Friday-6:30am

Not a lot to report since my back was bothering me yesterday--a quiet day. :)

My OAS order came in the afternoon! The chrysanthemum & plum DVD came with a bound instruction booklet just like the orchid & bamboo DVD did. The book on the four seasons is all in Chinese--no English--but you can tell a lot by the pictures. (10% off for Mother's Day special--might still be going on?)

Here's the two of the DVDs for the four gentlemen by Ning Yeh. :):)
The only plan I have at the moment--if my back gets to feeling a little better--is to do some ironing experiments on the red paper for our Christmas cards. Since we are making the paper a little thicker they don't flatten as well when book pressed. So--going to do some comparison ironing--hehe! Try just the iron (my steam doesn't work on my old iron), misting the paper first, and using the spray starch. Only way to find out which way we will like better, right? I don't know if you will be able to tell the difference--but I'll take some pictures when I get around to the ironing--chuckle! :):)

Sun is out already this morning--tada! They are saying rain though--so it might not last long. I've been up all night again. Oh well. It's a gorgeous morning--53 degrees--a little damp from all the rain. Karma's taking in the sun on the porch, of course. Hope it is a nice day wherever you are! :):)

Thursday-1:30pm

Leah brought some leftover bubbles in one of those small containers they give everybody at weddings, you know? Karma went nuts! She just cried and cried--well, or chatted in excitement sounds better--hehe!

She would have had me blowing bubbles all night--hehe!

Here's the additive we tried. It came in a plastic bag, but I peeled the sticker off the plastic bag, put the powder in a glass jar, and wrapped the sticker around the jar. We couldn't see any noticeable difference on the sheets we used the additive--so we didn't use it any more. It is supposed to make the paper archival, tho--so would be fantastic for any art project you were working on. And I will want to try it as far as making paper to write on one day--to see if it helps with feathering.

Leah came over yesterday afternoon. She helped me bring some stuff to the storage area and we got my fans out of the garage, too. She made up four more snowflake molds and then worked on some paper. We decided on one and a quarter sheets. The one and a half sheets were still a little thick--but we'll use them.

You can see how the couch paper soaks up the various colors. When you go to make white paper--you want a whiter couch paper, tho, because they can stain the paper.

They sure do dry lighter, don't they? I think I am going to try to iron some of the sheets and see if we'd prefer them ironed instead of just book pressed. :)

My back was bothering me and poor Leah's feet were hurting her--from all the standing the day before working on the paper and all the shopping she did with her brother and sister that night (she also has plantar fasciitis). Went slowly and took breaks. I felt badly that I wasn't of more use yesterday. We'll get together next Tuesday again. In the meantime, if I have a good lower back day I will make a few sheets myself. :)

Dagan came over after work and we ordered Chinese from Nine Dragons. Had a nice visit. Chuck and Michal close on their new house on June 22nd, if I remember correctly. I'm sure they'll be glad to be on their own again in their own place! Happy for them! :):):)

Leah's old boss (in India) called--said he was going to call her back that night--but hasn't yet. Typical--that was days ago. Sounded like they were wondering about her coming back? They might be sorry they let her go. ?? Leah didn't think they had anyone there who could handle the training and the rest of her job at the time when they figured they didn't need her any more. Hummm....??? If they were to offer her job back she wants to have some days off. She had none whatsoever--vacation or sick days--and had to work six days a week during their busy months. No benefits. I know she worked a lot of days from 7-8am until 7-8pm. She'll see if they offer her a job and what the details would be.

She could work the part-time job she has now (making teeth) on the weekends--but then she wouldn't be able to work six days a week for them in India part of the year. ?? I don't think she wants to quit the new job. She really enjoys it--like combining work and crafts--hehe! She'd like to learn the entire business over time. He even makes prosthetic ears and things like that!! And he has mentioned--in passing--the possibility of Leah taking over his business one day. But he has also discussed that he knows she needs to find another job right now because he can only give her part-time work at present. So she'll have to weigh all the options.

Who knows--maybe they'll change their minds again (India). They are not exactly the most dependable people to work for. She did enjoy the job--just too many hours and no time off.

Anyways--it always pays to do your best, doesn't it? No matter what you are doing. It will all work out--one way or the other. :):)

Wednesday-3am

Leah brought her paper shredder with her yesterday.

I was basically the shredderer (hehe!) and assistant to Leah. We decided the perfect shredder for the job would be a crosscut shredder--but this one is saving us a lot of work. :)
Even this bigger tub is too narrow for the brand new larger papermill--so we will have to scout out a larger tub. Took measurements and Leah put them in her phone. She was going shopping with her younger sister and brother last night and said she'd keep an eye out.

Hard to show the differences, but we were experimenting between making 1.5 sheet and 2 sheet paper. The 1.5 seems the best.

We were also experimenting with blending longer (one minute instead of 30 seconds) and blending twice. I don't know if you can tell, but the two on the left here are smoother from using that twice-blended process.

Then we dug out this powdered additive I had purchased from Arnold Grummer's and played with that. It is supposed to make the paper acid free and a little smoother. This one is made with that additive.

Leah also came up with the idea of trying a brayer as we lay the paper down--to see if it would help reduce bubbles.

This was what we got done yesterday--and they are still drying on the table right now. The three in the front were made with the additive. We won't be able to tell all the differences until they are all dry--but it is taking a long time since we have had rain and thunderstorms all night.

And we also made up more paper moulds with Plaster of Paris. Those of you who follow the blog might remember how I had to sit and make the rubber molds by layering 10 layers of this liquid rubber stinky stuff on the original paper mould.

We plan to use up the rest of our Plaster of Paris making more snowflake molds. [Leah is really good at this now because of her new job!! She makes molds of teeth at work now! Cool!] Anyways--then we can make a whole bunch of the cotton linter papers from the molds at one time. They have to dry in the molds--so the more we have the better! :)

Note: I don't know why all my life I have had this tendency to use British spellings?? I have to stop and think to write "mold"?? Mould--mold--you know what I mean.

Anyways, I was sawing logs by 7pm--but woke up at 12:30am and couldn't get back to sleep. So here I am blogging in the middle of the night--hehe! I'll have to try and catch a nap toward morning--I hope. Leah is planning to come back and work on the paper and moulds again today. Dagan is coming by after work and they said we're going to order in a kind of late Mother's Day dinner for us! Such a treat for me!

I love the low rumbling of the thunder and the sound of the rain! I actually go to sleep to that on my sound machine every night. I find it soooo relaxing. The glistening of the rain the on window screens--back lit by the garage lights--looks like a million diamonds!! Occasionally I can hear the Canadian geese honking and chattering--in the middle of the night?? How strange!

Just very happy. :):)

Tuesday-6am

Karma loves her sun. She luxuriates, wouldn't you say?

You'd think she was suntanning the way she rotates her body around under the rays--hehe!

Amazingly I stayed awake all night and all day. Slept from 7pm till 3:30am!! So, I'll be calling Leah later to see if she is coming over for papermaking today? Supposed to be pretty much the same as yesterday--scattered rain or thundershowers--but upper 60's. If the sun peeks out in the morning for a while, Karma will be thrilled--hehe! She's already sitting out on the porch waiting for the sun to come up. :):)

Monday-10am

Finally got out the paints! :):)

Been so long!! Out of practice. Thought I'd show you what actually happens most of the time if I try to get a real close up of Miss Karma--hehe!

Have been up all night again. Trying to stay up as long as possible so I can be up for a day of papermaking tomorrow with Leah (if she doesn't get called in to work). So I am washing clothes right now. Not very tired yet.

Dagan called yesterday. :) :) He and Leah plan to be here Wednesday and they'll order dinner in for us. Nice! He told me that Leah picked out each rose at the florist's for my bouquet! No wonder they are so gorgeous!! I'm always talking about how I like variety--hehe! This is my very favorite bouquet of flowers that I have ever gotten--ever! :):)

Supposed to be warmer today--mid 60's. Scattered rain and thunderstorms passing through. Hope everybody had a nice Mother's Day! :)

Sunday-6:45am-Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!! :):)

Dagan and Leah sent me the most beautiful, colorful bouquet of roses I have ever seen!! :):)

What a delight for the senses!!

Big, big smile! And a grateful heart!

Have a wonderful day today and spread the love!! :):)

Saturday-2pm

Was an overcast, dreary day yesterday and it looks like today will be more of the same. Nice, cool 40 degrees right now and looks like rain.

Caught Karma sleeping in the dark hallway last night.

We had our first wasp sneak under the screen. I saved Karma's "bug jar" from last year.
She will sit by it for hours and just watch the wasps or flies--doesn't move the jar much--just watches them.

My $250 stimulus check arrived in my bank yesterday. I made an order to OAS for a DVD and a book that I have wanted. I want to focus mainly on the four gentlemen to begin with. I have the first DVD on bamboo and orchid--now I ordered the other DVD on the plum blossom and chrysanthemum. And they had a small book about painting the four gentlemen. :)

I haven't painted for so long that I need to get over my fear of the brush all over again. I'll probably get out the flower & bird ink tracings and work on coloring some of those in again just to get used to handling a brush again. I am generally intimidated by the Chinese brush painting, I guess. Good to challenge yourself, right?

Besides that--want to get the parts to get my floor lamp working again. I found a lighting store in town (online) that carries my German-made lamp--so going to try there first and see if they can order the part and bulbs for me.

My stitches are finally gone! tada! Must have had some pulling in the very back because now it doesn't hurt to open my mouth wide! Ahhh!

I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button yesterday. Very strange, but intriguing movie. Probably the oddest love story you'll ever see--hehe!

Anyways, hope you're having a great weekend! :):)

Friday-1:15pm

Here's the paper after a day of being pressed under the heavy books. :)

I had to try to show you a close up of the real flower stickers. My one questionable item I ordered--and I LOVE them!! So tiny and delicate! They're only about the size of a dime. :) I'll have to think of some special way to use them! So pretty!

Okay--I wanted to show you the difference between the pink sponge that is part of the papermill kits and the tiling sponges Leah bought at the hardware store. No comparison, eh? They come in a package of six, as I recall. So when they get stained and old--we can grab another one. We're still on the first one, BTW, tho.

Now that our first sheets are dry and I have had a chance to handle them--I think we need to make thicker paper. I think we need to try one and a half or two sheets of red typing paper instead of one. We are going to be adding the cotton linter moulds to the front afterwards and these sheets are a little too thin to hold up, I think? Can use them for something else or throw them back in the blender--hehe! That's the nice thing about making paper--if you don't like what you end up with you can reuse/recycle the paper.

Karma spent the whole day on the porch yesterday. Got a little too cool for me with the wind and all--but Karma couldn't drag herself inside.

It has really cooled off and has been dark since last night. Scattered rain. Only 43 degrees right now. Even Karma is not wanting to go outside much today--hehe! Karma and I are just planning a quiet, lazy day today. If you can call that planning--ROFL!! :):)

Thursday-11:30am

Beautiful morning! Sunny and supposed to get close to 70 today--was the same and over 70 yesterday. Time to take the cover off the wall air conditioner.

I let the paper dry overnight, stacked it up, and put some heavy books on them for overnight last night.

Leah was planning on coming over today again to work on paper, but she got called in to work. Probably be next week before she makes it over again.

I made a quick video showing the dry paper and the stacking of the books--now up on youtube. :)

Miss Karma is soooooo happy to have the porch opened up...

...and she can't get enough of that morning sun all over the apartment!

My Arnold Grummer order arrived by FedEx yesterday afternoon!! So exciting! Got the larger papermill that makes 8.5 X 11 inch paper--on sale! In fact I think everything was on sale but the flower stickers--and free shipping when you spend over $50--tada!

With the larger papermill we can make envelopes, too. I bought a template (different size than the one included in the large kit), the real flower stickers (totally extravagant--but they are really pretty!), 20 extra couch papers, deep blue & pastel window cards (supposed to fit all those square paper moulds we have--we can make our own template from them), and the large papermill. They sent me that small multicolored packet as a gift. You use those papers to tint your handmade paper, I guess. Nice of them!

Here's everything that comes in the large papermill kit.

Will be fun trying to make envelopes! And I can also use the envelope templates on regular craft paper, of course.

Miss Karma is waiting for me to uncover the chair on the porch.

Yup! Another good day for some porch time! :):)