from dreadfully cold and frozen kitchen water (hot, actually!) to art show to a bit of art work accomplished, this weekend has been full and productive, a wonderful change for me. an anticipated visit from a friend was snow-cancelled, unfortunately, but we have rescheduled. seems like i've been in a tunnel for a while and have emerged with new enthusiasm and ideas.

see how fluffy this youngster is? there are two 2009 fawns who hang around my back yard. why? no different food there, but perhaps they like living on the edge. sometimes they dare wendy who will chase them, but only in an attempt to herd them. wendy will give up after a while in the deep snow. a bit before this was taken the thermometer read 15 below 0.

this is a modest piece of shifu that will become, i think, a book cover. it is not large, but the bits of japanese green paper that were a gift from carol (of warwick press) which i hand-twisted into short lengths to be inlaid into a plain weave web.

a similar in color skein of spun paper. from the little i have read, shifu artists differentiate between spun fiber and twisted fiber--paper that is prepared for weaving is called twisted. i try to understand the difference, but i actually do not. the twisting seems to me to be the same as single ply handspun fiber, except that the fibers are already made into paper (even if cut into thin strips) rather than being separate fibers that have been prepared for spinning by a combing (or arranging as in flax preparation) or carding process.

my little schacht four harness loom (a table loom rigged up with treadles) is fun to use, but a bit finicky compared to my lovely large floor looms. but it is easy to move around! and it helps to weave shifu on this because i tend to make much smaller lengths on it.