what a day.

this morning i posted on the facebook shifu group page

a notice about this

and within a little while i had eight new orders

plus one not yet verified.

holy cow.

anyway, susan byrd*

who moderates over there

said of course you should post about it.

i went to the post office after the rains.

(there were major downpours)

but not until after i got in a good walk.

hence all the morning photos.

i'm fascinated by the structures farmers build.

even this one looks good

with round bales in the sunshine

staghorn sumac is *almost*

and here is the stag

so curious that i'm out

walking

at 6 am

see his "horns"?

and now he's off.

i've been gathering up the done blossoms

into the freezer they go

for fall printing.

the button box

please, if you have a button related story

go over to this site and think about yours

and submit!

this is perfect for the stitchers amongst us.
and who hasn't a button story?

last night

for something different

i peeled up some slippery elm bark

and twined a yard or two

which made my hands very happy

i've been thinking about
and
trying to process bark in different ways.

i prepped up a half dozen more

Poor (Wo)man's Asparagus.

and this:

this is a new road into the woods.

as the crow flies it's about 1/2 mile away, 2 miles by road.

i tried to buy this property several years ago.
a new family purchased an old dairy farm and wanted to sell a bit of it.

i walked the land and loved the high rocky ridges.

but went to the owner with questions:

is that dump yours? what will be done with it?

for there was a dump on the land,

plastic toys and garbage and JUNK.

he was annoyed by the question.

and suddenly he could no longer quote me a price for the land.

the next year he sold that portion

and a hideous trophy house was built,

and then another,

and now, another road into the woods.

we would have been good neighbors,

instead, mr. organic back to the land farmer,

has mc mansions for neighbors.

serves him right.
and i know about his dump.
so do you.
ha!

* author of A Song of Praise For Shifu

my four selvedge lokta shifu

it's almost ready for us all,

a definitive work about my heart's delight!

A SONG OF PRAISE FOR SHIFU

here's my story:

a very long time ago i read an article

in (the sorely missed) journal fiberarts... it was about a paper textile

japanese made, called shifu.

written by dorothy miller.

well, as a weaver and papermaker, i was captivated.

thus began my search for the elusive textile shifu.

not long after this event, i found that dorothy miller was teaching a class

in indigo dyeing and in paper spinning for shifu.

so i made my way to that midwest fiber conference and spun and dyed.

thus began my journey.

susan byrd's new book, A SONG OF PRAISE FOR SHIFU

will be available very soon for purchase.

i have been a privileged first reader.

i have seen the faces of the weavers,

photographs of the ones

susan studied with.

i have seen their brilliant hands

spinning and weaving.

susan has asked me

to send you all to her site through the hot link above.

(or here)

her text is rich and detailed

the photographs, copious

the footnotes are worth a book of their own (almost).

this book kept ringing out peals of music

YES! YES!

as i read.

~~~

now, here's really really good news:

this book is pricey

and the proceeds, all of them,

are going to the shifu weavers themselves.

susan is taking the book to japan

(the money, too)

a gift to her teachers, the traditional shifu weavers themselves.

amazing, a full circle.

another gift:

the first copies will have

samples.

amazing and beautiful samples

paper and shifu.