’ll cut paper using a variety of handmade Heritage Washi sheets. You’ll prepare and begin spinning with drop spindles and Swedish bobbin winders. Then you’ll weave your kami-ito into morojifu, shifu made with your paper for warp and weft.

You’ll make at least one book structure to house your workshop samples, and will have options of where your books will continue thier journeys.

monetizing

does anyone else think that the term ‘branding’ is just plain ridiculous? i can say that my nicely designed and made clemes and clemes hand cards (i pick on these because they’re sitting here on the same table that my computer, shares) are something well made, useful, tools that work for my purpose (hand carding wild indigenous silk. i bought them because i found the right size and shape for my hands for the job. not because of the brand. of because i needed to somehow ‘possess’ the brand. i needed small, clean, well designed, lightweight hand cards.

Consider, edition of two, sharing lawn space last april. in Consider, i ask the reader to think, to live with intention. the book itself reflects that. it’s small, hanji (korean handmade paper) shifu woven on the first stump loom, about 2.5 x 2.5 x 1.25 in. each part of this book was intentional, but not necessarily made for the book. the fish skin parchment covers were my haddock suppers, the first two fish parchments i prepared. I kneew they would someday cover books. the hanji was left over from the Hanji Edition work that i made, the loom was leftover from building my back stoop at my old farm. the red parchment straps or tapes i sewed the text block were a gift, unfortunately i can’t recall the giver. but most of all it was my friiend lucia harrison, who made a piece asking the viewer to consider how they live. as do i. and i pass on that question.

i am not a brand. when i was still a fiber design (bs design, textiles) student people would ask me what i was going to be. ‘a weaver,’ i said. sometimes i said ‘a fiber artist’. i got teased for that. (‘a cereal artist?’) recently someone asked me (since she knew i was a maker and retired from ‘regular’ employment) ‘you’re an artist, do you have to have a license for that?’ i was astonished. is ‘artist’ a brand? does it require a license?

two cecropias, fertilizing eggs before they are laid, and these two mouthless adults die, within one week of this event.

words mean things, and i try to explain, but it’s uphill work. anyway. i want to spend my limited time on making meaning and asking questions, and understanding even a little bit more why this world is so beautiful and why humans want to wreck it all. and maybe in doing this ‘making’ work to the best of my ability i can contribute, perhaps make someone stop and think about how they live (as i do all the time). when i become overwhelmed by it all (i haven’t addressed the recent events in politics, have i?) i go outside and see what the beautiful earth is up to. or i call my adult children, who remind me of who i am with love, humor, and fearlessness.