winding down the week

chinese box taught by steve
the exemplar that steve pittelkow
made in his box class
that ran while i was teaching contact printing
at the morgan conservatory. 
it came home with me,
a gift.
lucky me!
as did kozo that
took on some coloring
natural, but not intentional.
(sigh)
i'm building a big book
after asking cecile for advice--
good, expert advice.
and i warped up the good wood loom
for a book cover in weft faced shifu
and would like to find another of these looms.
i've been looking-they closed shop.
if you know of one for sale, please contact me.
lokta on lokta
it's been fall-like this past week, 
rain and cool moved in and has taken some of the starch 
out of summer.
the new place
that is finally looking like a home.
no porches yet.
i photographed this
right before i completed the black walnut rectangle
that sits
near one edge.
one of the coolest projects i've 
given another
(with permission) 
was to make me a measuring device 
so, 
this tape
woven by the amazing susan johnson
traditional in many ways
measures some things:
 grace notes of birds,
whiskers.
a promise,
a thought,
or such-like.
some twills
linen and cotton and hemp
a useful thing for imagery
for framing thoughts
for fiber artists.
wednesday i leave for a two day workshop 
with some very good book artists.
and, this morning's news:
i caught a nice, big
TOAD 
in the have-a-heart-trap.
surprised us both!
in my haste to let her go i forgot a photo.
 she's back in the garden now.
tending her patch.
locally two amish girls were abducted and subsequently 
released.
this news has me heartbroken.
our culture is very sick
it seems that art makes the briefest of inroads
into the souls of people.
but i will keep making and teaching and doing what little i see
is right and good.
and if that is making a book to love
out of paper that was once a wild-grown flower
that's what i will do.