My time at WSW was incredibly productive and restorative. The community of artists, instructors, staff and interns were all insightful and warm. Amazing things go on at WSW! I was honored to have Kirstin Demer, a handpapermaker and bookbinder, as my instructor. I learned how to make paper from abaca, flax and thai kozo. Exploring different techniques of working with paper pulp to create and manipulate form was a completely new addition to my skill set. Using basket reed to construct the form/armature, I wove a sort of basket or what could possibly be a lampshade. I dipped it a couple times into the flax pulp which when dry, builds up a sort of skin-like web between the reed and open spaces also adding to the strength of the form. I then pulled sheets of paper and covered various sections. Light passing through this piece produces wonderful patterns. This is a pic of the first one I made in the preliminary stage.
