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2-18-08  Over the past few years I've accumulated a collection of half-finished paper projects.  Some were pieces that didn't look like they'd work out the way I planned; some were finished but I didn't like them; some were pieces I'd just lost interest in.  All were sitting around cluttering up.  (I can't stand to throw away anything that has work time involved in it.  Seems so wasteful.  On the other hand, it's just as wasteful to spending time dealing with the clutter.  Catch 22.)  In addition to all those failed pieces, I had a couple of nice forms - one flattened vessel and a jug form - that just weren't complete, but I hadn't known what to do to finish them.  Both had way too much time and the forms were way too nice simply to do something/anything to finish them.  At some point around the first of the year, all the clutter in the workroom got to me and I resolved to finish all the unfinished projects in some manner or another.  With the exception of the two pieces mentioned above, it didn't matter what the pieces looked like, how I finished them, they'd be FINISHED.  And so I set about doing just that.  In a strange way, that resolve freed me to do things my perfectionist mind wouldn't have considered doing under different circumstances.  It allowed me to take chances I wouldn't have taken.  With one exception, I'm pleased with all the finished projects.  But I'm more than pleased with the flatten vessel and the jug.  Both had been put off until last, and what I learned in finishing the other pieces came into play completing these.  The flattened one is about 12" across and about 7" tall.  The top surface area needed something.  When I was casting about for ideas and materials, I ran across a bundle of Kentucky coffeetree stems.  The stems about 2' long and have a lovely subdued burgundy color, but unfortunately, the stems are brittle, particularly from the middle toward the ends and aren't suitable for basketry.  Still, the bases are solid and have an interesting end on them.  I selected 24 stems, similar in diameter, and cut 2" off the butt end.  Then I trimmed the cut end flat and arranged and glued the pieces around the opening of the flattened vessel.  A chipboard ring went over that, then the ring and a portion of each stem were covered with hickory.  (Sorry, no "in progress pictures.)  I wasn't happy with the plain, flatness of that top  ring, so I covered it with scrunched hickory, then when that was dry, I tipped the high spots with black.  Here is the finished vessel.  A slightly angled view gives a bit more perception of the depth of the vessel, and a shot from the top.  I had to laugh at Page, a friend who was visiting a few days ago.  She picked the piece up and commented on how light it is.  Actually, for paper, the piece has some heft, weighing in at three-quarters of a pound, but Page is a clay artist.  For her, anything under ten pounds for a piece is light, a thought that is reinforced hauling her work back and forth to exhibits and shows many times over a season.  So sorry, Page...  Want to try being a papermaker instead? 

2-20-08  I keep forgetting to put a link to a documentary that Kentucky Life shot here at the house last fall.  Earlier this month it was aired on Kentucky Life.  Each week the program highlights interesting people and places around Kentucky during a thirty minute program.  The one I'm included in has a super segment on a group that uses horses to help people with disabilities.  Excellent!  The segment I'm in starts about 16:30 into the program.  To view the video, click the "Windows Media" or "Real Player" link in the upper right-hand corner.

2-21-08  I've been off playing photographer/webmaster for the Berea Arts Council's "Heart for the Arts" fundraiser.  It's scheduled for Saturday, March 1.  The even is a combination chili supper and art auction...great food, excellent art...and I'm fortunate to get a first-hand close-up look before the event.  Spent one day shooting and editing pictures, then put these up on their website.  If you'd like a look at what the artisans here are willing to give to this organization, take a look here.  What you see is an amazing collection of work, but what you don't see is equally good.  There's much, much more.  If you're planning on being anywhere around Berea on the evening of March 1, you'd be well advised to stop in and bid.

2-23-08  My friends are as bad as I am about scavenging stuff for me.  Jerry just returned from Florida where a tornado ripped through and played nasty with the plants while he was there.   After the skies cleaned, he went out and gathered a huge load of bird-of-paradise leaves, giant philodendron leaf sheaths, a few leaves from a staghorn fern, banana plant leaves and a couple of chunks of a coconut palm trunk.  This is all well and good, but the stuff is green and I couldn't just leave it boxed up.  My back porch now resembles a jungle with plant material strewn around drying.  The cats are finding all this very, very interesting.  Hope they don't think it needs to be marked!