offcntr | An unexpected bounty (Reply)

Denise, being a paper-maker, is always on the lookout for buckets. Buckets to soak paper scrap, buckets to rett plant fiber, buckets to replace the buckets that have crumbled from prolonged exposure to sun and elements. It's like the old Bill Staines joke about wood stove people and dead trees--in her vision, empty buckets show up fluorescent orange.

So when we came done to load the kiln yesterday, she immediately spotted the two 5-gallon pails, with lids, next to the Club Mud dumpster. I went over to investigate, and discovered that they were labeled (and I don't mean Sliced Pickle Chips, though that too). No, they were labeled, in Sharpie, Paper Pulp.

Somebody had left behind two full five-gallon buckets of prepared and blended paper pulp. We of course immediately hauled them into my space in the studio.

I asked around the art center this morning, and they hadn't put them out there. Cece suggested that someone had brought them in to donate, found the office closed for the weekend, so just left them. Since they don't offer papermaking, we were welcome to them.

Good news! Because I'd borrowed a couple of mould-and-deckles and a dozen couching cloths from Denise, and spent the morning, once I'd mixed glazes and mopped the floors, out in the cool kiln yard pulling paper.

Because I only had white pulp, I decided to add whatever color and texture was locally available: mimosa leaves and blossoms, Japanese Maple leaves and keys, Oregon grapes, yellow hawkweed blooms, bits of moss. Brought some dried rose petals from home, harvested off the bush just before leaving. Ended up pulling about 20 sheets, and did an impromptu demo for kids from Maude Kerns' summer art program.