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November 2002

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11-1-02  The forecasted low for tonight is 27, so I brought all my potted plants inside and settled them on the dining room table for the winter.  (Yes, it does make dining with guests difficult, but they’re understanding.)  The philodendron was a problem.  Over the summer the vines hand grown six feet or more, snaking over the pot’s edge almost to the deck, and there was no place to hang it inside.  The only option was to trim all the trailing vines, so it would fit on the table with the rest.  I was headed for the trash bin, arms loaded with trimmed vines, when my husband passed me and made the comment, “Paper?”  I’m so ashamed.  I really must be out of papermaking mode.  The thought never occurred to me!  But it didn’t take long for me to follow through on my husband’s lead.  I cut all the leaves off leaving the leaf stems, then cut those and the vine itself up into 1” lengths and cooked them for 45 minutes.  I would have cooked longer, but it was getting dark and cold.  (I cook outside on the back porch.)  I’ve not made the adjustment to the change in temperature yet, and I despise getting chilled after dark.  Seems I never warm up.  After washing and running the philodendron through the bender, it was obvious that the plant material should have been cooked longer, but there really isn’t enough material to put it back in the pot and go to that effort.  There was a reception at Tourism this evening, and I didn’t get a chance to pull the pulp.  It will be a project for tomorrow after the Frankfort Book Fair.

11-2-02  Pulled sheets from the philodendron pulp, and it definitely wasn’t cooked long enough.  The fibers broke down lengthwise to the same diameter, but had not broken down lengthwise and there was little fine “binding material” in the pulp.  Had to use a formation aid to give the fiber time to disperse across the screen and form an even layer.  These fibers would have been lovely mixed with another lighter pulp, but no such luck.  That’s what I get for cleaning out the refrigerator.  The philodendron sheets are a muddy olive green with fibers stringing across the surface.  Because the pulp contained few fine fibers, there are pinholes throughout the sheets.  Not good paper, but not the fault of the plant.  Longer cooking would have solved the problems.

11-8-02  Yesterday the weather was lovely, our first day of sunshine in it seems forever, and the temperature warmed into the 60’s.  I couldn’t resist going out foraging.  Down by Silver Creek the curly dock was flourishing, standing tall above the fescue.  I gathered a bag full of leaf stems, though I didn’t have time yesterday to do anything with them.  Cut them up and cooked them this afternoon.  The last ones were cooked for a half hour.  These I cooked for 40 minutes, thinking they really didn’t look done at 30, though they probably were.  I was afraid that the extra ten minutes might make a difference in the intensity of the purple color, but it didn’t seem to.  Among the curly dock plants, I found two whose leaf stems were totally purple, not just at the base like the others.  I wished there had been enough of those to do a separate cooking.  No two papermakers working with the same plant will come up with the same paper.  I find it strange, but it happens often enough that I shouldn’t think it’s odd.  Akua sent me a small sheet of her curly dock paper.  Other than the small, curly white threads, it’s little like the paper I found in the plant.  We can’t account for the difference, but speculate that it may be because of differences in growing conditions or in the actual genetic makeup of the plants.  Don’t know.

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